Summary:

In this episode of The Zekely Podcast, host Zeke interviews Dr. Margaret Burke, a candidate for the Pennsylvania State House, who shares her journey as an advocate for families navigating special education and healthcare. The conversation also touches on personal anecdotes, humor, and the significance of getting the Trifecta this year in Pennsylvania.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction Margaret Burke

01:45 Family

06:32 Drugs

09:11 Cost of Living

10:43 Soap

12:41 Democrat

13:46 Wage

15:03 Pay Me

21:41 Genealogy

23:53 School Meals

26:39 Family Support

28:08 Family Matters

31:31 Mental Health

34:17 Mental Health Services

36:57 Hope

38:20 The Future

40:31 Wrap Up

Margaret Burke: burkeforpa147.vote

Full Video Episode Available On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheZekelyPodcast

Short Clips Can Be Found On TikTok: @drzeketayler/@thezekelypodcast and Instagram: @thezekelypodcast

www.thezekelypodcast.com

Hello, I'm Zeke, and welcome to The Zekely Podcast. Let's talk, Pennsylvania.

The guest I have today lives in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, and over the past two decades, she has become a voice for families navigating special education services, healthcare challenges, and the transition to adulthood for people with disabilities. And now she's running to flip a state house seat blue this year. Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Margaret Burke.

I’m Zeke, a doctor, a Pennsylvanian and unapologetic supporter of Democratic values. You might have seen me on social media working my ass off for Democrats and meeting some pretty amazing people along the way - like President Barack Obama and Governor Josh Shapiro.

For years, I’ve knocked thousands of doors all over Pennsylvania and poured my heart and soul into supporting candidates and causes that make a difference—from local school board races to national elections. The personal is political, and I take every election in Pennsylvania personally.

Where the mainstream media has failed you, I will give you truth and independence. You’ll hear from Democratic leaders, candidates, and change-makers who are working to improve the health of the Commonwealth, and it won’t be boring as hell.

No matter where you are, I’ll meet you with hope and a plan to make your community better one day at a time. Welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let’s talk Pennsylvania.

Hi,

Zeke. Thank you so much for having me and thanks for all you do. You're amazing.

you know, one day at a time, Margaret, we're all doing our part for Pennsylvania. And my God, you are running for the state house. That's huge. That is huge for you and your family.

Yes, my son loves it. You've met my son. He's a hundred percent politics, a hundred percent of the time. He's having a ball.

That's awesome. I'm sure he's so proud of you. We're gonna learn all about you, play some games, and have some funny. Are you ready?

Out of him.

Yes.

right, here we go.

I love that. So, so many parents, when they first got it get a diagnosis for their child, it's such a scary time. You don't know what's available to you.

So in in Pennsylvania, we have early intervention services that

You qualify for when your child is age zero, birth to age three. then you transition to the school district services, and then after that you transition to adult services, including job training, etc. There are a plethora and a confusing maze of supports from the localist starting with a hospital you're born your child is born in.

Mm-hmm.

Or in my case, got to after he was born,

Some things are required by federal law, they're delivered by your county in association with the state. If you need social security services support for your child, that is through the federal government and the requirements can be feel overwhelming. And so for families, there is a lot.

But it's very confusing to know what you need to find. And

And that requires legislative change. And to to get some legislative change, as you know, is very difficult because in Pennsylvania we have this split. the House is controlled right now by slim majority by the Democrats, and the Senate is controlled by the Republicans. And just getting any legislation passed is very difficult.

Yeah.

any legislation is bottlenecked now, no matter who agrees with it.

It's terrible. And

It's very sad.

it's just so terrible the way that they talk about the disabled community, the Trump administration, Republican politicians. They they clearly have no problem further marginalizing them and not increasing their access to health care and just existing in society. and that trickles down to our own state. You know, the Republican politicians in our own state feel the exact same way.

Whether they say it out loud or not, because as you just said, they're not passing laws to make it easier and less complicated to raise people with you know, disabilities.

I'm not running for a federal position. I'm running for a state position. But just to take a moment of how that sets the temperature in our country. From the very start, making fun of the physical disability of a reporter set my child with physical disabilities on this path of of being very interested in politics because that hurt his heart. And honestly, it hurt my heart.

Right.

Recently, the Department of Justice, I think last week, saying that states do not have to provide for people with disabilities in their community.

it's from the beginning to last week, there's just been just such a disregard, I feel, for people with disabilities. It's heartbreaking. And on top of that, there are fewer grant opportunities. When we talk about inclusion, that's the eye that people hate in diversity, equity, and inclusion. So there were problems.

I know.

programs that were available to available to my child with disabilities, including therapeutic course writing, that no longer exist. Where he went to preschool, the program that he had was an inclusive preschool environment where he and his twin sister went, no longer exists here because it's too expensive. People can't get grants because you can't say accessible and accessibility in grants.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

because you can't be inclusive anymore. So even the very few things that I worked hard to find to support my child with his disabilities are no longer available to younger families who are just trying to support their young children with disabilities. And to me that's heartbreaking and unacceptable.

It's terrible. And another large reason why we need you to get elected, expand our democratic majority in the state house so that when we get the trifecta this year, which we're gonna get it, Margaret, we're gonna get it, we need to pass legislation that will help people that are in your position now. You know, we can't we obviously aren't gonna get any help from the federal administration, which is terrible, but we can protect people in Pennsylvania with disabilities this year. So thank you for having that empathy. Something that for some reason Republican politicians think is a weakness in this country. It's not.

Your love for your child, your advocacy, allowed him to grow into the person he is today. And I'm I'm very grateful for that.

Margaret, I wouldn't expect you to know this about me, but I attended the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, which no longer exists. St. Joseph's University bought it recently.

Okay.

University of the Sciences was the largest pharmacy school in the country. Actually, the original pharmacy school in the country, I know that you have a background in that. so we are gonna play a game called Let's Do Some Drugs, okay? Okay.

I'm gonna tell you some drugs and you're gonna tell me if you think it would be an enjoyable experience or not to take it. Okay. With your pharmacy yeah, with your pharmacy background, you should be good with this, right?

my goodness.

Okay, Zeke, first of all, let me say, I have a background in vaccine development. So

Ha ha.

okay. Well, you know,

we're gonna play adjacent. Okay, I'm just gonna well an adjacent game. This is gonna be even more fun then if you if you don't know any of these, okay? So if I was just gonna give you straight up succinyl choline, would that be a fun experience or not?

No idea.

Well, it would not be fun because it's a paralytic. So you would be paralyzed. Yeah, it's a drug that I use as an anesthesiologist. we give other drugs along with it to help facilitate protecting your airway. Okay, so that's not good. All right. How about midazolam? Would that be a fun experience or not? You don't know. Okay. What about there's another name for it, versed. Does that sound familiar?

no.

Okay, no thanks.

Not a vaccine, don't know.

now that's something that people take to relax, correct? I don't do that. I don't relax,

Relax, yeah. Well that so medazolam is you don't

Eek. Sorry.

you don't relax, but if you

can tell you if you're gonna get a colonoscopy, you're gonna wanna take midazolam, okay? It it helps you relax, it helps you forget what's going on, so that would be a good one.

Okay.

All right. How about

bupivacaine? Would bupivacaine be a good or a bad experience? Thumbs up, thumbs down.

I don't know.

I don't I don't even think bu let me try that.

Bucivitan? Bupivic I can't even say it, so I don't know what my experience would be.

Bupivicane.

Yeah, bupivacine. Okay. It it would be fine.

It's like it's like lidocaine. It's a local anesthetic. Yeah. Yeah. So we use it for nerve blocks in the hospital at last a really long time. Helps you out with your pain control. All right, here's a last one. I'm not gonna torture much longer. How about adenicine or adenosine, some people say. Yeah.

mm hmm. Yep, get him yeah.

Adenosine.

Is this gonna be fun or not fun?

n neutral.

Neutral? Well, it it's a good drug. It basically stops your heart temporarily if you're having an arrhythmia, but a lot of times we give it when you're sedated. So it wouldn't be fun if you only gave adenosine. Okay. You'd want to give that with verset or something else. Okay. So

boy, you know a lot of stuff.

I I don't talk about I don't talk

Thank God for you guys, honestly.

yeah, now when you get your nice colonoscopy you can have a little conversation with about bursett, okay?

Said yes, thank you.

Margaret, how are you going to help address the cost of living in Pennsylvania as a state representative?

First of all, one of the major things that we have to address is our cost of electricity. Like right now in our state,

there's a heat wave in Pennsylvania here, or it finally broke, I think, today is some breaking. And honestly, many people on fixed budgets, including the elderly, can't afford to even turn on

their air conditioning.

And we need to make sure we have no legislation basically now sub regulating data centers. And we need to do something about that because what happens is the way our grid works is when there's more demand for energy, we all pay more. So corporations are benefiting from this electricity use. And who ends up paying the bill is our basic residential consumers.

it's

ridiculous.

I mean, we need people like you to come into Harrisburg and say we're not going to allow you to take advantage of citizens in the Commonwealth. And so I'm very grateful you're gonna address that.

Of course.

Margaret, I understand you have a hobby watching South Korean soap operas on Netflix on your laptop at the lowest brightness, on mute at one point five speed to help you fall asleep. Is it that is

Yes, I can't keep

up and I fall asleep. I'm out.

That is that is phenomenal. I think that that is a cur that is an interesting hobby.

I think I developed it during the pandemic when I started really getting into watching Netflix, yes.

Yeah.

Okay. It sounds like a sleep aid more than anything, right?

Yes, for sure. Yes.

Well, I'm gonna test your knowledge of a South Korean soap opera. We're gonna play a game called Drop the Soap, okay? And it's it's it's a trivia game about soap operas, right? Here's the first question. Which of these professions appears most frequently as a romantic lead in modern K dramas? It's multiple choice. Is it an architect, prosecutor, veterinarian, or a chef?

Think it would be a prosecutor just based on what I watch.

You are correct. See, you you're actually watching these a little bit, Margaret. I'm impressed. Okay, here's the second one.

In many South Korean romance dramas, what does sharing an umbrella often symbolize?

Is it a business partnership, a growing emotional closeness, a family reunion, or a goodbye?

It's always a growing emotional closeness. It's very touching.

You

are correct, Margaret. You are so correct. Okay, here's the last one. Which season is most often used as a backdrop for dramatic first confession? Is it spring, summer, autumn, or winter?

It's usually spring because like in D C they have all the blossoms coming down.

I guess. I mean, the according to the the research I did it was winter. But I mean I believe I believe you But you're you're clearly watching these more than sleeping sometimes, let's be honest.

Margaret, why

are you a Democrat and why do you choose to represent the Democratic Party?

That question. I think I am a Democrat because I believe in personal freedom. The government should not be controlling what me and my daughter can do with our own lives. And I am a Democrat because I believe that everybody should have a fair shot.

My mom had garage sales for the National Organization of Women in our backyard.

supported the ERA. So we were long taught to fight for others and to work hard and that the world was our oyster and that it should be fair for everybody.

That you believe that when done correctly, government helps the most amount of people. I'm I'm sure you very much believe that. And just the values, the ideologies within the Democratic platform really speak to me. And I'm glad they speak to you. We need more people like you to get to Harrisburg and make government work for all Pennsylvanians.

Margaret, the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no multiple times to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, which sits at a despicable seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. How does that make you feel?

Feel great about that. I feel that any person who works 40 hours a week should be able to have healthcare, afford rent or a mortgage to send their kids to college. And that used to be the case here in our country. You could deliver mail and you could have a home, a car, four kids, send to college, and have a great middle class life. Minimum wage had a lot to do with that.

No, and I'm glad that you would vote to increase it. I mean, Josh Shapiro, our governor, who is going to get re-elected, and we're gonna get the trifactus, we can get all this done, has agreed to sign a bill to increase the minimum wage in Pennsylvania because it's embarrassing, it really is, that every state that touches Pennsylvania has figured out a way to increase their minimum wage and not tank their economies, right? All the businesses in New York and Ohio and New Jersey haven't left to go someplace. The millionaires in those states have not left because they've had to pay their workers more.

Yes.

Right.

Right. So I'm

Right.

glad that we're on the same page. It's time to get it done in Pennsylvania.

right, we're gonna play another game, Margaret, called Pay

Me. Okay. I want to know if there's any amount of money that would make you do any of the following. Okay. Would any amount of money at when you become a state representative make you vote to ban abortion in Pennsylvania?

my, okay.

This is particularly dear to me. When my daughter was graduating from high school, is right around the time that we knew Roe v. Wade was gonna be overturned. And we did not can even consider any colleges in in states where we thought that abortion would be banned because it's not safe to go there. Or perhaps you meet somebody, start a family there, and you need to be able to be safe. And my daughter.

And all her friends need to remain safe in this state so they can prosper here. They should be free in every state, but we have to keep them free to

to

make decisions over their own lives and reproductive health here in Pennsylvania. There is no amount of money you could give me to hurt my child.

I agree. And there were there there are physician colleagues of mine who have said that, you know, if for whatever reason reproductive access goes away in Pennsylvania, that they'll leave the state. They will go to New Jersey or Delaware because they w they don't wanna have to choose between practicing evidence based medicine, the oath that they took, versus breaking the law. You know, they don't want they're not gonna make that choice, right? So they're gonna leave and that's gonna create healthcare deserts. It's gonna be bad for Pennsylvania in general.

Course. It would be dangerous.

So I'm glad that you would not take any money to ban abortion in Pennsylvania. Because you know there are lobbyists who are paying the Republican politicians to do just that. All right, a couple more. Is there any amount of money that would make you vote to make it easier for ghost guns and machine gun conversion devices to be purchased in Pennsylvania?

Yes.

No. And my opponent

No. No amount of money?

votes against all common sense gun control legislation. Ghost guns, red flag laws.

Yeah. That's crazy.

It's crazy to me.

Yeah, I mean the most the most common cause of death in children in Pennsylvania is gun violence. And if you can't do the minimum of protecting the lives of children in your own state, then you really should not qualify to be a state representative. So I'm I'm glad I'm glad that you're not for sale by the NRA. You enjoy that F rating from the NRA, okay? You you wear you'll take it.

Mm-hmm.

I agree. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll I'll take it. Look, my

my daughter, I didn't tell you this, was at University of Vermont when those students were shot. She had she had gone home early on Thanksgiving and was in her flying back from visiting us

And then she got back to the dorm and she texted me, mommy.

Where I'm in an active shooter lockdown. And I know many people have prepared for this, they have trained for it. I was not ready for that. I kept Googling all night. There was no information. And I have to tell you, I was like, honey, go in, go in your room, stay away from the windows, barricade the doors. And she's like, Mom, we're just together watching a movie in the common room because these

Kids have trained to be shot every day of their lives in school. And so to them, they expected it. And that's heartbreak, that's more heartbreaking for me than anything. We have to do something here.

mean, I'm look, I th I think shootings occur all over the country, not just in colleges, but you know, high schools, middle schools, everywhere. And, you know, my s my son's gonna be going to college next year in in in twenty twenty seven. And so I just I can't imagine as a parent getting that text message or n notification

Yeah.

Congratulations.

on the news that this is happening and to feel that helplessness that, my God, you know, this is actually happening. So

I'm glad that you wouldn't be for sale when it comes to that. here's my last one.

No.

is there any amount of money that would make you vote to prevent licensed pharmacists to provide recommended vaccines to Pennsylvanians?

No. No.

Yeah. And a and as someone

who worked at you know, got their PhD and worked with vaccines, this must be a very, you know, important thing to you.

Have to tell you, my opponent did not vote to require insurance companies to cover vaccines. they that's preventative medicine is one of the best things that we can do to keep us healthy. It's so much easier to prevent disease than to try to cure us after we're we're ill. You full well know as a doctor.

I know. Yeah.

my husband formulated RoteTec, which is the rot rotavirus vaccine. My husband's a vaccine formulator. And that vaccine, when it was provided in Africa, and it could be provided in Africa because my husband was able to find a way to formulate it so that instead of being frozen, it can be refrigerated. And you know that to transport a frozen product in Africa is very difficult. And that saved lives.

Wow.

my god.

For children who are dying from diarrhea from rotavirus in Africa. And right away, we cut all that with Trump this time.

it has nothing to do with science or protecting children. It's all political and it's really heartbreaking to see it. Vaccines are safe and effective and they save lives.

That's I mean, look, clean water, antibiotics, and vaccines are the reason why human beings can live as long as we do today. And and it's just like watching Republican politicians play with the lives of Americans and people around the world is just disgusting as a doctor and a human being. You saw recently, you know, the military got rid of their influenza vaccine requirements and all of a sudden like hundreds of yeah, hundreds of people got sick and they put it they're like, wait, that was a bad idea. We're gonna reinstitute getting

my God, they died somebody died. Somebody died.

the flu vaccine. Like no no shit. Like like what did you think was gonna ha you these people are just

I just heard Patrick Murphy talking about that. and he yeah, he's he was in the military and he I he told me that somebody died because of that. unconscious.

It's crazy.

It's it's just it's just insane. They just they

just don't care about the lives of other human beings. And it's just all about power and control and it's just disgusting. But I I'm just I'm grateful that there's no amount of money that would take those wonderful brain cells of yours that you know, all the research that you've done that your husband has done, and take away that access to, you know, viable and important healthcare from Pennsylvania. So thank you for that.

It's

Margaret, during

COVID you went down a genealogy rabbit hole. and you discovered you were related to Edward Hopper and Lillian Blavet. Is the is the Blavelt. and for those who don't know, yeah, it's amazing. You know, Edward Hooper Edward Hopper was an American realist painter.

my gosh, yes I did.

Blawveld, yes. Famous opera star, the Taylor Swift of her day, I'm told. Yeah. Hopper, yes.

And one of America's most renowned artists, and as you said, Lillian was a popular opera singer in New York City, and was really known internationally in the twentieth century. So

Mm.

Yes.

Yeah, she traveled to Europe. She sang for royalty. And Edward Hopper. my gosh, please forgive me. And if this doesn't go well, you can just cut it. well, don't don't look at the laundry there. The night. Yeah. No, that's not the original. I could not afford the original. Yes. Yeah.

Sure, what are we looking at? You take your t there my gosh, yeah. Got some nice artwork on the wall. It's okay. You have you have

one of your one of your family members' artwork in your house. That makes sense.

the oddest thing is, my daughter is very she has so much artistic talent. and my dad did as well. And I have I draw.

even bad stick figures. And I cannot sing. I like to sing, but it is horrible. Everybody tells me to stop singing. So being related to a famous opera singer and a famous artist, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Ha ha ha.

That's amazing. Yeah, I had I honestly don't know who I'd be related to. I've never done the 23 in me type of things before. but I I am curious sometimes, you know, what would kind of pop up? What kind of people I'd be you know, once, twice, three times removed kind of thing.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

boy, Zeke, I'm gonna get you started on this. You don't have to do 23andMe. I it helped a little bit.

Okay.

there's a site called family family search.org. And all you need to know is just, you know, you just put in the names of the people that you do know and records. So much is digitized now and available. The records pop up and you can once you connect to work that somebody else has done, you can

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You'll the stuff you'll find is amazing. Yeah, it's really cool.

Yeah. Or or may or

maybe terrifying. Maybe I'll be related to someone I don't want to be related to. Yeah, it might not all be great.

It's not all c it's not all great, yes. Yes.

Margaret, the current Republican state representative serving in your district voted no to establish a public school meal debt fund. Could you tell me, Margaret, in what situation is it appropriate for a child to go hungry in Pennsylvania?

there is no situation where it is appropriate for a child to go hungry in Pennsylvania. I think that that meal debt is immoral.

Yeah, I just don't g I don't understand.

I mean, th there's I see video clips that go viral sometimes, you know, where people ask Republican politicians at the state level, congressional level, you know, why can't we do something to help people, whether it's maternity leave or feed people? They just think everything it's not my problem. Like, if we give them this, they're gonna ask for a big screen TV. If we give them this, then they're gonna wanna have a multimillion dollar mansion. It's like there there are certain standards, certain, you know.

Inalienable rights that we should all have as human beings, you know, to to be alive. And to be alive, you need to eat food.

Yeah.

So I just don't understand why these Republican politicians do this.

Yeah. But it it's not

come on guys. It's not just immoral. Okay, if you have different morals than we do, okay, let's talk about this. We are paying our taxpayer money, our real estate dollars, our state dollars, our federal dollars to educate every child in everybody has a right to public education. You know who can't learn? You know this Eek. Hungry children cannot learn. So when we educate children, they do better.

They do better for themselves, for their families. They pay taxes. They contribute to society. They become doctors. They become lawyers. And they, if they're happy here in Pennsylvania and things are going well for them, they stay in Pennsylvania and grow our state. And when we waste those dollars by trying to teach hungry children, it doesn't make any sense. It should be part of it. If we're requiring the students to be there learning, we should feed them.

It doesn't make any sense.

so that they are in the best mindset to learn. And that is going to economically benefit you, Pennsylvania, and all Pennsylvanians.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, Margaret, what you're saying makes complete sense to me financially and and morally, but you're missing one important thing here is that Donald Trump has gone on the record saying he does not like the well-educated. And he likes to surround himself with people who are not as smart as him. So I honestly don't think that Republican politicians care if people aren't learning because they're hungry. That probably furthers their you know, mantra of defunding public education and keeping people uneducated. So

I I I honestly just feel like we need to get adults in the room, adults like you, to vote for legislation to protect the lives of children, feed people in Pennsylvania, because we cannot count on Republican

politicians to do that.

Margaret, what has been your family's response to your run for the Pennsylvania State House? I know your son's super excited. I know he is, but what about the rest of your family?

I very well supported. my husband is still working. He's going to be sixty-five soon, so he'll be retiring. and my daughter's at college and she's home supporting me, taking care of the dogs, helping me out with John and all the things he needs. And I very much appreciate their support. I have a very supportive family here in Pennsylvania. my godmother, my aunts, she's

very s a Republican who's very supportive of me and is always looking for voters to tell about me. my cousin, my cousin's daughter here works in the school district right across from my house at the middle school. amazing support system that I have and my own mom who's eighty-nine and lives in in in Long Island still is super supportive and super excited. and they all are very excited to see me win.

amazing I mean it's a lot of work to run for public office, no no matter what it is, up and down the ballot. And so I know the sacrifice that goes into that because I I see it. I've helped people run on their campaigns just from door knocking and all the fundraising you have to do. It's a lot of work. So you have to have that family support. Otherwise you're just not gonna be able to to do it. So I'm very grateful when you see them, say thank you so much from Zeke for allowing you to run because you're you're doing a great job.

Okay.

Well, we're gonna play a game, Margaret,

called Family Matters. Okay, I have some questions for you. whose whose responsibility is it to go on the roller coasters with the kids?

Okay. Sure.

boy. Okay. So one time we were in Disney and we went on this turtle ride and with John and he stopped screaming. I swear I thought he was dead and I was so scared. we don't really do roller coasters. When I went on a third grade trip, I threw up on one. It was one of my core memories. So and then the second time I went on it was the turtle ride at Disney. So yeah, I don't think any of us do those.

Mm-hmm.

No.

Yeah.

None of you do, not even not even your not

even your husband was like, You're the roller coaster guy.

I don't think like the kids kind of John was cured of it then, right? He was scared. Yeah, he was too scared to scream.

Okay, good. Well there you go. You you got lucky.

You got lucky because I'm the one that has to go on the roller coasters with the kids. Yeah, my my my wife Jess, she's like, That's not my that's not my rodeo. I have a couple more. whose responsibility is it to take out the trash? Your husband?

My husband take takes out the

trash, but I also take out the trash wheel. It's it's amazing how much of our lives we always talk about this revol ends up revolving around trash and recycling. We never expected it.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a lot

of work. I I'd say I take out the trash most of the time, but my kids are hard to help now. okay, what about who makes sure the kids do their schoolwork?

that would have been me at the time, yes.

Mm. Yeah.

That's for for our family, it's Jess. Jess I I couldn't I I'm embarrassed by this, but it's just a reality. I couldn't tell you half of my kids' teachers at school, but Jess knows all of them. So we we definitely don't share that responsibility. I'm very grateful for that, Jess.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I

was a stay at home parent, so my husband was working at a high intensity job and that's another decision we made. Both of us had very high intensity jobs, so we were fortunate enough that I was able to stay home and that's part of the deal.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah, it's yeah, it's it's just a lot of work. To stay at home parent is the hardest job in the world. A hundred percent the hardest job in the world. okay, here's another one. Who does most of the cooking?

I did most of the cooking, but my husband is a very good cook when he does it, yes.

Yeah. So Jess did the cooking leading up to COVID. And then when she was stuck at home with the kids all the time, I took over the cooking. So I essentially would I came home, I would like meal prep on a Sunday and we'd have all the meals for the week so that she could just wake up and warm it up or something and it it hasn't changed. So ever since, yeah, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, I'll be doing all the cooking in the house. So yeah. Yeah. You got

For you.

That's great. Yeah. My daughter

recently started cooking too. She was kind of afraid of it. But once you start going, you're like, Hey, this isn't hard, you know? Proud of her.

Yeah. No, it's not that's not it. You it's nice. The k the kids enjoy it.

They they they tolerate it. They tolerate my cooking for sure. All right.

She recently made a

lasagna. It

Lasagna. All

was delicious. Yeah, she did. It was great.

right, here's the last one. Who unclogs the toilets?

both of us? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Both of you do?

Well that's nice. I'm the I'm the toilet unclogger in this house. So I'll get like a text message at ten o'clock in the morning and just saying, by the way, the toilet's clogged, and that'll be waiting for when I get home. You know, I just it's that I think it's just like the the upper body strength I have just really unclogs it faster than than Jess does. So I've I'm the unclogger in the house.

Okay, if that's what you want to believe.

That that's what that's what we do, that's what we do.

the current Republican state rep serving in your district voted no to fund adult mental health services and establish resources for mental health behavioral crisis intervention in Pennsylvania. How how do you feel about that?

I don't agree with that.

there is a mental health crisis with and one of the problems is there's not even enough providers to to service the people who have mental health challenges. We need to work on that. We need to make sure that there's coverage. those people deserve.

Coverage for any health challenges, mental health or physical health.

Yeah. I agree. I look, I think it's really unfortunate that a lot of mental health services are so expensive in this country that our you know insurance policies don't pay for a licensed therapist a lot of times to just see people every other week. I have a therapist, but I pay cash. You know, I my my health my health insurance doesn't cover all that. so I'm in a I'm in a position of privilege. But yeah, I agree. We need to have legislators who agree, first of all, agree that we have mental health problems in this country because

Mm-hmm.

You know, RFK Junior thinks that depression is just a made up thing. That you can just dis you can just wake up one day and say, I'm not sad anymore. You know, that that's bull that is bullshit. You know, we we have science, plenty of science to support, you know, that depression exists and that people have varying levels of support that they need. And sometimes talking to someone is all that they need.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's another thing that very much concerns me is his desire to take people off of medication that they've been on and stable. one of the things that you really worry about worry about with mental health is

Yeah.

People can feel that they're better and just stop taking their medication. And that's how you find out you're better because you were on your medication. And that's particularly hard with people with mental health challenges. But to force people off of their medication would be horrible. It's it's unconscionable. And as we have been working on in this state with our governor, if if vaccines aren't accessible through the federal government,

Right. Yeah.

Yeah.

We will make them accessible through the state government. And we would have to do a similar thing. If our medications are not going to be available because of things that the federal government is doing, we will have to work on a state level with our governor to make sure that people continue to get their medications. It would be very dangerous.

I agree. Well, I'm glad that you would vote to help people with mental health issues in Pennsylvania as a state rep. I really do appreciate that.

Well, we're gonna play a game called Mental Health Services. Okay, it is a trivia game, which I think will kind of drive home the importance of you know providing mental health services to Pennsylvanians.

every dollar invested in treating common mental illnesses like depression and anxiety returns about how much?

my gosh, I'm gonna bet and I don't know six dollars.

Close. So a landmark economic analysis led by the World Health Organization, which obviously Dom Trump Republicans could care less about, published in the Lancet Psychiatry, found that for every dollar invested in treatment for depression and anxiety returns four dollars in improved health and productivity. Right. So when you invest in mental health, you get a large return, right? Which so we should be doing that.

Yeah. People can

work, people can be out there being productive and be taxpayers. Yeah.

Right? Exactly.

Exactly. Here's another one. A peer reviewed study estimated the lifetime economic burden of serious mental illness to what? That's major depressive order or or bipolar disorder. How much in a lifetime? In a lifetime.

In a lifetime,

half a milyen dollars.

One point eight five million dollars per individual, per person. Yeah. So just by not treating these disorders, that's how much it's gonna cost that individual for their lifetime, right? And society at large.

Her person, hmm wow.

Society and the individual, like things like incarceration, which is very expensive, much more expensive than education.

Exactly. Mm-hmm. Right.

Right. A hundred percent. I have a couple more.

approximately what percentage of lifetime mental illnesses begin before age twenty-four?

Mm-hmm.

Seventy three.

Very close. A review published in the BMJ Global Health notes that approximately seventy-five percent of lifetime mental disorders first appear before age twenty-four, underscoring the importance of early intervention, right? So we need to be addressing these things early on. Otherwise, you know, things get out of control and then people get lost. Early intervention. Now here's the last one. The World Health Organization has reported that individuals with severe mental disorders often die how many years earlier?

Yeah.

Early intervention. Mm-hmm.

in the general population largely because of preventable physical illnesses and barriers to health care.

Eight.

10 to 20, 10, 10 to 10 to 20 years earlier, right? So this is not a benign thing. And the fact that Republican politicians, you know, at the federal and state level just kind of poo-poo this whole issue, these are lives. This is money and life that we are that they, not we, that they are ignoring. So that's why it's important that we get you know elected and more Democrats, because you understand the state of play. You understand that lives are on the

Ten to twenty.

Margaret, what gives you hope?

My children give me hope. my son, we didn't talk a lot about his disabilities. It's disability awareness month, July. because the ADA was signed into law, I believe, on July 26th. And we celebrate this month disability awareness. And my son is such an inspiration to me. He has cerebral palsy and autism, so he struggles to walk.

great. That's wonderful.

And he has a job. He has a part-time job. And he just finished his third class at Chestnut Hill College. And he's doing so well. He works hard. He overcomes obstacles. He's had so many surgeries. We've lived me and John and in in CHOP inpatient rehab in more than one occasion for a month as he recovers from surgery. And he is a fighter.

And he fights to do everything he can do. And I have to tell you that if I don't feel like doing whatever on that day, hey, I'm gonna do it because my son is a fighter and I'm gonna fight for him.

Yeah, we have to have hope for our kids. You know, ho hope is a verb, it's something we do every day. And so I I'm on the same page with you about that.

Margaret, my last question for you is what are your plans to get you through these next few years in America?

Well, you know what's been working really well for me right now? A campaigning, you mention all the things that you have to do, and it's a lot of work. But you know what I'm not doing? I am not watching a lot of videos. I'm not going down a lot of rabbit holes. And honestly, I think that the internet is is become just like a bunch of bots. I don't even think they're mostly real people anymore. AIs, everything's so fake. And

Yeah.

Yeah.

It just feels so good not to focus on that because I am a hundred percent I'm either sleeping, trying to get to sleep, or working to win this seat. And if if I am lucky enough to be elected by the voters in in this district, 147 house district, I am gonna work that way on legislation. And I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna work with anybody. I I don't know if I mentioned to you I used to be a management consultant.

With the vaccine development teams over at Merck. And there's a lot of different types of people. There are MDs who are doing clinical trial work, there's scientists who do basic research. There's manufacturing people who a lot of times are military, former military people because manufacturing, you know. And then there's the marketing people, right? They want the product to look a certain way. There's a lot of different perspectives there, right? And so my job is to really understand where we want a product to go.

Understand all the different perspectives, work together, get it there. And that is what I hope to focus on for the next couple of years. Hey, here's where we need to be in Pennsylvania for the good of our children in their future, right? So we can pay them enough to live so they can have healthcare access, affordable life, and a good public education.

Yeah, yeah.

That was my management co consultant fact-based analytical background. And that's what I'm gonna spend my time doing. Getting where I need to be for the state and working with all the players to get there. That's my plan.

Appreciate

that. Well, thank you for leaning into the work, Margaret. I really I really do. We need people like you in Harrisburg.

Well, Margaret Burke, Democrat running for the state house in Pennsylvania. I am super excited for your run. I wish I could vote for you. I really do, but I you know, not here, not in my district, but I want to promote your race. What is your website?

My website is Burke for P A147 dot vote. Dot vote V-O-T-E.

vote. Vote. And if you

live in Lower Salford, Upper Salford, Lower Frederick, Upper Frederick, New Hanover, Upper Potsgrove, Douglas, and parts of Franconia, get off your ass. Get off your ass. Come on, go to Margaret's website, sign up to help door knock, write some postcards, make a donation, whatever she needs. This is a team effort. And this is going to be our year. Not just get the trifecta, because we need that obviously

Me.

expand our democratic majority so we don't have to worry if somebody gets sick in the state house or someone can't make a vote, we can push all these initiatives through, important ones we've been talking about on this show, for months now. And Margaret is a piece of that puzzle. So thank you so much for your sacrifice, for what you're doing for the Democratic Party. And I can't wait to see you win this November 3rd.

Thank you so much, Zeke. I'll work hard for the voters of Pennsylvania.

much for joining me here on The Zekely Podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved and until next time, let's keep building a stronger Pennsylvania together.

Thank you.