Episode 58: A Doctor in The House
Guest: Dr. Tim Peck (D) Candidate for US House of Representatives (IN-09)
Complete show notes and more at https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com
https://timpeckforcongress.com/
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/in09
As long as I can remember, Republicans have been complaining about the “liberal media.” Now, the tactic long predates my political consciousness, the current strain of criticism originating in post-war McCarthy-era anti-communist red baiting. From print to radio, TV, cable, satellite, and the internet, weirdo extremist groups like the John Birch Society kept the embers burning on the fringe, but this attack really went mainstream with the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign. Nixon continued to use the media as useful foil; Reagan picked up his mantle, and before you know it we’re into Rush Limbaugh, right wing hate radio, Fox News, and all of their spawn that have now poisoned the aquifers downstream. Decades of working the refs has paid off to such an extent that a cognitively impaired, 34-times convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, foreign asset is treated like a normal presidential candidate.
Market conditions have incentivized outlets to prioritize coverage of the horse race rather than the track conditions or, more importantly, the stakes. The pursuit of clicks and eyeballs, and consequently ad dollars, has encouraged the media to engage in dishonest both-sides framing and false equivalence, sanewashing the incoherent, rambling Trump in an effort to manufacture a close contest.
Remember that feeling during his reign of terror in the White House, the years when you had to look at the news first thing in the morning to see what the hell he did this time? The anxiety? The fear? The embarrassment? Yeah, that shit was a goldmine for the corporate media conglomerates.
They have a fiduciary duty to march us straight into fascism if that’s good for their bottom line, the most recent signs of pre-capitulation coming from the billionaire owners at the LA Times and Washington Post, who both recently overrode their respective editorial boards’ endorsements of Kamala Harris, telegraphing their willingness to serve as Trump’s Pravda in a new, authoritarian America.
The media have gotten so bad at their jobs, they can’t even handle a story that used to be right in their wheelhouse. Like a washed-up slugger who can’t get around on a fastball anymore, our elite journalists let a classic “missing white woman” story blow right by ‘em.
And to make matters worse, the disappeared damsel in question is a sitting United States Congresswoman, my very own representative in Indiana’s 9th district, Erin Houchin. She has declined to debate, to participate in candidate forums, to take questions from constituents, or even answer phone calls and emails. She sends staffers to hold office hours in the district while she jets to swings states to stump for the aforementioned cognitively impaired, 34-times convicted, adjudicated rapist, foreign asset, who she still cannot unequivocally admit lost the 2020 election. Hoosiers in Southeastern Indiana are more likely to see their elected congressperson on a milk carton than on the campaign trail.
Her Democratic opponent is my guest today. Dr. Tim Peck is a physician, entrepreneur, and teacher with prior experience writing healthcare policy in the nation’s capital. He is running a centrist campaign focusing on shared non-partisan values like government efficiency, fair taxation, public safety, affordable & accessible healthcare, support for small business, a secure border, and strong military.
In the following interview, we’ll talk about his career in medicine and business, the twisted incentives of the US healthcare system, immigration, defense spending, the Supreme Court, and the questionable company his opponent keeps.
Cited in Interview:
Indiana’s Ninth Congressional District: https://www.congress.gov/member/district/erin-houchin/H001093
Peck’s telemedicine startup: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/tim-peck-call9-telemedicine-founder-lived-in-nursing-home.html
Government shutdowns kill: https://miscellanynews.org/2023/09/27/opinions/the-government-shutdown-will-kill-people/
Fee-for-service vs. Value-based care: https://prognocis.com/fee-for-service-vs-value-based-care/
Comparing health systems in the developed world: https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?entry=table-of-contents-introduction
Capitalism and the care economy: https://prospect.org/health/capitalism-and-the-caring-economy/
Healthcare corporations dominate Fortune Top 25: https://healthexec.com/topics/healthcare-management/business-intelligence/fortune-500s-top-10-healthcare-companies
Not-for-profit hospital systems an accounting trick: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/commentary-nonprofit-hospitals-rolling-in-money
Rokita joins suit over nurse:patient staffing mandate: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/10/09/indiana-joins-multi-state-lawsuit-seeking-to-halt-federal-nursing-home-staffing-rule/
Medicaid rates to nursing homes: https://leadingage.org/aspe-report-medicaid-payments-to-nursing-homes-average-82-of-costs-of-care/
Modern Monetary Theory and the Deficit Myth: https://stephaniekelton.com/book/
MIA Houchin stumps for Trump in Georgia: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=946975770575239
Houchin’s corrupt benefactor: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/07/01/what-will-come-of-the-thousands-in-political-donations-by-disgraced-indiana-sheriff-jamey-noel/
Conservatives kill own border bill: https://www.newsweek.com/republican-will-vote-against-his-own-border-bill-1903337
Progressive call for Israel arms embargo: https://theintercept.com/2024/09/30/israel-arms-embargo-lebanon-progressives/
Open corruption on the Supreme Court: https://www.propublica.org/series/supreme-court-scotus
Great podcast on the fifty year takeover of the court: https://www.levernews.com/masterplan/
Population migration in the Louisville metro area: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/louisville-is-losing-population-while-suburban-counties-grow-can-the-city-reverse-course/ar-BB1lQpFW
Once again, that was Dr. Tim Peck, Democratic candidate for US House of Representatives for Indiana’s 9th Congressional district, which stretches from Bloomington to the south and east, including the Indiana suburbs of both Louisville and Cincinnati, and the vast rural area in between.
Now, maybe I sound like a broken record at this point, but with the stakes so high and time so short, I don’t mind covering this ground again. So, for the folks over here with me on the left flank of the Democratic coalition, or just outside of it, especially those who aren’t enamored with their choices this year and are considering sitting this one out, lend me your ear.
I did not vote for Dr. Peck in the primary - I supported his democratic socialist opponent. I did not appreciate the Indiana 9th District Democratic Committee putting their thumb on the scale and endorsing a candidate before voters had a say. But what am I gonna do, cut off my nose to spite my face?
Like Cinde Wirth in the 6th District and Deborah Pickett in the 5th, both running as pragmatic centrists against far-right MAGA sympathizers, Peck is a highly-intelligent, capable, big systems thinker with a deep understanding of the complex forces shaping governments and markets in his area of expertise.
So yeah, maybe we over here on the progressive or socialist left favor a single-payer, Medicare For All-type solution for the systemic failings of the US healthcare system. And maybe Dr. Peck says, “not so fast, my friend,” but in the end I suspect we all want the same thing - affordable, patient-centered, universal coverage - and we’re wrangling over the type of scaffolding to erect while the system undergoes a thorough remodel.
On perhaps the biggest point of contention for the far-left, Israel, Peck’s call for the US to reign in their client state’s excesses with a potential offensive arms embargo surpasses anything we’re hearing from Vice President Harris.
Donald Trump, JD Vance, their billionaire benefactors, and their pusillanimous enablers like Erin Houchin are this close to ushering in a new era of American, perhaps global, fascism. From the top of the ballot to the bottom, and at all points in between, this truly is an existential battle for the soul of the nation. Center and left MUST come together and decisively relegate this movement to the dustbin of history. Then, we can haggle over the way forward.
I’ve made the same argument countless times over the past several months and will continue until I’m blue in the face if necessary. Unless we undertake a major restructuring of our elections, we have a two-party system in this country. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, or even the enemy of the just okay. Don’t sit this one out or vote third party to prove a point - that is the height of privilege: you might not suffer, but the already-vulnerable will.
So, my friends on the left, lend me your ear and hear this plea. Or lend me your rear, so I might kick it.
Thanks for listening, and thanks again to my guest, Dr. Tim Peck. We have a winnable race here in the ninth, so please help out his campaign however you can. Write postcards. Knock doors. Donate. Find out how at timpeckforcongress.com.
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Episode 58: A Doctor in The House