MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. It's Your Turn. It's your turn. You can start calling now, 800-433-8850, with anything on your mind or go to our website, kojoshow.org, send us a tweet @kojoshow or email to kojo@wamu.org. Later in the broadcast, it's Food Wednesday, of course. Everything, everything you always wanted to know about sweet corn.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIBut first, as we said, Your Turn, 800-433-8850. On the politics behind the debate over raising the debt ceiling, what did that debate tell you about who's leading and where the country is headed? You can start calling now, 800-433-8850. An interesting thing happened on the way to the vote to raise the debt ceiling, the Tea Party flexed its political muscle. And the resulting agreement included no new tax revenues. The response of many democrats, liberals and progressives has been to blame their own political leadership.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIWhat seems to have escaped their attention is that the Tea Party is a grass roots movement that dominated the 2010 Congressional election. While there seems to be no equivalent grass roots movement on the part of the aforementioned progressives in the wake of the 2008 Presidential election, which some may argue may have been a grass roots movement on the part of progressives. But will this apparent defeat on the vote over raising the debt ceiling spark a grass roots movement among progressives or not?

MR. KOJO NNAMDICan pointing fingers become the same kind of outraged organizing that, in fact, fashioned the Tea Party or are we witnessing, on the part of progressives, just another blame game? Your turn 800-433-8850, you can go to our website, kojoshow.org and, of course, you can talk about anything else you'd like to talk about, 800-433-8850. Events in the news, previous editions of this broadcast or anything else. Here, we'll start with Frank in Manassas, Va. Frank, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

FRANKOh, yes, thank you. Thank you for taking the call. Following this is just really crazy. I mean, everybody's arguing defeat or victory and both sides are claiming both defeat and victory. They're cutting spending next year from a baseline which was inflated and they're only cutting it $21 billion, which is less than 1.5 percent. And you hear both sides congratulating themselves like crazy. It's just really foolish for anybody that sits back and looks and look at the markets, they know nothing happened.

FRANKYeah, sure, we avoided a disaster that was never going to happen anyway. The second point is, all this talk about the Tea Party and the republicans don't compromise, where was the compromise on the health care bill that was shoved through by reconciliation? Not a single republican voted for it. They didn't even try to get the republicans involved. Again, that's fine, it's their prerogative. But you didn't hear the press and the left waling and waling about the need for compromise. And everybody wants a balance thing. And the health care bill...

NNAMDIHelp me, help me here again, Frank. It seems to me that the health care bill, which was not voted on by any republicans at all, occurred at a time when democrats were still in the majority in both houses of Congress, correct?

FRANKYes.

NNAMDIOkay, go ahead.

FRANKSo...

NNAMDINo, I just said...

FRANKWhere was the balance? Where was the balance? It was quote, "shoved," it was shoved through.

NNAMDIWell, it's that health care bill...

FRANKIt was (unintelligible) ...

NNAMDI...it's that health care bill that was passed. And remember, a lot of people who described themselves as progressives were outraged that there was no public option in the bill. But that health care bill is what, in part, is -- accounts, in the eyes of many people, for the anger and rise of the Tea Party. Would you agree?

FRANKOh, oh, absolutely. But I -- you know, they -- now the depiction is that the Tea Party is so stubborn and so one sided and they probably are. I mean, I'm not really a member of them. But it just is annoying to hear that, oh, you know, compromise is important. There was no compromise on the health care bill, whatsoever.

NNAMDIWell, wouldn't you say that not including the public option was a compromise?

FRANKWell, that's like saying, okay, let's say that is on the extreme side. Then not including requiring a balanced budget amendment to pass, using compromise and agreeing to raise the debt at all is a compromise. If you're saying, you take an extreme position and you go off of an extreme position is a compromise (unintelligible) ...

NNAMDIYou think including a public option would be -- should be considered an extreme position?

FRANKYes.

NNAMDIComparable...

FRANKYes.

NNAMDI...comparable and extreme position comparable to not raising the debt ceiling at all?

FRANKComparable to not wanting a balanced budget amendment. The polls -- look at the polls of people that want a balance budget amendment. It's about 70 percent. The polls that wanted a public health care option, it's around 20 to 30 percent. So which is the extreme position?

NNAMDINo, I was talking more extreme in terms of impact, not in terms of...

FRANKKojo, Kojo...

NNAMDI..impact.

FRANK...Kojo, you cannot define extreme two ways depending on your own views. If you're saying that not including -- if you're saying that public options not including that was a compromise, I'm saying that's an extreme position because way fewer people in the public wanted a public option then want a bill on some other amendment. So you can't call a bill of this budget amendment extreme, but not call a public option extreme.

NNAMDIOkay, so you're saying that there was -- if there was compromise on the public option, then there has also been compromise on the part of republicans in not -- in allowing this to pass without a balanced budget amendment.

FRANKYeah. Yeah, I mean, if that's the way you're defining compromise and the republicans -- then the hard line republicans have been just as compromising as the democrats were. And, you know, the whole -- I know the mantra inside Washington and New York and everywhere else is, oh, the Tea Party is so uncompromising and rigid. Well, it's -- maybe it's true, but it's no less -- it's no more true than the left is uncompromising and rigid and all you have to do is point to the health care bill to prove it.

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you very much for your call, Frank. We move onto A.J. in Falls Church, Va. A.J., you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

A.J.Hi there, Kojo, how are you today?

NNAMDII'm well.

A.J.So -- first of all, let me thank you for letting your listeners and the callers speak, you know, rather than talking over them like some talk show hosts. That is appreciated. I'm sure it's appreciated by your listeners.

NNAMDII never talk over people when they call. I'm not talking over you right now -- no, go ahead, please.

A.J.No, I -- yeah. Well, I just wanted to say that the fact that either party is claiming victory over raising the debt limit is a sign of how bad our political times are in this country. I don't understand how anyone could consider it a victory to avoid default of our nation's debt and to avoid paying our bills. It's not a victory for anyone. It's a narrow escape, if it's anything. And so the fact that either party can actually consider themselves victorious over this is just a sign that they do not have the American people at heart, either party. And I believe that the partisan nature of our Congress is taking over rational thought. And it's very troubling.

NNAMDIWhat do you think about our earlier caller's point that there was, in fact, compromise on the part of Tea Party supporters in allowing this to be -- in allowing a vote on raising the debt ceiling without including a balanced budget amendment?

A.J.Well, you know, I would honestly have to agree with the caller, in that, when these Tea Party republicans signed a pledge, regardless of your thoughts of the pledge, that they would not vote on any legislation to increase the nation's debt, you know, that's a pledge that they had signed. And so, in their minds, with their principles, that was a compromise.

A.J.You know, at the same time, would have sticking to their principles had caused a lot of trouble for the people of the United States? That's true. But regardless of the amount of harm it would've caused, sticking to their principles, it was a compromise for them. So I do agree with that point.

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you very much for your call, A.J. On to Eric in Columbia, Md. Eric, your turn.

ERICYeah, hi Kojo, thanks for the call. And it's an interesting program. A couple fundamental things. Number one, I don't think that linear thinking is going to help this country any further. If there's a -- there's almost, like, a reduction, this view of everything. Everything's taken in little pieces and I haven't heard one politician with a holistic view of really how to, number one, guarantee our old people financial security, health access and a standard of living that has a safety net that is fundamentally defining the values of our country.

ERICBy removing the -- by going with a reductionist linear thinking, meaning that I'm all or none, that I have an absolute -- I absolutely, as the Tea Party people are saying, there's absolutely no role for the government in our lives or to reduce that role, without defining, really, what it means as a whole to our society is very misguided. And I think that the -- we get lost in the numbers. I mean, $14 trillion in debt is a scary number. But the way we got here is we had an administration -- a republican administration that had two simultaneous wars without taking the responsibility to pay for them.

ERICAnd the accumulative effect of that along with, you know, the tax cuts got us to where we are. So the spending, you know, I mean, it's a long conversation, but the spending -- the spending that the Tea party talks about, the unbridled spending, is really accumulative number. But again, the real deficiency in this argument is there's no holistic view and discussion about what values we want to keep. And that's really the center piece that's missing because the numbers don't mean anything...

NNAMDIYou know, I suspect that everyone who is either, A, running for President or, B, considering running for President will say to you, Eric, the reason you don't think I have a holistic argument is because you have not listened to my holistic argument. How would you respond?

ERICWell, I mean, I think it's a valid point. Everyone has a right to their opinion. I mean, that's what a democracy's about. I'm just saying that there's not a -- there needs to be a referendum -- fundamental referendum about really what we want to have as a society because all these entitle -- I mean, the bulk of the deficit is for unfunded entitlements. If you -- if we were to read -- if we were to renounce ourselves as a super power and reallocate the revenue -- just the revenue, not borrow anymore, just reallocate the revenue that comes in for health care and old age pensions and just fundamental safety nets, without a military, we wouldn't be too far (unintelligible) ...

NNAMDIWell, you know, Eric, one of -- if the so-called super committee of Congress fails to reach the kinds of cuts that can be approved by the Congress in straight up or down votes, then that would trigger cuts, both in social spending, which could include Medicare, and in defense. So if there are cuts in defense, you may, in a way, get your wish anyway. But I do have to move on to Alice in Ashton, Md. Alice, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ALICEWell, I think the media has really contributed to this hysteria over deficit spending versus jobs. There were other constitutional controls the President could've used. As a democrat, I blame the democrats. There would not have been a Tea Party movement if the democrats had focused on jobs and the economy and reduced the military spending, stopped building bases, stop expanding the war, linked the jobs to climate change. They would've been good green jobs...

NNAMDISo you think that the president coming into office and focusing immediately on a universal healthcare plan was a mistake, that he should've focused instead on jobs?

ALICERight. And I've heard Senator Harkin say that regretfully as well. Because if you can't feed your family, if you can't provide shelter, if you don't know where your next dime for food or shelter is coming from, healthcare is very low on the totem pole. Plus, the bill that Obama and the democrats passed, to their disgrace, makes every worker a captive funder of these insurance agencies that skim billions off for obscene salaries for delivering no healthcare. And the person who said there's no support for public option, I think, is incorrect.

ALICEI think the polls show huge support when people see that it doesn't address the healthcare delivery side, in terms of interfering with their choice of practitioners or treatments. It merely addresses the administrative side.

NNAMDISo, Alice, what do you do now?

ALICETry and find a progressive for groups such as Moveon.org and progressives, such as myself, to get behind. I will not vote for Obama. I will not vote for Mikulski or Cardin. I think they have failed to assert leadership, to stand up for why they were elected in the first place when we had a majority in all three...

NNAMDIWell, you know what they're going to say, Alice. They're going to say, if you don't vote for us, you're going vote for republicans?

ALICEWell, you know what, I agree. The Republicans can -- have destroyed this country in three months since they've taken over around the country. But the democrats have themselves to blame for not doing better and rather than promote and...

NNAMDISo what? Third party, third party, third party?

ALICEI think -- either a third party or a third candidate because Obama got in with the help of a lot of independents. They're not going to vote for him. They didn't want Republicans, which is why they voted for him when he campaigned on a progressive platform that he has betrayed almost 100 percent.

NNAMDIOkay. Thank you Alice. I do have to move on. Have time for one more. Rita, in Fairfax, Va. Rita, your turn.

RITAHi, thank you for taking my call, Kojo. I'm veer off onto what the previous speaker just said -- the previous caller. I don't believe Obama ever campaigned as a progressive. I'm progressive. I'm left of Mahatma Gandhi.

RITAI realized who Obama was when I voted for him. I will not vote for a republican because I -- like the caller before her, the man, believe that Bush and unfunded wars and his tax cuts have bankrupted the country and driven it entirely in the wrong direction.

RITAObama has always been a centrist. He was never far less progressive. So, you know, and the original reason I called was to say let the Tea Party claim a win here. The stock market's going to tell that they're wrong. Finance companies are going to tell them they're wrong. The financial businesses are going to tell them they're wrong and they can own the mistake that this lack of cutting and lack of new taxes is.

NNAMDIOkay. Rita, thank you very much for your call. I'm afraid we've come to the end of this edition of Your Turn. Of course, we'll revisit Your Turn just about every week. So hold those thoughts, you'll get the opportunity to express them at a later date. We're going to take a short break now. When we come back, Food Wednesday, sweet corn. Need I say more? I'm Kojo Nnamdi.