WEBVTT - Using Tech to Save Our Democracy || D'Seanté Parks of 1000 MORE 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.080 Check me out at the annual Black Effect Podcast Festival, 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.800 happening Saturday, April twenty seven in Atlanta. Live podcasts are 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.440 on deck from some of your favorite shows, including this one, 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:11.760 Black Tech, Green Money, and also some of the best 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.440 podcasts in the game like Deeply Well with Debbie Brown 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.480 and Carefully Reckless. Atlanta is one of my favorite cities 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.479 in the world. I've lived there for two years. Actually, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.000 in my worldview, seeing us successful in every industry and 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.840 not having any limits on our potential largely was shaped 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.040 by Atlanta. So to be there with you doing this 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.360 podcast talking about how we build or leverage technology to 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.120 build wealth. Come on, man, doesn't get better. I want 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.240 to see you there. Get your tickets today at Black 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:41.800 Effect dot comback Slash Podcast Festival. I'm with Lucas and 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.920 this is Black Tech, Green Money. Deschante Parks is founder 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.200 and CEO at one thousand More and that that makes 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.520 it easier for people from underrepresented communities like the one 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.760 she's from, to engage in politics the top of that 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:59.760 is super important to everyone's well being in growth, but 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.800 often difficult to participate in. Her approvised, digestible, nonpartisan Summer 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.600 Reason legislation coming up for a vote written in a 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.360 way that doesn't require a law degree to understand. You 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.360 can also find the popular arguments for and against bills, 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.000 and it also helps you connect with elected officials and 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:23.080 participating in crowdfunding campaigns for organizations you care about. Her 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.880 mission of civic empowerment started at Louisiana State University and 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:29.520 she worked on the Senate campaign for now Vice President 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.480 Kamala Harris, and she has a Master of Public Policy 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.479 degree from Harvard Kennedy School. And preparing to talk with her, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.560 my mind immediately went to lobbying and how the voice 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.760 that people can be suppressed by big money. So I 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.520 asked Deschante to break down how this happens time and 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.360 time and again, both negatively and positively for the issues 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:50.720 that might matter most to you. 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.600 So I think we're actually kind of not even ever 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:57.080 taught about lobbyists and lobbying. I think what happens is 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.000 we hear it in the context of the big life 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.200 has all this influence, and so we think we're separate 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.000 from it. We think they're the enemy because they have 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:07.720 all this influence and they have a lot of money, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:09.680 and maybe we feel like we don't have any right. 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.520 The term lobbying comes from the men who used to 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.560 stand in the lobby of the hotels where the elected 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.000 officials who would stay when they came to DC to vote, 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.560 because they would live in their districts most of the time, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:25.440 all over the country, and then they would come into 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.200 DC to vote as a legislative body, and there would 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.360 be men who literally hung out in the lobby of 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.760 these hotels and would buy them drinks and would talk 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:39.880 to them and would therefore have an influence on whatever 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.960 they were voting on. That was a lobbyist. So the 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.720 way that they still have influence really, I tell people 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.800 all the time. The money is part of it, but 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.919 what's even more important is lobbyists full time jobs are 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.280 to talk to your elected officials. So while you're working 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.440 nine to five, and then you get home from work 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.080 and you got to cook for the kids, and you 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.880 gotta exercise, and you're tired, and then you got to 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.119 even make time to watch the news. Then you got 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.520 to digest the news, form an opinion, then call. They're 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.320 not even at the office to answer the phone at 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.840 that point. Whereas lobbyists, this is all they do. This 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:15.000 is our job, and by the way, it's not a 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.240 bad job, right there. I have friends that are lobbyists. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.080 There are people who lobby for children's rights, you know, 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.800 there are people who lobby for education and lobby for 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:25.799 health care. You can lobby for all kinds of things, 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.760 and so lobbyists are not bad people. What is potentially 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.400 bad is this system that we've created in which it 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:38.760 does create an imbalance and power when it's when organizations 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.360 with a lot of money can afford to have people 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.760 full time staying engaged with your elected officials when you 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.160 don't have time to talk to them at all. So 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.720 what happens is your elected official hasn't heard from you 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.760 since the last time you voted, and they hear from 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.280 lobbyists every single day. So that's just who has their attention. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.160 So that is that's what lobbying is. That's our relationship 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.440 to lobbing as people. I created an app that completely 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.600 dismantles that. So with one thousand more, you see every 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.040 bill coming up for a vote, So actually coming up 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:13.400 for a vote. There's a lot of bills that get 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:19.920 caught up in in committee and those are honestly kind 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:21.920 of a waste of our time because they're never going 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.800 to get an actual vote. I put in every bill 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.760 that's coming up for a vote. I write everything at 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.560 a third grade level, because fifty four percent of Americans 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.279 read below a sixth grade level. And also it shouldn't 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.320 take you an hour to digest what a bill is. 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.160 I spend an hour figuring out what the bill is. 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:38.919 I write the summary at a third grade level, so 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.479 you can spend a couple of minutes know what the 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:43.559 bill is. You can see the arguments for and against. 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.719 We're nonpartisan, and then you can take action on it, 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.400 including calling, email and tweeting. There's a little scripts in 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.320 case you're nervous about what to say, so the script 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.599 is different if you're for or against. And then you 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.640 also can donate to an organization that's advocating for the bill. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.880 Because when we crowdfund our dollars, we actually outspend the 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.440 lobby here in America. So the lobby spends about three 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.200 point five billion dollars a year. Americans spend five billion 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:10.240 dollars a year crowdfunding philanthropy. So we're talking about things 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.640 like GoFundMe, So we quite literally are bigger than the 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.039 big lobby with our voices and with our dollars. But 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.120 before one thousand more, there was no mechanism for us 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.479 to crowdfund our dollars on policy, on every single piece 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.880 of legislation. So people have already figured out that small 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:32.960 dollar donations make a huge difference in politics. You know, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.360 when I talk about small dollar donations, we're talking about 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.719 donations that are two hundred dollars or less. Those sorts 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:45.159 of donations power campaigns. Campaigns can't win without millions in 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.640 small dollar donations. We already know that. But before one 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.680 thousand more, there was no mechanism to make a small 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:56.120 dollar donation between election seasons. So you shouldn't only be 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.880 participating during an election cycle. You should be anticipating between 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.960 election cycles. Because that's how we hold our elected officials accountable. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.200 That's how we stay informed, so that number one, we 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:09.960 can tell them what we want them to do, and 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:11.640 number two, when they don't do it, we can hold 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.000 them accountable when it's time to vote for them again. 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.360 So you said something that I found really interesting, and 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.239 perhaps it's you know, provides you an opportunity to build 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.159 this technology, and that it takes hours and hours to 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.719 digest what these legislative you know, documents say, and the 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.720 conspiracy theorist in me says, that's probably intentional. I don't 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.919 know if it's intentional, but I wonder what you think, Like, 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.080 is it intentional that we can't understand this language? 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:39.880 Yeah? I mean, look, I didn't go to law school 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.320 for a reason. I people who go to law school, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.440 I don't get it. I ended up getting my master's 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.360 in public policy because I was like, y'all are learning 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.440 how to work within a system that's broken. I don't 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.000 want to learn how to work within the system. I 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.080 want to learn how to change the system on a 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.960 systemic level. And so I went and got my master's 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.480 in public policy. But that said, yeah, I do think 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:08.080 it's intentional. I think we have an education system in 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:12.120 this country that rewards people that have money and punishes 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.120 people who don't. So you are assigned a public school 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.880 based on your zip code, and your zip code is 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.440 assigned a tax bracket based on the cost of housing 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.400 in that zip code, and based on that tax bracket, 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:33.120 your school is allocated resources. So schools in the neighborhoods 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:37.160 that have expensive houses get more resources than schools that 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:44.480 have inexpensive housing. And so, you know, if we have 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:50.960 an entire part of our society who's already not getting 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.040 the funding that they need, maybe in their personal lives, 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:54.920 so you know, their parents don't make a lot of money, 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.960 people don't make a lot of money. Then in school, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.600 they're not getting the kind of education that would help 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.360 them move in status at all. Help them help themselves, 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.120 if you will, And then the people who are already 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:09.640 in power get to stay in power. So the people 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:11.640 who have money, they get a good education, they learn 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.440 how to make more money, and those people tend to 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:19.840 be people who have more access to politics. Even you know, 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.400 when I was out on the campaign trail, and so 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.280 my family's from Streetport, Louisiana. I was raised in Fort Worth, Texas, 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.880 and people would tell me all the time, like, you know, 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.000 it doesn't matter what I say, It doesn't matter what 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.440 I'm thinking. You think rich people think that rich people 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.280 don't think that they know it matters what they say 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.960 and what they think. Part of this is a mindset too, 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.000 So yes, I think the way our education system is 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:46.640 set up is the foundation for disenfranchisement. I think it 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.640 is directly tied to civic engagement. And I think that 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.280 the entire system was built in a way that protected 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.120 the interests of at the time slave owners. That was 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.600 that's when our country was founded, and it was founded 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:05.840 with those ideals. It the way that laws were structured 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.720 protected the people who already had power because the people 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.440 in power were making the laws. And of course, over time, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:20.920 thank god, there have been revolutions and movements, but at 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.559 its core, the way the system works still does reward 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.040 people who already have money, who already have power, and 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:33.960 it takes disruptive It takes disruptive movements or tools, in 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.080 this case with one thousand more technologies to really flip 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.439 things on its head. So, you know, I hear people 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:44.520 all the time say, you know, we can't keep working 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.720 within the same systems. Okay, fine, here's the deal. We're 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:49.960 not going to see the lobby going anywhere in our lifetime, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:52.000 you know. And I say all the time, if I 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.439 could go back in time and talk to the Native Americans, 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.679 what I have been like, you should really start a 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.040 yoga practice because there's some serious about. 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:00.960 To you know. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.559 No, I'd be like, we need to get y'all some guns. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.400 Where are the guns? Where are the bombs? You know, 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.920 so we can bring water balloons to a gunfight, and 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.080 I build one thousand more so we could have the 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.520 same tools and flip this system on its head. That's 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.040 the best I think we can do right now. 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.720 Yeah, So I wonder if there are more Deshonnete's out there. 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.200 So I was doing some research before this, and I 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.960 was reading this article from the National It's Toue of Health, 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.720 and it was talking about how the more we have 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.560 issues in the country, the more people feel disenfranchised and 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.880 equality exists, people feel victimized, et cetera. The more they 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:42.480 engage civically. And we're I guess post COVID. I think 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.679 the I think they say we're post COVID. I mean 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.320 we are post COVID, but we're out of the pandemic era. 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.840 Do people still feel that level of engagement as we 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.240 felt after George Floyd? Immediately after George Floyd in the pandemic? 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.440 So what's interesting is it always is just ship, is 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.400 the way I see it. So those people who are 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.960 like politics doesn't impact my life, Okay, Well it's impacting 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.520 somebody's life right now. I guarantee you. In fact, this 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.679 dude told me a couple months ago. This dude was like, 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.320 I don't vote. I just kind of do what's in 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.840 front of me, And I was like, do you have 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.760 running water at your house? Do you have trash pickup? 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:26.200 Do you have women in your life? Do you ever 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.680 get sick? Like you like, what do you? I don't 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:32.560 know what that means. If you think politics doesn't affect you, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:38.880 you might be very rich, or you might be willfully ignorant. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.000 You want to believe it doesn't affect you because it 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:45.160 is so psychologically difficult for you to confront that there 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.480 are people that have a lot of power over your life. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.079 And that is really scary, and I know it's hard. 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.880 I think a lot about civic engagement is tied to 0:11:54.200 --> 0:12:00.920 our willingness to confront some very difficult things about the 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.079 way the world works that we live in. But no, 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.080 I think I agree. I have not seen the stat 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.720 that you're talking about. I agree that when people are 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:16.480 personally impacted by a policy, there is outrage, and it 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.640 tends to happen in communities. And what's important is, you know, 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.160 as people try to build coalitions, they try to build 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:28.760 coalitions across communities because we're bigger together. But also what 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.760 I want to talk about is how even when we 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:36.160 think we're seeing civic engagement, Like, what is civic engagement? Yeah, 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.400 if you post something on Twitter, sure it's civic engagement. 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.320 Even if you just watch the news, that is in 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.240 theory civic engagement because you're engaging with what's going on. 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.960 You're engaging with the news in your own home. But 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.760 when we talk about civic engagement, that translates into action, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.920 and specifically legislative action. What sorts of things move the 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.680 needle on that, and it's not talking on social media. 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.120 I built this so that it integrates into social media. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.080 We built a web app and not a mobile app 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.240 because I didn't think people would want to download a 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.480 new app. I was trying to create something that could 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:13.640 integrate into Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, So wherever people were, 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:15.439 we met them where they were. And you don't even 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.880 have to leave the social media platform you're on. You 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.400 and your friends are talking about a bill. You drop 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.400 a link to one thousand more to the bill in 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.880 one thousand more. They click, They read a little a 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.040 bit about it, they read the arguments for and against. 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.520 They choose, if therefore against, they can call, email, tweet, 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:34.640 or donate, go right back to scrolling very quick so 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.640 that translates into actually letting your elected official know and 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.000 believe it or not that matters. People think that it 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:43.840 doesn't matter if you call your elect official, and it 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:48.000 absolutely matters. These people want to be re elected and 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.760 they know that it's only your votes that can do that. Now, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.120 the money that they get from some of these big donors, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.760 they will use it in like TV ads or digital 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.280 ads on social media when your vote. But if you 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:06.440 are already knowledgeable about their track record, if you've already 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:08.760 been paying attention, it's going to be very difficult to 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.959 get your vote. And they know that. So when you're 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.520 talking online, they do see that. When you're calling their office, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.120 they see that it doesn't take long and they're just telling, 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.320 you know, how many calls did we get today about 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.640 that infrastructure bill or about that education bill, about that 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.320 healthcare bill? How many calls did we get today? And 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.560 then they're like, Okay, people really care about this. It 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:31.840 moves to the top of the agenda because when you're 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:35.840 not saying anything, then they don't even know how much 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.120 the people in their district care about this. And again, 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.200 those lobbyists are talking to them every day. 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.040 Yeah, so I'm gonna throw two things at you, And 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.840 I hate to do that because you should just give 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.520 one question, but you give me so much there and 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:53.160 so one, I've heard less people say that it doesn't 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.480 matter to them, and more people say that their one 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.600 vote won't make a difference. So I want you to 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:59.960 speak to that. And then on top of that is 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.880 i've heard this phrase of all politics is local, and 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.800 so if the important things that actually may make a 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.280 bigger difference to me are my local elections versus the 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.600 federal ones, even though the federal ones do have impact, 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.600 but the ones to your point, you know, is your street, 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.760 are the potholes you know covered up? You know, are 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:21.960 the women in my life able to go get healthcare, etc? 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.280 Can you talk about how it's important, how that one 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.040 vote does make a difference, and the other things you 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:31.360 should do beyond just that one vote, and how local 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.960 politics matters to your everyday life. 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.560 Yeah. So, first of all, people aren't wrong. So bring 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:43.520 your friend, you know, bring your whole family, bring your friends, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:48.080 you bring whoever, because I mean, you're not wrong. One 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.800 vote is one thing. But when we talk about anything 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.760 in life, right like, especially when we're talking about public policy, 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.680 when we're talking about a democracy. How do you think 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.240 we get to those millions of votes? Those are all people, 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.440 those are all individual people, those thousands of votes. There 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.840 have been elections that were decided on one vote. There 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:12.480 was one in Louisiana recently. So this stuff is real. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.920 Like that person who thought my vote doesn't matter, that 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:17.640 would have tied it, and if they had brought their friend, 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.120 it would have been two votes, and then maybe the 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.040 other person would have won. This stuff is consequential. Also, 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.280 you're not wrong bring more than one person. That's why 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.960 people are out here building coalitions. So I think that 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:36.000 the intuition there is right in that you want to 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:40.400 try to advocate for your position so that you have 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.200 more people on your side. And honestly, most of us 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.440 are hanging out with people and spending time with people 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.440 who agree with us anyway, and so you just need 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.120 to get them to the poll or to the phone 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:55.240 or whatever it is. So there's that. 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.520 And so to your point of hanging out people who 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.400 are like you, So if you're one vote, if you're 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.240 one person with think to your vote doesn't matter, you 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.040 probably got ten friends who think that same thing. So 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:04.920 that's actually ten votes and not. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.840 One exactly exactly, which is amounting to millions of votes. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.840 And then you know, also so in this election, you know, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.160 we didn't even have a Democratic primary. People didn't even 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.920 get a choice for who the Democratic presidential candidate was 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.800 going to be. People are very upset about that. So 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.879 people think, you know, I don't like either of the candidates. 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.679 I don't want to vote at all. And I'm saying 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.560 you need to vote at least independent, vote for someone else, 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.359 because they need to know that you matter. They need 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.680 to know that you're paying attention because then next time 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.679 they will be actually vying for your vote. If you 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.360 just don't show up at all, they think that person's 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:43.920 not even going to get off the couch. I don't 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.040 have to listen to them at all. And you can 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:49.439 see it is public record who is a voter. It 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.680 doesn't tell you who they voted for, but you can 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.760 see every time a person has voted. So if you're 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.560 if you are calling your elected officials office, you are 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.160 in theory, more likely to be listened to if they 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:03.880 know you're a voter, if they know that you vote 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.280 every single time, So go out and vote for somebody, 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:10.240 vote for something, because it really just signals to them 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:17.000 that you have some kind of value in what they want, 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.680 which is to get re elected. And also, by the way, 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.960 that's not the only thing. There's all types of civic engagement, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:24.560 you know I mentioned earlier. So also not publicly shaming 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.119 them on social media. That's a way to get their attention. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.480 All like any kind of civil disobedience. There's a reason 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.240 why people shut down interstates because money moves on interstates. 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.600 If people can't get to work, if shipments can't get 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.200 where they're trying to go, that disrupts the economy. There's 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.240 power in that too. So there's all sorts of power 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:46.359 in civic engagement. And you know, we can signal to 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.560 elected officials in all kinds of ways. Voting is one 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:53.760 of them, calling is one, emailing, social media stuff like that, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:57.680 and then your other question. 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.760 Local that's right involvement here. 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:06.280 Okay, So people talk about that because you are I mean, 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:10.080 it's fractions or so, like out of one hundred people. 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.240 If it's if you're one in one hundred, then you 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.360 have a lot more impacts there. Then if you're one 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.879 in a million, you just have more impacts. There's more 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.160 of a chance that you know, your vote could be 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.800 the change could be sort of the tipping point. Uh, 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.520 And yes, local politics is really important, and a thousand 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:33.800 more of course wants to do local politics eventually. Right 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.160 now we only do federal We've only been doing this 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:42.280 for a short amount of time. But you know, I 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.360 would say that these things all work together. So America 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.520 has a very decentralized democracy, which means that it's not 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.760 one central government that makes all the decisions. It's decentralized. 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:53.840 We have the federal government, then we have our state governments, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:55.920 then we have our local governments, and they all work 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.280 together in different ways. So if y'all will remember like 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:01.199 when California made marijuana ly, but then the federal governments 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.080 that marijuana was not legal. Remember that, and that caused 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.760 a lot of confusion and they were like, well, you 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.280 could still be arrested if you're driving with it whatever. 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:16.639 You know, it like depended on the circumstances of an arrest. Well, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.000 that's that's sort of how our government works together. The 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:25.840 government also, the federal government can protect you from in 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.600 just laws locally. So a historical example of this is, 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:33.960 you know, the federal government. Oh, the Supreme Court ruled 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:38.280 that schools had to be integrated, and states still didn't 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.280 do it. You know, again, my family's from Louisiana. My 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:42.720 dad was in the first integrated class of his high school. 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.639 My dad's not that old, he's like fifty something. So 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.120 the federal government had to step in because state governments 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:56.879 were violating people's rights. And we see sort of the 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.439 same thing, the same concept when we talk about like 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:05.119 access to abortion. You know, when that thing happened in 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:11.199 Alabama where the court there ruled against the IVF clinic 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:12.879 and everyone with this was just a few weeks ago, 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.639 and everyone was like, IVF is going to be legal. 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.680 The federal government tried to put in place protections for 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.560 IVF so that it would then say that your local 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.560 government could not take that right from you. So they 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:29.560 all work together because there are going to be times 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:31.959 that you agree more with your local government. There are 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:33.960 going to be times when you agree with more with 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:39.199 your federal government. And you know, people talk about states 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.000 rights versus federal rights. There's a lot of Southern states 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.880 that are like, we want the federal government to stay 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:45.800 out of it. You know, we want states to be 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.159