On this weekend's broadcast of the Adam & Dr. Drew Show podcast, Adam Carolla reacted to Sen. Elizabeth Warren's appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher earlier this month and her view of what the role of government should play in people's lives.



"She's the one that's always speaking to Democratic conventions and explaining to people how it just can't work out, and then she gets up there and goes, 'there was a time -- I grew up when our government did X, Y, and Z and I grew up in a place that you could and now you can't,'" Carolla said.



"It's like, what do you mean you can't? Just go do -- go clean the shit out of your back yard. What does that have to do with the federal government? I didn't even know what she's talking about," he said.



Carolla reacted to the oft-used "take back our country" rhetoric used by politics.



"We've got to get out there and we've got to be willing to fight back, to take this country back," Warren told Maher.



"Yeah, she means take it back and give more shit to people," Carolla responded.



Carolla and co-host Dr. Drew Pinsky spent a good portion of their hour-long biweekly podcast discussing the role of government, self-reliance and self-empowerment. Carolla and Dr. Drew also tackled welfare and the affect it has on motivation.



Carolla also responded to Warren's claim that "government is leaving people behind" and that government needs to "level the playing field"



"The government's leaving your family behind? You're supposed to take care of your family. The thing is get the taxes under control and let the people take care of their kids," Carolla said.



"There's no such thing as a level playing field. It's I would say mathematically impossible to create a level playing field and I'll tell you why," Carolla said.



"I went to the same school and had the same opportunity and education as the kids who didn't. I had friends who went to Stanford, but they had parents and their parents cared and they forced them to do homework and we ran like wild homeless chickens with their heads cut off. And that's what the difference was," Carolla explained.



"The problem with the government is they can create North Hollywood High and they can staff North Hollywood High, but they can't follow me home and force my parents to get their shit together so I can do homework," he said.



"No one's listening to me," Carolla said. "So they have to call me a bigot or whatever. They didn't used to. But if you can't afford kids, you're not ready for kids. We can focus on that. Let's not have kids. Look, we live in a society that just worries about third-hand smoke and click it or ticket. We're not focused on destitute people having no business having children not having children. That's something that doesn't come up on either platform."



"Elizabeth Warren wants to figure out how to level the playing field, I'll level it overnight. Don't have kids you can't afford. That will straighten things out really fucking fast. That is not part of the things that she discusses, nor does she discuss the government's role in that part," Carolla said to Dr. Drew.





ADAM CAROLLA: If you can find, I think it was last week -- if you're hearing this show, it's a couple weeks old -- on Real Time, Elizabeth Warren was like the first guest. She came up there... and she came in and she did this thing. She's the one that's always in there going, "I wish I could tell you that the playing field is leveled, but it's not." You know, there's nothing we can do. She's the one that's always speaking to Democratic conventions and explaining to people how it just can't work out, and then she gets up there and goes, "there was a time -- I grew up when our government did X, Y, and Z and I grew up in a place that you could and now you can't."



It's like, what do you mean you can't? Just go do -- go clean the shit out of your back yard. What does that have to do with the federal government? I didn't even know what she's talking about. You know, she gets into student loans. Okay, those are people who are in college, they're in college. Okay, they have student loans, they're in debt. But they're in college. Are we worried about colleges? I'm talking about people who have a ninth-grade education, who have a shopping cart on their front lawn. Which is it? And I know we could raise the minimum wage to $15. But then people would have a career working at McDonalds. You would be working at McDonalds in your 40s. It's supposed to be a job that you work a couple of summers in high school and then you quit, step up and then move on like I did. I had a proper incentive not to stay with that franchise because I got paid $3/hour and it sucked.



But what I'm saying to everyone is: go look out your fucking back window. What's that pile of shit doing in your backyard? And then go fucking move it. You know that doesn't cost money. And by the way, the same with the fucking front yard. The same with the curb appeal. The same with the blistering paint that is on the fascia and the trim of your front house. What does it cost for you to get up on an A-frame ladder on a Saturday? You to get some 80-grit sanding paper on a block, you can sand that fucking fascia off and put a fresh coat of primer on it with a foam weenie roller. $19? What are we talking about?



DR. DREW: But you made the point, and I think this is the point that's true is that this is so grinding, the situations now, it's so grinding, this whole lack of meaning and such dread. People get depressed and they can't. They physically can't do it. And they're not going to.



CAROLLA: No, they're not going to.



DR. DREW: But if we don't find a way to make meaning for people, and it's so interesting to me.



CAROLLA: Why do we need to find a way to make meaning for people?



DR. DREW: Because we are all connected, for Christ's fucking sake.



CAROLLA: Fuck you. I'm not connected to these losers.



###



CAROLLA: We'll listen to Elizabeth Warren try to explain to us what's going to happen...



MAHER: About your family history. I didn't realize they went through the depression



WARREN: Yeah.



MAHER: The Dust Bowl.



WARREN: Oh yeah.



MAHER: And really they were held back on their feet by government help.



WARREN: Yes.



MAHER: Which I know is a bad concept for some parties in this country. Do you think that kind of help exists in this environment that we live in?



WARREN: You know, I think that what's happened is coming out of the Great Depression, we really developed the idea that we didn't have to have a boom-and-bust economy, where people got wiped out. That we could really start pitching in together, we could have some tough rules on Wall Street, we could have some tough rules for the banks, and we could start building something together. And we did it. We gave kids better opportunities for education, we built more infrastructure, TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), right? Made all those investments in research. We built a future for this country, and we did it together.



I wrote this book, A Fighting Chance, out of gratitude because I grew up in an America that was investing in its kids, that was helping to build a future for its kids, and we lost our way from that. We've turned into a different direction. We now have a government that works for millionaires and billionaires and Fortune 500 companies, but it's leaving real families, real people behind.



CAROLLA: Hold on. The government's leaving your family behind? You're supposed to take care of your family. The thing is get the taxes under control and let the people take care of their kids.



DR. DREW: And their liberty. Yes, give them their liberty to do that.



CAROLLA: Do you feel like you're being left behind? I'm not sure what the government -- this thing like, "They're leaving me! They're not taking care of me! What am I supposed to do?" You're supposed to take care of your family.



DR. DREW: You're supposed to take care of yourself.



CAROLLA: And then your kids.



DR. DREW: Government is not supposed to take care of you. The government is supposed to create a level playing field, I agree. Listen, what's interesting to me is I agree with 95% of what she said.



CAROLLA: Yeah.



DR. DREW: Right? I agree that the TVA, the Works Progress [Administration] and all the New Deal stuff was the right thing at the right time.



CAROLLA: At the time.



DR. DREW: At the time...



CAROLLA: What I don't like is the constant beating of the drum of "what is the government going to do for you" and this is why you can't get along.



DR. DREW PINSKY: And I agree it needs to do something, not what it's doing. It needs to do something, it needs to something very proactive and novel and different than what it's doing. It needs to empower individuals and individual families somehow.



CAROLLA: Empower.



DR. DREW: Give me a new word. Give me a new word. Pay attention to?



ADAM CAROLLA: Let's play the rest.



DR. DREW PINKSKY: Give me another word. Seriously. I agree, empowering sounds condescending.



CAROLLA: Let's hear a little more.



SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN: We've got to get out there and we've got to be willing to fight back, to take this country back.



DR. DREW: I agree with that. That's what we're talking about.



CAROLLA: Yeah, she means take it back and give more shit to people.



BILL MAHER: When I hear you talk like that, I always think why aren't there more of yous in the Democratic Party? And when I say yous -- I'm not from Brooklyn, why aren't there more yous?



DR. DREW: What's her background?



CAROLLA: She's a Senator.



MAHER: Why aren't there more people who talk like you in the Democratic Party because I don't really hear that a lot from [your colleagues]?



WARREN: Well, you know though, I think that we've got this election in 2014. And a big part.



MAHER: In a month.



WARREN: In a month, that's right.



MAHER: A lot of people don't even know there's an election.



CAROLLA: Alright.



DR. DREW: Yeah, because they feel so dis-empowered and disenfranchised they don't give a shit because their not a special interest.



CAROLLA: Yeah, but what I'm saying is, and I agree with that, what I'm saying is citizens get together, get the government back. It's just government, keep up safe, keep the roads working, keep the military up and running. And then it will come down to us to work on ourselves, our families, our backyards, our front yards.



DR. DREW: I would argue that our local governments make a difference. Our local governments could be the ones who could lead everyone.



CAROLLA: My problem with Elizabeth Warren is she, if you see her at the DNC whatever, she did this whole thing on -- the drum that she bangs is, "I'd like to tell you that it's an even playing field, but it's not."



DR. DREW: I agree with her.



CAROLLA: I agree with her, too. But the problem is that makes people want to go back into their house and not clean up their yard. There's no such thing as a level playing field. It's I would say mathematically impossible to create a level playing field and I'll tell you why.



DR. DREW: Why?



CAROLLA: Your father did what for a living?



DR. DREW: But, dude, now you're getting into --



CAROLLA: What did your father do?



DR. DREW: He was a physician.



CAROLLA: He was a physician. My dad was a fucking zero. So already we have a fucked up playing field for me versus you, right?



DR. DREW: You have to understand there is a whole philosophy by a guy names [John] Rawls that says that the way that you assess the legitimacy or quality of a society is that all of that is expunged and you create a level playing field that is independent of whatever your birth situation is.



CAROLLA: But it's impossible --



DR. DREW: Well, therefore if you --



CAROLLA: You were able to go to college because your dad was a p physician. My family was fucking destitute and I was unable to go to college.



DR. DREW: So the question is how do -- the question becomes how does society manage that?



CAROLLA: It's easy.



DR. DREW: It's not easy. If it were easy, we'd do it...



CAROLLA: There is quite a gap in parents, money, education, and blah, blah, blah. Everybody sort of ended up where they ended up through many different paths. And I agree with you, Drew, that I went to the same school and had the same opportunity and education as the kids who didn't. I had friends who went to Stanford, but they had parents and their parents cared and they forced them to do homework and we ran like wild homeless chickens with their heads cut off. And that's what the difference was.



The problem with the government is they can create North Hollywood High and they can staff North Hollywood High, but they can't follow me home and force my parents to get their shit together so I can do homework.



DR. DREW: And I'm saying if maybe people were really creative and interested, maybe we could figure that one out.



CAROLLA: Well I have figured it out.



DR. DREW: Alright.



CAROLLA: Don't have kids if you [can't afford them] -- how long have I been saying this, Drew?



DR. DREW: I understand.



CAROLLA: For 20 years?



DR. DREW: So far it hasn't worked out.



CAROLLA: Well, no one's listening to me. So they have to call me a bigot or whatever. They didn't used to. But if you can't afford kids, you're not ready for kids. We can focus on that. Let's not have kids. Look, we live in a society that just worries about third-hand smoke and click it or ticket. We're not focused on destitute people having no business having children not having children. That's something that doesn't come up on either platform.



Elizabeth Warren wants to figure out how to level the playing field, I'll level it overnight. Don't have kids you can't afford. That will straighten things out really fucking fast. That is not part of the things that she discusses, nor does she discuss the government's role in that part. (Adam & Dr. Drew Show, October 18, 2014)