Unify Action - January 12, 2026


She Says Essentials Should Be Free… I Asked Who Pays

Hosted by
Sarah Dotzert
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Episode Stats


Length

15 minutes

Words per minute

198.33

Word count

2,999

Sentence count

—


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I sit down with my good friend and college buddy, Alyssa, to talk about the political spectrum and what it means to be a socialist, fascist, and communist. We talk about our political views and what we would like to see in the future of our society.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 I think everyone should have access to food. I don't think people should have to pay for food.
00:00:02.600 I don't think people should have to pay for water. I don't think people should have to pay for housing.
00:00:05.720 I think everyone should be able to have access to clothes and, you know, not be...
00:00:09.040 No one wants to walk around the streets naked.
00:00:10.560 So you have the right to someone else's work.
00:00:13.940 Um, like, otherwise, they have no incentive to continue to do that efficiently or in sufficient quality or in sufficient quantity.
00:00:22.120 Are you leaning more so, like, strictly capitalism or more so fascism?
00:00:26.200 Capitalism.
00:00:26.780 Capitalism, strictly capitalism?
00:00:27.820 yeah so fascism is really a sister to socialism kind of because it's a large government there's
00:00:35.160 speech restrictions it's hyper-nationalistic incorrect so fascism i'm taking a degree in
00:00:40.140 criminal justice and public policy okay so i'm and i'm also a deeply political person i pride
00:00:44.620 myself in learning about all different kinds of politics um i describe myself as a socialist um
00:00:50.520 okay more so on the i describe myself as socially um like in terms of socially socialism and then
00:00:59.780 um economically like fiscally conservative that is how i describe myself as a person
00:01:04.720 interesting okay and do you want to debate are you okay yeah yeah could i just get you a little
00:01:10.380 closer so we could kind of yeah okay yeah go ahead the way i personally think of social so
00:01:17.820 it goes on the two you have the two sides of the political spectrum you have communism and you
00:01:21.560 have fascism fascism is the far right of our political spectrum and communism is the far left
00:01:26.840 do i think communism can exist no i don't think it's a feasible i don't think it can exist same
00:01:31.960 way i don't think fascism can like exist either communism is solely it it has a saying that's
00:01:41.100 power to the people which essentially means that the power the people are in control but the reason
00:01:47.380 that it is not feasible is if you're say looking at it from the marxist definition of communism it
00:01:52.100 is a stateless classless moneyless society in our current society we cannot have that we already have
00:01:57.300 money we already have states to remove that is to remove everything that we currently live and exist
00:02:02.180 on and it also removes human aspiration and drive and wanting to work for themselves and wanting to
00:02:09.460 do what they would want with their lives so that's communism right there communism is equally
00:02:13.540 contributing to everyone but you don't really have necessarily have that um drive to achieve
00:02:19.720 for more but there's no restrictions on speech or those kind of things that's when you more so get
00:02:27.800 into I like to think of the political spectrum more so as a circle than less of like a straight
00:02:32.720 line because you kind of so you're more like horseshoe theory you've heard of that yeah a
00:02:37.760 little bit and that like that's why I mean when I say like I'm very like socially liberal and then
00:02:41.040 very fiscally conservative i do think like i said i don't think communism is possible um like same
00:02:45.920 way i don't think fascism is possible but i think the issue i have with capitalist societies is
00:02:52.080 capitalist societies thrive off oppression they thrive off of poverty they thrive off of
00:02:58.480 a booming marketplace they thrive off of greed um which the way we the way i currently actively
00:03:05.200 look at it is the more of a booming marketplace that we have the more we push on sales and yes
00:03:13.300 working for yourself to get I heard what you were saying earlier and I completely agree with that
00:03:16.280 I think being self-sustainable and working for yourself is the ideal but I don't necessarily
00:03:20.100 think that's capitalist capitalist is about the marketplace it is about what is the market though
00:03:26.220 the market is I mean it depends on how you personally interpret like the market I like to
00:03:31.480 it's a global thing the marketplace is a global thing it's where sale of goods if you want in the
00:03:37.200 most basic simple definition in terms of like business it is where the sale of goods takes
00:03:43.260 place or the trading of goods but it's inherently people it is you are correct it is inherently in
00:03:47.940 that and those goods are provided by people and made by people and you are correct in that
00:03:50.880 um i personally just don't think that fighting like having having to choose between okay i need
00:03:59.660 to pay for this or do I need to pay for that that's kind of where you start getting into the
00:04:04.100 capitalism of we're focusing too much on the money aspect of it and like I said I think working for
00:04:11.520 yourself and being self-sustainable is good but I don't necessarily like in my brain self-sustainable
00:04:15.980 is when I'm older I would love to live off the land I would love to live off the grid
00:04:18.540 and work for myself and you know have my own farm have my own land bake my own food that is my dream
00:04:24.160 when i'm older yeah mine too yeah but personally to me that is less that is not necessarily
00:04:29.600 capitalism that to me that that's removing myself from the marketplace i don't want to have to rely
00:04:34.440 on the government i don't want to have to rely on the marketplace in order to achieve what i want
00:04:40.280 if you're looking at it in terms of a um strictly political definition sense of the word if that
00:04:46.600 makes sense yeah okay i think we agree on a lot yeah but where i would kind of peg my disagreement
00:04:53.560 is that i don't actually think capitalism is inherently oppression so when there is transfer
00:04:59.480 of money it's not necessarily a zero-sum game yeah it's both sides actually gain like if you
00:05:07.280 were to go say buy lunch the producer of whatever you eat gains and you gain as well so when someone
00:05:15.260 makes a service like say amazon you're gaining from fast and reliable service and they're gaining
00:05:22.360 your money basically yeah right so i don't think that it's a zero-sum game i wouldn't necessarily
00:05:28.740 say capitalism is oppression no i don't think it is oppression it thrives off of oppression i think
00:05:33.800 there's a very big difference between those two things okay um and where i what i mean by that
00:05:38.920 is that i personally don't think and yes you're right like it's not a it's not a zero-sum game
00:05:43.740 i buy something they obviously benefit from something and i benefit from something um but
00:05:48.140 i personally don't think i think everyone should have access to food i don't think people should
00:05:51.840 have to pay for food i don't think people should have to pay for water i don't think people should
00:05:54.940 have to pay for housing i don't think people should have to pay money for their basic necessities and
00:05:59.380 basic rights luxuries yes i think do i need to have access to every single streaming service on
00:06:05.700 the planet no that is not a basic necessity that i need to survive um do i need food to survive yes
00:06:11.020 do i need water to survive yes do i need shelter to survive yes if you're looking at like the
00:06:15.200 hierarchy of needs i need those things to survive but i luxuries i completely agree with yes i think
00:06:21.300 you should have to have some kind of transaction there in order to receive luxuries but certain
00:06:25.040 basic needs i don't necessarily think that we should have to pay for that and i think that's
00:06:30.160 where i'm kind of not on the side with capitalism is that everything needs to be some kind of
00:06:35.540 transaction and i don't necessarily agree with that okay so then you would say you have a right
00:06:41.940 you say you agree that you say you would have a right to food to water i think everyone i think
00:06:47.540 everyone has a right to food water shelter the basic necessities so you have the right to someone
00:06:52.540 else's work um no not necessarily but like what i mean like i think if we can provide for ourselves
00:07:00.940 that's great but not everyone has those means or resources or is physically able to um do those
00:07:07.420 things or like people who don't have the physical capabilities to work on a farm and to provide
00:07:12.420 themselves with that food um and there's other people doing other things like we all there's
00:07:17.680 all different kinds of traits right but I personally don't see an issue if I have enough
00:07:22.400 food for myself and I have enough left over I don't see an issue in giving that to people for
00:07:27.960 free personally that's that's personally just me I think what if it's like your employment
00:07:32.640 right if it's your job to provide other people food like you're basically saying that someone
00:07:39.940 else has the right to your labor for free if someone if it means they have access to the basic
00:07:47.620 things that they need to live and it helps them survive and helps them thrive then i have no
00:07:50.980 issue with that and i think and i know that is a very a lot of people don't necessarily agree with
00:07:56.120 that i think it's a bit different like i i i really do think that like we should go back to
00:08:03.040 the old system of things of like oh you have like a bunch of corn i need my tap fixed can you fix
00:08:09.900 that for me and i'll give you this corn sure that's great i i would much rather a trade of
00:08:15.400 services than a trade of money and goods if that makes sense it's not feasible in every instance
00:08:20.400 absolutely no you are correct you are correct but i i think and that's that's where i go back to
00:08:25.100 the i think certain luxuries we shouldn't luxuries aren't you don't need luxuries to survive i'd like
00:08:31.900 said i don't need every single streaming service on the planet to survive i don't need the newest
00:08:36.120 Xbox in order to survive. I don't need those things in order to live fully. But I do need
00:08:42.660 food. I do need water. I do need shelter in order to live. And I think every single person should
00:08:47.360 have access to that regardless of where they land in society, what physical capabilities they have
00:08:53.180 or don't have. And like I said, I know a lot of people will disagree with that, but I see no issue
00:08:59.760 if I have enough food myself and I have enough food left over. I will gladly give that to my
00:09:03.540 neighbors i will gladly give that to my friends for free because they're just as equally deserving
00:09:07.180 as it as i am even if that does mean i work for it if they are benefiting off of it and that is
00:09:12.420 benefiting the entirety of the people if they are able to um have food water and shelter and that
00:09:19.760 makes them you know healthy enough to be able to go out and work and benefit everyone else as a
00:09:23.460 society okay that's fine they're benefiting everyone else if my work helps them benefit
00:09:28.220 at others then i'm okay with that so suppose that someone it was their it's their employment to
00:09:34.520 produce food yeah right so someone else has the right to their service without paying for it
00:09:39.980 how is that person supposed to maintain a good life and continue to produce that service like
00:09:47.240 how does that even work what i'm saying is um you have obviously some of that that food for
00:09:52.900 yourself you don't just give all of it away and then you give everyone their their needed share
00:09:57.500 of what they need um a big thing that I like to always distinguish is the difference between
00:10:02.140 equity and equality I think equity is extremely important um more so than equality everyone gets
00:10:08.060 what they need not everyone gets the same if that makes sense um so but if some say someone wants
00:10:14.980 a little bit more of something and they don't necessarily mean it then sure you would have to
00:10:20.800 pay a fee for that you would have to do some kind of transactional thing for that um and I think
00:10:25.620 that's where because because we do have a lot of excess and goods that that is I can't even think
00:10:32.380 tons and tons of clothes go to waste every single year and it's extremely wasteful um I think
00:10:39.120 everyone should be able to have access to clothes and you know not be no one wants to walk around
00:10:43.640 the streets naked and cold so I think everyone should have be able to have access to the clothes
00:10:46.940 but say you want extra clothes or you want clothes that like you don't necessarily need like you want
00:10:54.600 like three winter jackets instead of two or what for whatever reason i think you should then have
00:10:59.860 to pay or trade some kind of service then um but i don't that that's that's like more thing i think
00:11:06.420 we should all be able to have access to our basic necessities because we're all equally
00:11:12.860 deserving of that regardless of who we are right um okay i don't think we're gonna totally agree
00:11:19.780 on no no and i i i understand that and i'm fine with that yeah yeah i just i see it i see it this
00:11:26.780 way so a lot of people it's their employment to produce these basic services right yeah and we
00:11:31.240 want to incentivize them to continue to produce those basic services yeah and the best way i think
00:11:37.120 is to continue to pay them for it yeah and like otherwise they have no incentive to continue to
00:11:42.580 do that efficiently or in sufficient quality or in sufficient quantity do do you think the
00:11:48.640 government can um pay those people without necessarily uh making others pay egregious
00:11:56.660 amounts for those basic needs and necessities okay yeah but where does government get that money
00:12:01.880 money is a money is a concept money we create money money is a man-made thing money is something
00:12:08.040 that humans have created and humans have deemed the value of i really i that that is something
00:12:13.940 that really boggles my mind we one day were just like that's silver coin i'm gonna give you value
00:12:18.600 and I'm going to decide how much that value is
00:12:20.120 and over time that has changed into this big worldwide thing
00:12:22.840 that fluctuates and changes over time
00:12:24.480 with the rising of the economy
00:12:27.560 and declining of increase of goods, decrease of goods
00:12:31.440 and increase of demand and decrease of demand
00:12:33.060 and that just changes everything
00:12:34.280 but money is at the end of the day a man-made thing
00:12:36.960 and a man-made concept
00:12:37.880 but see money is not, it's not wealth
00:12:42.560 it is the commodity that we transfer wealth with
00:12:46.000 yeah right and we want to make sure the wealth is transferred equally yes um so we need a stable
00:12:51.860 currency see we came worldwide we need a stable currency i think i definitely agree with that i
00:12:56.780 think worldwide we need to have one collective currency that is equal everywhere because the
00:13:02.760 changes between everyone's dollar and the changes between it's a lot of one it's just confusing i
00:13:08.920 don't want to it's just really confusing but at the end of the day i think it would just make
00:13:11.960 everything a lot easier um but i think and i know a lot of like the economy finance bros are going
00:13:18.960 to be like oh my god she's not she's talking about when i say this i don't understand why
00:13:22.180 we just can't increase the amount of money we make and i know there's the whole thing to it
00:13:25.000 of like oh that decreases the value of our dollar dollar and whatnot but why it is a man-made thing
00:13:30.240 it is a man-made idea um if we cannot fix the way we run our society where everyone can one
00:13:39.780 both have access to everything they need but then also yes at the end of the day still pay
00:13:45.180 what they want for luxuries and things like that i don't that's i think that's where like the thing
00:13:51.360 where money gets me is i i think the government can make more money i think the government has
00:13:56.240 enough money i also think the government spends too much and that this is like an entire different
00:14:00.020 conversation outside of socialism when you go into what the government is spending their money on i
00:14:04.340 don't think we should be spending as much money on the military that also just goes to i'm very
00:14:08.460 anti-war i don't think okay fighting is like that's that's an entirely different conversation
00:14:14.020 yeah and then using that's like even so money is it's not arbitrary the value of our dollar is
00:14:21.220 proportioned to the amount of wealth that we have in this country so like the more money
00:14:25.540 have you heard of the quantitative theory of money yes so like the more money that the government
00:14:31.480 prints the less each dollar is worth therefore the more money we need to pay for each good and
00:14:38.140 service right why why does it have that's like that's like why does it have to be like like i
00:14:42.920 said at the end of the day it is a man-made thing it is a man-made idea why does it have to why can't
00:14:48.100 we not just have all an equal dollar create as much money as we need to help people in order to
00:14:53.140 get by but when you create that dollar you're not creating wealth see the reason we have so much
00:14:59.980 inflation right now in this country is because they're printing this money and they're not
00:15:03.920 creating wealth with it