UTSKRIFT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000
Speaker 0: Then one day, I was, made a joke that we do
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.000
Speaker 0: a better job picking the next American Idol than we do the next representative
00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:08.720
Speaker 0: to Congress.
00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.720
Speaker 0: And it really started me thinking, you know, that this
00:00:12.885 --> 00:00:16.885
Speaker 0: isn't that expensive to do.
00:00:22.485 --> 00:00:23.925
Speaker 1: Money has warped politics.
00:00:23.925 --> 00:00:27.285
Speaker 1: Congress feels broken, and a lot of people are wondering, what does their vote
00:00:27.285 --> 00:00:28.500
Speaker 1: even matter anymore?
00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:32.420
Speaker 1: Tom Joseph has spent decades proving he knows how to build systems that work.
00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:36.420
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety one, he founded BookMinders, a remote first bookkeeping agency
00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:40.180
Speaker 1: that was ahead of its time long before remote work became normal.
00:00:40.180 --> 00:00:44.180
Speaker 1: Now he's bringing that same systems first mind set to American democracy with a
00:00:44.215 --> 00:00:48.215
Speaker 1: moneyless merit based nomination process for congress that pushes aside
00:00:48.855 --> 00:00:51.655
Speaker 1: party insiders, big donors, and dark money.
00:00:51.655 --> 00:00:54.055
Speaker 1: And he thinks he's found a way to actually make it work.
00:00:54.055 --> 00:00:55.895
Speaker 1: So please welcome to the show, Tom Joseph.
00:00:55.895 --> 00:00:57.335
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here.
00:00:57.335 --> 00:00:59.300
Speaker 0: Molly, thanks so much for having me here in your show.
00:00:59.300 --> 00:01:02.260
Speaker 0: I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about what we're doing.
00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:04.260
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I appreciate the work that you're doing.
00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:08.180
Speaker 1: And so I'm happy to provide a platform because I think that, I think
00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:10.660
Speaker 1: we can all agree we need to get money out of politics, but we
00:01:10.660 --> 00:01:12.495
Speaker 1: don't know where to start.
00:01:12.495 --> 00:01:16.495
Speaker 1: And I was particularly, interested in the fact that you started BookMinder's in ninety
00:01:16.655 --> 00:01:20.655
Speaker 1: one because I was in real estate finance in nineteen
00:01:20.655 --> 00:01:21.855
Speaker 1: ninety one.
00:01:21.855 --> 00:01:22.335
Speaker 1: No.
00:01:22.335 --> 00:01:23.215
Speaker 1: Not ninety one.
00:01:23.215 --> 00:01:24.895
Speaker 1: In ninety four, ninety five.
00:01:24.895 --> 00:01:28.895
Speaker 1: And I was, scanning documents through OCR systems
00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.200
Speaker 1: and everybody thought I was from the future.
00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:31.520
Speaker 1: Right?
00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:35.520
Speaker 1: So I know how groundbreaking having a remote
00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:37.920
Speaker 1: technology was in nineteen ninety one.
00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.920
Speaker 1: Like, I remember, you know, we were still making Xerox copies of things
00:01:42.225 --> 00:01:42.945
Speaker 1: for loan file.
00:01:42.945 --> 00:01:44.385
Speaker 1: You know, it was a different time.
00:01:44.385 --> 00:01:48.385
Speaker 1: And so you clearly have a systems forward mindset.
00:01:48.465 --> 00:01:52.465
Speaker 1: So, let's talk about how that kind of mindset,
00:01:52.545 --> 00:01:55.390
Speaker 1: comes into play now.
00:01:55.390 --> 00:01:59.390
Speaker 0: I, you know, I was during the COVID, I've always been
00:01:59.390 --> 00:02:01.070
Speaker 0: thinking about this political stuff.
00:02:01.070 --> 00:02:04.350
Speaker 0: I mean, I've owned a business for a long time,
00:02:04.350 --> 00:02:07.870
Speaker 0: kind of worked myself out of a job, hired some really qualified people that
00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:11.870
Speaker 0: replaced me, I own, but I just, you know, let them
00:02:12.115 --> 00:02:13.875
Speaker 0: run the con we have a great CEO.
00:02:13.875 --> 00:02:16.275
Speaker 0: She's she's remarkable.
00:02:16.275 --> 00:02:20.275
Speaker 0: But I was during the COVID, just wondering, like, with partisanship would
00:02:20.275 --> 00:02:24.275
Speaker 0: kill us and really worried about my business and whether, you know, the COVID
00:02:24.275 --> 00:02:28.275
Speaker 0: would, you know, wipe out our market and everything
00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:30.080
Speaker 0: I'd worked for for three decades.
00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.080
Speaker 0: And I made a promise that if we got our PPP money to
00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:36.480
Speaker 0: support me through the COVID, then I would do something.
00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:40.480
Speaker 0: I'd form a federal commit committee that I would not run for office,
00:02:40.835 --> 00:02:44.835
Speaker 0: that I would try to work on changing the system without any new laws.
00:02:44.915 --> 00:02:46.515
Speaker 0: That was kind of my parameter around it.
00:02:46.515 --> 00:02:50.035
Speaker 0: I realized I was sixty, and I saw how long it took to change
00:02:50.035 --> 00:02:52.035
Speaker 0: laws around here, especially in election reform.
00:02:52.035 --> 00:02:56.000
Speaker 0: And I figured that was not a viable way to spend my time.
00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.520
Speaker 0: So,
00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:58.480
Speaker 0: I did get that money.
00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:00.640
Speaker 0: And then January
00:03:00.640 --> 00:03:03.120
Speaker 0: fourth two thousand twenty one, I formed this committee.
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.015
Speaker 0: Two days later, all hell breaks loose.
00:03:06.015 --> 00:03:10.015
Speaker 0: And, it really I didn't really know what I was going to do originally.
00:03:10.335 --> 00:03:13.775
Speaker 0: I mean, I came up with an idea of just doing another political party,
00:03:13.775 --> 00:03:17.775
Speaker 0: but one that was more, I thought, like morally centered, you know, had
00:03:17.855 -->
Load full transcript
00:03:21.855
Speaker 0: ethics and values, but really wasn't doing anything to change about
00:03:22.070 --> 00:03:23.910
Speaker 0: the process.
00:03:23.910 --> 00:03:27.510
Speaker 0: And it you know, to me, it's a lot like doing another forward party
00:03:27.510 --> 00:03:31.510
Speaker 0: that it was really not a differentiator from what they were doing, which
00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:34.585
Speaker 0: relied on finding candidates.
00:03:34.585 --> 00:03:38.585
Speaker 0: And then one day, I was, made a joke that we
00:03:38.665 --> 00:03:42.025
Speaker 0: do a better job picking the next American Idol than we do the next
00:03:42.025 --> 00:03:43.385
Speaker 0: representative to Congress.
00:03:43.385 --> 00:03:47.385
Speaker 0: And it really started me thinking, you know, that this
00:03:47.670 --> 00:03:51.670
Speaker 0: isn't that expensive to do, you know, and that if we could,
00:03:52.070 --> 00:03:56.070
Speaker 0: create a a system that was like a completely fair, multi round contest,
00:03:57.350 --> 00:03:58.070
Speaker 0: that it would work.
00:03:58.070 --> 00:04:02.070
Speaker 0: And, I said about doing this and everybody kept telling me it was illegal.
00:04:02.115 --> 00:04:05.875
Speaker 0: And the election attorney I was working with wasn't really paying attention to what
00:04:05.875 --> 00:04:06.275
Speaker 0: I was doing.
00:04:06.275 --> 00:04:09.395
Speaker 0: The original way I did lay it out was illegal.
00:04:09.395 --> 00:04:13.395
Speaker 0: You know, I was looking at the party rewarding the contest winner.
00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:17.060
Speaker 0: And then when he took a look at it, he's like, no.
00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:20.500
Speaker 0: There is no, I was thinking these, like I don't know if you ever
00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:24.500
Speaker 0: heard, like, a senate democratic reelection fund or
00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:27.435
Speaker 0: a house republican
00:04:27.435 --> 00:04:28.715
Speaker 0: reelection fund.
00:04:28.715 --> 00:04:31.115
Speaker 0: I thought they were actually funds.
00:04:31.115 --> 00:04:32.715
Speaker 0: They are not funds.
00:04:32.715 --> 00:04:36.075
Speaker 0: There's a list of people that buy congress every two years on behalf of
00:04:36.075 --> 00:04:36.955
Speaker 0: each party.
00:04:36.955 --> 00:04:40.955
Speaker 0: So when I realized the design I came up with was just replicating
00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:44.410
Speaker 0: the same terrible system we had, I was I had to rethink it.
00:04:44.410 --> 00:04:46.810
Speaker 0: And that's when I came up with the idea of using a super PAC.
00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:49.850
Speaker 0: I was you know, my mindset was like, you don't use super PAC.
00:04:49.850 --> 00:04:52.570
Speaker 0: We wanna get rid of them bad, but we're never getting rid of them.
00:04:52.570 --> 00:04:54.330
Speaker 0: That requires, like, a constitutional amendment.
00:04:54.330 --> 00:04:56.915
Speaker 0: I mean, it's a really huge uphill battle.
00:04:56.915 --> 00:04:59.395
Speaker 0: And I think, well, why don't we figure out how to use it for
00:04:59.395 --> 00:05:00.995
Speaker 0: the good, not for the evil?
00:05:00.995 --> 00:05:03.875
Speaker 0: And if you think about it, this is the only way to use a
00:05:03.875 --> 00:05:07.875
Speaker 0: super PAC for good because you're the the district's gonna pick a nominee
00:05:08.035 --> 00:05:10.730
Speaker 0: and the super PAC's gonna back it and no strings attached.
00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:14.730
Speaker 0: So you participate, you turn out numbers, you elevate
00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:18.010
Speaker 0: a candidate, and that's your choice, you back it.
00:05:18.010 --> 00:05:21.290
Speaker 0: And do it equally in red and blue so that the person who's behind
00:05:21.290 --> 00:05:23.370
Speaker 0: the super PAC is more or less saying that, hey.
00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:27.370
Speaker 0: I wanna just create competition in gerrymandered districts and
00:05:27.385 --> 00:05:31.385
Speaker 0: and work to beat gerrymandering, which is what this tool is,
00:05:31.625 --> 00:05:34.025
Speaker 0: and not really be about a person or a cause.
00:05:34.025 --> 00:05:38.025
Speaker 0: And and, really, if that representative doesn't represent, they have to go back
00:05:38.025 --> 00:05:42.025
Speaker 0: through the system that's free and equal and emerge and be supported by that
00:05:42.190 --> 00:05:42.670
Speaker 0: Super PAC.
00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:45.550
Speaker 0: If they go rogue, they're gonna face that Super PAC.
00:05:45.550 --> 00:05:45.870
Speaker 0: You know?
00:05:45.870 --> 00:05:49.630
Speaker 0: So to me, this is like a if we find a person or a
00:05:49.630 --> 00:05:53.615
Speaker 0: handful of people who are gonna really help restore the voice of the people.
00:05:53.615 --> 00:05:57.215
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of free and equal, I wanna talk about James Wilson a little
00:05:57.215 --> 00:05:59.135
Speaker 1: bit because I know he was instrumental in that.
00:05:59.135 --> 00:06:03.135
Speaker 1: So tell us who who who's James Wilson and how is he involved in
00:06:03.135 --> 00:06:04.415
Speaker 1: this whole, mission here?
00:06:04.415 --> 00:06:06.650
Speaker 1: Well, I know not directly, but
00:06:06.650 --> 00:06:06.970
Speaker 0: Yeah.
00:06:06.970 --> 00:06:08.810
Speaker 0: I mean, he was a founding father.
00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:10.490
Speaker 0: Nobody seems to know about him.
00:06:10.490 --> 00:06:13.290
Speaker 0: He's buried in history because he died penniless.
00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:17.050
Speaker 0: He's a Supreme Court, one of the first four Supreme Court justices, and he
00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:18.490
Speaker 0: wrote the constitution.
00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:22.490
Speaker 0: He's he and Madison were the constitutional nerds coming into the
00:06:22.495 --> 00:06:23.535
Speaker 0: convention.
00:06:23.535 --> 00:06:26.415
Speaker 0: Everybody respected what they had to say.
00:06:26.415 --> 00:06:30.415
Speaker 0: Madison, you
know, brokered a pivotal deal.
00:06:30.575 --> 00:06:33.695
Speaker 0: But the person who went on to the committee of detail and actually wrote
00:06:33.695 --> 00:06:37.695
Speaker 0: everything out and got into the mechanics of it was James Wilson.
00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:41.720
Speaker 0: The the drafts of the constitution came out in his handwriting.
00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:45.720
Speaker 0: They researched that the separation of powers, really the architecture
00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:49.845
Speaker 0: of the constitution was his beliefs coming into the convention.
00:06:49.845 --> 00:06:51.525
Speaker 0: It wasn't the Virginia plan.
00:06:51.525 --> 00:06:55.525
Speaker 0: He basically, you know, moved people off the Virginia
00:06:55.685 --> 00:06:59.045
Speaker 0: plan over the course of the summer to,
00:06:59.045 --> 00:07:03.045
Speaker 0: get the constitution to really be the document that that was his design.
00:07:03.510 --> 00:07:07.510
Speaker 0: He's there's no statue of James Wilson to tear down
00:07:08.310 --> 00:07:12.310
Speaker 0: because he died penniless and really didn't get his due.
00:07:12.950 --> 00:07:16.950
Speaker 0: He also, after he wrote the constitution, was asked to rewrite
00:07:17.665 --> 00:07:21.665
Speaker 0: the Pennsylvania constitution, which in seventeen eighty seven was a mess.
00:07:21.905 --> 00:07:25.505
Speaker 0: Pennsylvania was just they didn't want Kingstide to have, like, one body.
00:07:25.505 --> 00:07:27.505
Speaker 0: So he,
00:07:27.505 --> 00:07:31.505
Speaker 0: wrote the Pennsylvania constitution much like the US constitution, but the election clauses
00:07:31.730 --> 00:07:34.690
Speaker 0: are in the state constitution, not in the US Constitution.
00:07:34.690 --> 00:07:38.690
Speaker 0: And he did something that was historic that, he's now just getting credit for
00:07:38.770 --> 00:07:42.530
Speaker 0: is he added the words and equal to what was previously just a free
00:07:42.530 --> 00:07:43.250
Speaker 0: election clause.
00:07:43.250 --> 00:07:47.015
Speaker 0: And the British Bill of Rights, they determined that anybody should be able to
00:07:47.015 --> 00:07:48.135
Speaker 0: run for office.
00:07:48.135 --> 00:07:51.895
Speaker 0: A hundred years later, Wilson determined it's not just that they can be able
00:07:51.895 --> 00:07:52.135
Speaker 0: to run.
00:07:52.135 --> 00:07:53.255
Speaker 0: It's gotta be fair.
00:07:53.255 --> 00:07:56.695
Speaker 0: And he there is research done to show that he defended those words.
00:07:56.695 --> 00:07:59.095
Speaker 0: He's a person that wrote it when it passed.
00:07:59.095 --> 00:08:03.095
Speaker 0: And then after that, the states that came into the union pretty much
00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:04.860
Speaker 0: like copied the Pennsylvania Constitution.
00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:07.740
Speaker 0: It seemed like it's such a great Constitution.
00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:11.740
Speaker 0: And so the free and equal clause and the free and fair clause
00:08:11.900 --> 00:08:15.900
Speaker 0: wound up in a lot of states' Constitution as a result of James Wilson.
00:08:15.965 --> 00:08:19.005
Speaker 0: But his theory is that if it wasn't
00:08:19.005 --> 00:08:23.005
Speaker 0: fair, it poisons the fountain of democracy and that a free and equal system,
00:08:24.285 --> 00:08:26.125
Speaker 0: is the pure fountain of democracy.
00:08:26.125 --> 00:08:28.900
Speaker 0: You can't have, democracy without it.
00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:32.900
Speaker 1: Well, and it certainly doesn't feel very equal and borderline free
00:08:33.060 --> 00:08:35.860
Speaker 1: right now, that's for sure with everything going on.
00:08:35.860 --> 00:08:39.380
Speaker 1: And I guess certain areas would say it wasn't free for a long time,
00:08:39.380 --> 00:08:43.225
Speaker 1: but it definitely hasn't been equal for a long time with all this money
00:08:43.225 --> 00:08:46.585
Speaker 1: and and influence and foreign influence and and everything else.
00:08:46.585 --> 00:08:49.705
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the the system, the contest.
00:08:49.705 --> 00:08:53.465
Speaker 1: How does it actually work from the first endorsement to the final vote?
00:08:53.465 --> 00:08:56.210
Speaker 1: How does it actually work?
00:08:56.210 --> 00:08:57.970
Speaker 0: Well, the party's gonna operate very differently.
00:08:57.970 --> 00:08:59.730
Speaker 0: Like I said, we're not looking for candidates.
00:08:59.730 --> 00:09:02.530
Speaker 0: We're looking for districts that are right for disruption.
00:09:02.530 --> 00:09:06.530
Speaker 0: So imagine we find, you know, I think we're out two years, twenty
00:09:06.690 --> 00:09:08.050
Speaker 0: blue, twenty red districts.
00:09:08.050 --> 00:09:12.050
Speaker 0: We feel the numbers are right, that, you know, the representation is too
00:09:12.145 --> 00:09:14.945
Speaker 0: far left and too far right for that district.
00:09:14.945 --> 00:09:17.985
Speaker 0: And so what we'll do, the Super PAC would say, hey.
00:09:17.985 --> 00:09:21.825
Speaker 0: You're a chosen district, kinda like Hunger Games.
00:09:21.825 --> 00:09:23.265
Speaker 0: Go in there, you know, let's see.
00:09:23.265 --> 00:09:26.065
Speaker 0: We're looking for people to be on the committee and we're looking for people
00:09:26.065 --> 00:09:26.600
Speaker 0: to run.
00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:29.960
Speaker 0: And if you're gonna run, you go into the portal and you submit your
00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:30.520
Speaker 0: information.
00:09:30.520 --> 00:09:31.720
Speaker 0: We're gonna do background checks.
00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:34.760
Speaker 0: We're gonna do things that an HR department would typically do.
00:09:34.760 --> 00:09:37.880
Speaker 0: It seems silly to me that there's a lot of people running for office,
00:09:37.880 --> 00:09:40.995
Speaker 0: and they're three quarters of the way through the then and we find that
00:09:40.995 --> 00:09:43.875
Speaker 0: they didn't work there where they
work or serve where they said they serve.
00:09:43.875 --> 00:09:47.875
Speaker 0: So, I mean, the the local committee would make sure that the
00:09:47.955 --> 00:09:49.955
Speaker 0: information submitted is accurate.
00:09:49.955 --> 00:09:53.075
Speaker 0: And that there would be some requirement, just like if you're gonna get on
00:09:53.075 --> 00:09:57.075
Speaker 0: a general election ballot, you have to get endorsements that the potential nominees
00:09:57.280 --> 00:10:00.240
Speaker 0: would have to go get endorsed from some other people in the district.
00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.240
Speaker 0: So they'd have to download the app, verify their identity, get a hundred people
00:10:04.400 --> 00:10:06.415
Speaker 0: say to endorse,
00:10:06.415 --> 00:10:09.215
Speaker 0: Molly that she wants to run, that she you know, there and once they
00:10:09.215 --> 00:10:11.375
Speaker 0: do that, you know, the the contest starts.
00:10:11.375 --> 00:10:14.735
Speaker 0: So you can imagine, if it's a free and equal contest, people don't have
00:10:14.735 --> 00:10:18.335
Speaker 0: to not only invest money, they don't have to sell their souls to run
00:10:18.335 --> 00:10:18.895
Speaker 0: for congress.
00:10:18.895 --> 00:10:21.100
Speaker 0: We're gonna have a lot of interest.
00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:25.100
Speaker 0: And so and, one of the ideas that I'm working with, college students
00:10:26.060 --> 00:10:29.100
Speaker 0: to figure this out, they they know how mass dot com and all these
00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:29.500
Speaker 0: things work.
00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:33.100
Speaker 0: But their idea was really, to come up with, like, seven issues that the
00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:37.100
Speaker 0: local committee would say, this is what's coming before congress in the next congressional
00:10:37.245 --> 00:10:41.245
Speaker 0: cycle, force the candidates to weigh in on those
00:10:41.485 --> 00:10:44.205
Speaker 0: positions, left, right, center, yes, no.
00:10:44.205 --> 00:10:48.205
Speaker 0: And then that way, it's a fact we I just saw the first demo.
00:10:48.445 --> 00:10:50.150
Speaker 0: We we have this working now.
00:10:50.150 --> 00:10:53.590
Speaker 0: But, basically, as a constituent, you go in and say, of these seven issues,
00:10:53.590 --> 00:10:56.470
Speaker 0: these three or four of utmost important to me, I would see what matches.
00:10:56.470 --> 00:10:57.990
Speaker 0: It'll basically whittle the field down.
00:10:57.990 --> 00:10:59.830
Speaker 0: And before you even look at the candidate, say, hey.
00:10:59.830 --> 00:11:03.830
Speaker 0: Out of those hundred, thirty five of them match you on those three issues.
00:11:04.765 --> 00:11:06.285
Speaker 0: Well, I'll pick a four about thirty five.
00:11:06.285 --> 00:11:07.085
Speaker 0: Can I get a fourth?
00:11:07.085 --> 00:11:08.845
Speaker 0: Do I actually wanna look at the candidates?
00:11:08.845 --> 00:11:09.085
Speaker 0: No.
00:11:09.085 --> 00:11:12.125
Speaker 0: You can use approval voting, vote them all, see if they make the top
00:11:12.125 --> 00:11:13.645
Speaker 0: twenty just like American Idol.
00:11:13.645 --> 00:11:13.885
Speaker 0: You know?
00:11:13.885 --> 00:11:17.860
Speaker 0: And then the same thing, out of your twenty five or thirty people, maybe
00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:18.500
Speaker 0: seven or eight.
00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:19.220
Speaker 0: Is that enough?
00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:22.340
Speaker 0: I mean, I'd be thrilled if these one of them made the top four.
00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:24.740
Speaker 0: And you do that, and then once we get to a top four, we're
00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:26.820
Speaker 0: thinking about having a virtual town hall around.
00:11:26.820 --> 00:11:30.045
Speaker 0: There'd be additional questions that they get from constituents.
00:11:30.045 --> 00:11:32.765
Speaker 0: Using maybe ranked choice voting to get to a top two.
00:11:32.765 --> 00:11:34.845
Speaker 0: But we wanna have a final debate round.
00:11:34.845 --> 00:11:37.885
Speaker 0: This would be the only time in the contest where it would be a
00:11:37.885 --> 00:11:41.805
Speaker 0: person versus person where they'd actually be able to it wouldn't just be about
00:11:41.805 --> 00:11:42.285
Speaker 0: policy.
00:11:42.285 --> 00:11:46.285
Speaker 0: This would be about why me, not them, which is a fair statement.
00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:48.340
Speaker 0: And then a final vote.
00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:51.300
Speaker 0: And then the winner is somebody who has more than fifty percent of the
00:11:51.300 --> 00:11:51.860
Speaker 0: vote.
00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:55.860
Speaker 0: And that's the person who would go up against the person who won the
00:11:56.020 --> 00:11:57.780
Speaker 0: incredibly rigged public primary.
00:11:57.780 --> 00:12:01.780
Speaker 0: So, in practice, this would we would see this running in parallel
00:12:02.365 --> 00:12:06.365
Speaker 0: with the public primary in a gerrymandered district where the probably the
00:12:06.445 --> 00:12:10.445
Speaker 0: incumbent is going up with very little opposition, in the primary
00:12:10.605 --> 00:12:11.645
Speaker 0: or in the general election.
00:12:11.645 --> 00:12:15.530
Speaker 0: Unless they didn't sell out to their donors and they're gonna get primaried from
00:12:15.530 --> 00:12:16.970
Speaker 0: the left or right.
00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:20.490
Speaker 0: So we think this is could create a competitive market force.
00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:21.370
Speaker 1: I mean, I agree.
00:12:21.370 --> 00:12:23.690
Speaker 1: You know, I ran for office a few years ago in DC.
00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:27.050
Speaker 1: I was asked to be on this, like, slate, you know, this dump Trump
00:12:27.050 --> 00:12:28.025
Speaker 1: slate, whatever.
00:12:28.025 --> 00:12:29.785
Speaker 1: And I and I didn't win luckily.
00:12:29.785 --> 00:12:32.745
Speaker 1: I was on, like, the second page of the of the ballot and so
00:12:32.745 --> 00:12:34.345
Speaker 1:
nobody saw me there.
00:12:34.345 --> 00:12:37.145
Speaker 1: But it just dawned on me, like, there are so many candidates and I
00:12:37.145 --> 00:12:38.185
Speaker 1: don't know anything about them.
00:12:38.185 --> 00:12:39.625
Speaker 1: Like, somebody should make a cheat sheet.
00:12:39.625 --> 00:12:42.665
Speaker 1: Somebody should identify the top ten issues and say yes or no.
00:12:42.665 --> 00:12:43.430
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:12:43.430 --> 00:12:47.430
Speaker 1: Just make it easier for people because especially now there's a lot of manipulation.
00:12:47.670 --> 00:12:51.190
Speaker 1: There's people running as Democrats who are really Republicans and vice versa.
00:12:51.190 --> 00:12:54.310
Speaker 1: You know, you can't just go off of name and party line.
00:12:54.310 --> 00:12:57.030
Speaker 1: You really need to know who it is you're voting for and what issues
00:12:57.030 --> 00:12:58.125
Speaker 1: they care about.
00:12:58.125 --> 00:12:59.885
Speaker 1: And I it's not always easy.
00:12:59.885 --> 00:13:00.125
Speaker 1: Right?
00:13:00.125 --> 00:13:02.205
Speaker 1: And then a lot of it is reactive marketing.
00:13:02.205 --> 00:13:04.765
Speaker 1: They're reacting to the spin ads against them.
00:13:04.765 --> 00:13:05.965
Speaker 1: They're reacting to things.
00:13:05.965 --> 00:13:08.445
Speaker 1: But where's, like, the here's my platform.
00:13:08.445 --> 00:13:09.085
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:13:09.085 --> 00:13:10.285
Speaker 1: Where is it very clear?
00:13:10.285 --> 00:13:13.224
Speaker 1: And it feels like a lot of times they just don't answer because they're
00:13:13.224 --> 00:13:14.121
Speaker 1: beholden to the donors.
00:13:14.121 --> 00:13:14.345
Speaker 1: Right?
00:13:14.345 --> 00:13:14.794
Speaker 1: They just
00:13:14.794 --> 00:13:17.486
Speaker 0: don't And the only way that the media is so lazy.
00:13:17.486 --> 00:13:19.954
Speaker 0: At this point, they're just saying who has the most money?
00:13:19.954 --> 00:13:21.300
Speaker 0: That's the person that's gonna win.
00:13:21.300 --> 00:13:24.441
Speaker 0: So they they look at, you know, their their polling is more or less
00:13:24.441 --> 00:13:24.890
Speaker 0: saying, hey.
00:13:24.890 --> 00:13:26.012
Speaker 0: This guy has million dollars.
00:13:26.012 --> 00:13:27.725
Speaker 0: This person has six hundred thousand.
00:13:27.725 --> 00:13:30.045
Speaker 0: That's the favor because they're gonna be able to outspend them.
00:13:30.045 --> 00:13:33.565
Speaker 0: I mean, that's how lazy we are about even the polling that we do.
00:13:33.565 --> 00:13:37.565
Speaker 0: So this is, you know, allows this to occur over multiple rounds, multiple
00:13:37.885 --> 00:13:38.205
Speaker 0: weeks.
00:13:38.205 --> 00:13:41.725
Speaker 0: And, you know, the question I ask is, you know, so now the result
00:13:41.725 --> 00:13:43.820
Speaker 0: is you've they've selected this candidate.
00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:45.820
Speaker 0: The the district weighed in.
00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:48.220
Speaker 0: It's that or the person the party picked.
00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:49.900
Speaker 0: Who are they gonna vote for the general election?
00:13:49.900 --> 00:13:53.180
Speaker 0: I think at this point, they would believe this person can win because they
00:13:53.180 --> 00:13:53.740
Speaker 0: won.
00:13:53.740 --> 00:13:56.860
Speaker 0: You know, they they won a much tougher competition.
00:13:56.860 --> 00:14:00.860
Speaker 0: Be like winning the, you know, the big ten versus the
00:14:00.865 --> 00:14:01.425
Speaker 0: Ivy League.
00:14:01.425 --> 00:14:04.705
Speaker 0: You know, it's
00:14:04.705 --> 00:14:08.705
Speaker 0: that's the act that was an accidental intentional kind of comparison.
00:14:08.865 --> 00:14:10.940
Speaker 1: I love it when that works out.
00:14:10.940 --> 00:14:14.700
Speaker 1: You're targeting uncontested districts first, both red and blue.
00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:15.580
Speaker 1: So why start there?
00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:17.100
Speaker 1: Why does that matter more?
00:14:17.100 --> 00:14:19.740
Speaker 1: And what does it actually accomplish?
00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:22.220
Speaker 0: To me, this is maybe it's just my mental challenge.
00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:23.775
Speaker 0: I wanna break gerrymandering.
00:14:23.775 --> 00:14:27.775
Speaker 0: And if you go into naturally uncompetitive districts, there really is no chance.
00:14:27.775 --> 00:14:31.535
Speaker 0: I I think naturally uncompetitive is like, you know, it hasn't been rigged.
00:14:31.535 --> 00:14:35.215
Speaker 0: So it's like purely liberal, purely you know, if you go into the heart
00:14:35.215 --> 00:14:37.695
Speaker 0: of a a city and kept that district that way, if you didn't bring
00:14:37.695 --> 00:14:41.695
Speaker 0: in the suburbs that were conservative, that's we we don't think our system would
00:14:41.910 --> 00:14:45.910
Speaker 0: work as well there, and representation isn't as distorted.
00:14:45.910 --> 00:14:49.910
Speaker 0: In the swing districts, it's not as distorted because the competition forces
00:14:49.990 --> 00:14:51.825
Speaker 0: the representation back to the center.
00:14:51.825 --> 00:14:55.825
Speaker 0: To me, where the problem is and what everybody hates is gerrymandering.
00:14:55.825 --> 00:14:59.825
Speaker 0: People's voices get buried and and there's no accountability
00:15:00.465 --> 00:15:02.785
Speaker 0: for a representative that doesn't represent.
00:15:02.785 --> 00:15:04.545
Speaker 0: So and we there are hundreds of them.
00:15:04.545 --> 00:15:06.065
Speaker 0: I mean, we're gonna have the pick of the litter.
00:15:06.065 --> 00:15:08.910
Speaker 0: There's so many
00:15:08.910 --> 00:15:12.910
Speaker 0: districts, and we'd look at as districts where the winner in the previous election
00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:15.070
Speaker 0: had at least two thirds of the vote.
00:15:15.070 --> 00:15:19.070
Speaker 0: That way, if we split that
vote, the opposition party still can't win.
00:15:19.310 --> 00:15:23.310
Speaker 0: We want a a hopeless situation for the opposition party, but the hope for
00:15:23.395 --> 00:15:27.315
Speaker 0: them is that they can either elect somebody who's not a Republican or not
00:15:27.315 --> 00:15:27.955
Speaker 0: a Democrat.
00:15:27.955 --> 00:15:30.675
Speaker 0: I mean, they they hate the opposition party so much.
00:15:30.675 --> 00:15:31.555
Speaker 0: They'll like to see that.
00:15:31.555 --> 00:15:34.900
Speaker 0: So if you're a Democrat in a conservative district,
00:15:34.900 --> 00:15:37.060
Speaker 0: that's how you get back.
00:15:37.060 --> 00:15:41.060
Speaker 0: And we think that you're we're really gonna allow the system to play against
00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:42.580
Speaker 0: itself.
00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:44.500
Speaker 0: You know, we're doing it with the Super PAC.
00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:45.860
Speaker 0: We're doing it with this.
00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:46.180
Speaker 0: You know?
00:15:46.180 --> 00:15:48.100
Speaker 0: And that's the way monopolies go down.
00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:51.445
Speaker 0: The rules, the barriers that they set up to protect them all of a
00:15:51.445 --> 00:15:52.725
Speaker 0: sudden to work against them.
00:15:52.725 --> 00:15:55.365
Speaker 0: And that's that's why I'm looking at this like a business.
00:15:55.365 --> 00:15:58.725
Speaker 0: If we look at it like a business, this is a disruptive technology coming
00:15:58.725 --> 00:16:00.245
Speaker 0: into monopolistic market.
00:16:00.245 --> 00:16:02.140
Speaker 0: Here are the ways you do it.
00:16:02.140 --> 00:16:05.580
Speaker 0: Look at do this run this like a political party, we're gonna lose.
00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:05.820
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:09.820
Speaker 1: And I mean, the the the the proof is in the pudding, if you
00:16:09.820 --> 00:16:10.020
Speaker 1: will.
00:16:09.980 --> 00:16:13.340
Speaker 1: You know, there's certainly plenty of examples of it failing right now, and a
00:16:13.340 --> 00:16:16.780
Speaker 1: lot of people are feeling very disillusioned by the whole thing.
00:16:16.780 --> 00:16:17.260
Speaker 1: You know?
00:16:17.260 --> 00:16:18.835
Speaker 1: So,
00:16:18.835 --> 00:16:21.635
Speaker 1: why should people why should candidates wanna choose it?
00:16:21.635 --> 00:16:24.595
Speaker 1: Well, you kinda just explained why they wouldn't wanna choose this, but why would
00:16:24.595 --> 00:16:26.755
Speaker 1: they choose this system over a two party system?
00:16:26.755 --> 00:16:28.595
Speaker 1: Why would this benefit candidates?
00:16:28.595 --> 00:16:30.675
Speaker 0: Well, I mean, in a two party system, you have to sell it to
00:16:30.675 --> 00:16:31.075
Speaker 0: donors.
00:16:31.075 --> 00:16:32.460
Speaker 0: It just doesn't work any other way.
00:16:32.460 --> 00:16:33.660
Speaker 0: I mean, look what's happening now.
00:16:33.660 --> 00:16:37.660
Speaker 0: You know, these really wealthy people are just putting pressure on represent vote, you
00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:41.500
Speaker 0: know, my way or I'm gonna pay to put somebody in that district and
00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:42.060
Speaker 0: and run.
00:16:42.060 --> 00:16:44.540
Speaker 0: That does not happen in our system.
00:16:44.540 --> 00:16:48.540
Speaker 0: So the two party system is system of whips where
00:16:48.845 --> 00:16:52.285
Speaker 0: people who control donor night with representation in shape.
00:16:52.285 --> 00:16:54.365
Speaker 0: That that should be unconstitutional.
00:16:54.365 --> 00:16:56.845
Speaker 0: In our system, the people are the whip.
00:16:56.845 --> 00:16:58.845
Speaker 0: You know, they're the ones who hold them accountable.
00:16:58.845 --> 00:17:00.205
Speaker 0: Come you know, don't represent.
00:17:00.205 --> 00:17:02.765
Speaker 0: Come back through our our nominating system.
00:17:02.765 --> 00:17:04.020
Speaker 0: You're not gonna win.
00:17:04.020 --> 00:17:08.020
Speaker 0: So I think that's what Wilson designed,
00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:11.780
Speaker 0: you know, is that the states would figure out a way to make sure
00:17:11.780 --> 00:17:12.740
Speaker 0: that things were fair.
00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:16.580
Speaker 0: They never envisioned that, you know, both sides of the system would be in
00:17:16.580 --> 00:17:20.580
Speaker 0: complete agreement on locking out power because they've sworn
00:17:20.875 --> 00:17:24.875
Speaker 0: an oath to make sure that elections are free and equal,
00:17:25.035 --> 00:17:27.035
Speaker 0: and they they violate their oath.
00:17:27.035 --> 00:17:30.810
Speaker 1: So let's talk about data and integrity.
00:17:30.810 --> 00:17:31.130
Speaker 1: Right?
00:17:31.130 --> 00:17:35.130
Speaker 1: Like, people I'm sure you're getting skeptics who are saying, well, people are voting
00:17:35.130 --> 00:17:36.730
Speaker 1: electronically or voting that way.
00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:40.730
Speaker 1: You know, where is the security and in that especially now with,
00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:44.185
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna say voter fraud because it's not voter fraud.
00:17:44.185 --> 00:17:45.225
Speaker 1: It's election fraud.
00:17:45.225 --> 00:17:45.465
Speaker 1: Right?
00:17:45.465 --> 00:17:48.825
Speaker 1: It's it's not the voters committing the fraud as far as I'm concerned.
00:17:48.825 --> 00:17:51.705
Speaker 1: So how do we ensure,
00:17:51.705 --> 00:17:54.985
Speaker 1: you know, data integrity?
00:17:54.985 --> 00:17:58.140
Speaker 0: Well, I mean, I've run an accounting business for three decades, and you you
00:17:58.140 --> 00:17:59.980
Speaker 0: think people don't wanna steal money?
00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:03.980
Speaker 0: I I and people say this thing like, oh, people that work in election
00:18:03.980 --> 00:18:07.420
Speaker 0: security, like, they have another gear for corruption.
00:18:07.420 --> 00:18:08.780
Speaker 0: I you know, I don't believe that.
00:18:08.780 --> 00:18:12.780
Speaker 0: I I think money is way more valuable in large numbers than votes.
00:18:12.860 --> 00:18:14.565
Speaker 0: I mean, you can only do so much.
00:18:14.565 --> 00:18:17.765
Speaker 0: And our system's already completely rigged for incumbents.
00:18:17.765 --> 00:18:18.085
Speaker 1: Right.
00:18:18.085 --> 00:18:18.325
Speaker 1: Right.
00:18:18.325 --> 00:18:22.325
Speaker 0: Like, why would foreign people waste their time screwing with our elections when
00:18:22.405 --> 00:18:24.965
Speaker 0: we screw them up so badly ourselves?
00:18:24.965 --> 00:18:25.285
Speaker 1: Right.
00:18:25.285 --> 00:18:28.805
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you can tell somebody's never been a criminal when they
00:18:28.805 --> 00:18:31.470
Speaker 1: say things like illegal immigrants are going downtown to vote.
00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:34.750
Speaker 1: And I'm like, you don't really understand how anything works in life, do you?
00:18:34.750 --> 00:18:38.750
Speaker 1: Because, like, criminals aren't going down to the police station or going, like,
00:18:38.910 --> 00:18:40.190
Speaker 1: you know, that's not how it works.
00:18:40.190 --> 00:18:41.470
Speaker 1: They're committing crimes.
00:18:41.470 --> 00:18:42.295
Speaker 1: They're like, they're
00:18:42.295 --> 00:18:45.975
Speaker 0: Plus, they don't do a very good job of making their systems transparent.
00:18:45.975 --> 00:18:49.095
Speaker 0: We have this idea about creating a virtual polling location.
00:18:49.095 --> 00:18:52.215
Speaker 0: Like, the idea behind a polling location is that you show up and I'm
00:18:52.215 --> 00:18:52.935
Speaker 0: aware, and I say, yeah.
00:18:52.935 --> 00:18:53.575
Speaker 0: I know Molly.
00:18:53.575 --> 00:18:54.535
Speaker 0: I mean, she's my neighbor.
00:18:54.535 --> 00:18:55.575
Speaker 0: I can recognize them.
00:18:55.575 --> 00:18:59.575
Speaker 0: The polling location is small enough that you're gonna recognize a school district, an
00:18:59.630 --> 00:19:00.910
Speaker 0: apartment building, something like that.
00:19:00.910 --> 00:19:02.510
Speaker 0: So, virtually, we can do that.
00:19:02.510 --> 00:19:06.510
Speaker 0: So we could have we can shrink our polling locations down to
00:19:06.670 --> 00:19:07.470
Speaker 0: be really small.
00:19:07.470 --> 00:19:08.590
Speaker 0: We can do it all online.
00:19:08.590 --> 00:19:12.030
Speaker 0: You could be a virtual poll worker that goes in and says, hey.
00:19:12.030 --> 00:19:13.955
Speaker 0: I see,
00:19:13.955 --> 00:19:16.595
Speaker 0: Frank is dead, and he's lighting up green.
00:19:16.595 --> 00:19:17.315
Speaker 0: You know?
00:19:17.315 --> 00:19:20.995
Speaker 0: So this is a way that you can make the whole system be maybe
00:19:20.995 --> 00:19:24.035
Speaker 0: everybody in their district or their polling can see each other, and then they
00:19:24.035 --> 00:19:25.875
Speaker 0: have confidence that the numbers came in.
00:19:25.875 --> 00:19:27.270
Speaker 0: They don't know who did that.
00:19:27.270 --> 00:19:29.910
Speaker 0: The other aspect is, you know, through encryption, auditing.
00:19:29.910 --> 00:19:33.030
Speaker 0: I mean, again, in finance, you audit.
00:19:33.030 --> 00:19:37.030
Speaker 0: But the end of the day, you know, if the person but one American
00:19:37.270 --> 00:19:40.915
Speaker 0: Idol couldn't sing, you'd know that the voting system screwed up.
00:19:40.915 --> 00:19:41.235
Speaker 0: Right.
00:19:41.235 --> 00:19:41.715
Speaker 0: Right.
00:19:41.715 --> 00:19:45.715
Speaker 0: If our candidate's way better than the other candidates, people won't they'll say, yes.
00:19:45.795 --> 00:19:47.475
Speaker 0: That is the person who should emerge.
00:19:47.475 --> 00:19:48.595
Speaker 0: They're more popular.
00:19:48.595 --> 00:19:50.275
Speaker 0: They have the positions that match.
00:19:50.275 --> 00:19:52.435
Speaker 0: You know, what is the worry there?
00:19:52.435 --> 00:19:56.035
Speaker 0: So and the last point I make, this is a nominating system, not election
00:19:56.035 --> 00:19:56.355
Speaker 0: system.
00:19:56.355 --> 00:19:59.370
Speaker 0: So if the results produces something you like or you don't trust, you don't
00:19:59.370 --> 00:20:02.890
Speaker 0: trust the result, vote for the
00:20:02.890 --> 00:20:05.450
Speaker 0: Republican or Democrat that you're so happy with.
00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:08.170
Speaker 0: So, you know, give it a chance.
00:20:08.170 --> 00:20:11.975
Speaker 0: You know, if we we could detect fraud too, just rerun the thing.
00:20:11.975 --> 00:20:15.415
Speaker 0: So there are things that we can do that you can't do an election
00:20:15.415 --> 00:20:18.455
Speaker 0: system that allows us to use this as, like, a sandbox.
00:20:18.455 --> 00:20:20.935
Speaker 0: Let's try things out.
00:20:20.935 --> 00:20:24.935
Speaker 0: Because what they're doing now isn't working, and election reform is
00:20:25.015 --> 00:20:26.080
Speaker 0: not happening.
00:20:26.080 --> 00:20:29.680
Speaker 0: And, you know, the comment I make is that well, it's happening slowly.
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:33.680
Speaker 0: Democracy is falling apart faster than election reform is happening.
00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:38.480
Speaker 1: So what differentiates America's Main Street party from other election
00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:41.995
Speaker 1: reform efforts that are out there?
00:20:41.995 --> 00:20:44.875
Speaker 0: The biggest thing is that we don't require any new laws.
00:20:44.875 --> 00:20:47.035
Speaker 0: You know, I figured out a way to do this.
00:20:47.035 --> 00:20:51.035
Speaker 0: The loophole is is that if our contestants don't spend money, whatever
00:20:51.275 --> 00:20:53.835
Speaker 0: we do falls outside the purview of the FEC.
00:20:53.835 --> 00:20:57.290
Speaker 0: So we can basically build a primary system within the party.
00:20:57.290 --> 00:20:58.810
Speaker 0: The party has no ideology.
00:20:58.810 -->
00:21:00.090
Speaker 0: It has technology.
00:21:00.090 --> 00:21:00.410
Speaker 0: You know?
00:21:00.410 --> 00:21:04.410
Speaker 0: And then it publishes the technology out to these local committees in equal
00:21:04.570 --> 00:21:05.930
Speaker 0: numbers so that they run it.
00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:09.450
Speaker 0: So we're always our control is that, you know, we'll do three red, three
00:21:09.450 --> 00:21:13.165
Speaker 0: blue, you know, five red, five blue, but we'll never stack the deck to
00:21:13.165 --> 00:21:13.565
Speaker 0: say, hey.
00:21:13.565 --> 00:21:15.565
Speaker 0: We're doing twenty red and five blue.
00:21:15.565 --> 00:21:16.525
Speaker 0: You know, whatever.
00:21:16.525 --> 00:21:17.645
Speaker 0: We want we're gonna keep them.
00:21:17.645 --> 00:21:19.485
Speaker 0: We're always gonna go out of swing district.
00:21:19.485 --> 00:21:23.325
Speaker 0: So we wanna make a party spend money where they're typically not spending money.
00:21:23.325 --> 00:21:27.325
Speaker 0: You know, we wanna put pressure on the system, and we wanna create competition
00:21:27.520 --> 00:21:29.600
Speaker 0: when there's typically none.
00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:33.600
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the speaker of the house and restoring coalition driven
00:21:33.760 --> 00:21:34.320
Speaker 1: legislating.
00:21:34.320 --> 00:21:37.360
Speaker 1: How realistic is that and what is the path towards that?
00:21:37.360 --> 00:21:38.765
Speaker 1: Why does it matter?
00:21:38.765 --> 00:21:39.325
Speaker 0: Wow, Molly.
00:21:39.325 --> 00:21:40.125
Speaker 0: You did your homework.
00:21:40.125 --> 00:21:41.005
Speaker 0: You read everything.
00:21:41.005 --> 00:21:42.205
Speaker 0: I did.
00:21:42.205 --> 00:21:43.725
Speaker 1: Listen.
00:21:43.725 --> 00:21:46.445
Speaker 1: I didn't pay attention to Nashville, but I'm paying attention now.
00:21:46.445 --> 00:21:47.565
Speaker 1: Let me tell you.
00:21:47.565 --> 00:21:47.805
Speaker 0: Yes.
00:21:47.805 --> 00:21:48.765
Speaker 0: You did.
00:21:48.765 --> 00:21:51.565
Speaker 0: So, yeah, the long term prospect of this think about it.
00:21:51.565 --> 00:21:54.650
Speaker 0: Political parties, exist for two purposes.
00:21:54.650 --> 00:21:58.650
Speaker 0: One, to fund campaigns, and the other is so that people can have clarity
00:21:58.650 --> 00:22:00.250
Speaker 0: in who they're choosing.
00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:02.490
Speaker 0: But I'm wondering about the second part.
00:22:02.490 --> 00:22:06.090
Speaker 0: There's no question that they have they fund, political campaigns.
00:22:06.090 --> 00:22:10.090
Speaker 0: But if we eliminate money from elections, what purpose do the parties
00:22:10.385 --> 00:22:13.105
Speaker 0: have that caucuses don't have?
00:22:13.105 --> 00:22:15.505
Speaker 0: Right now, we don't have two caucuses in congress.
00:22:15.505 --> 00:22:17.585
Speaker 0: We have, like, four or five.
00:22:17.585 --> 00:22:20.145
Speaker 0: So each party has two and
then there's the problem with the people in
00:22:20.145 --> 00:22:20.865
Speaker 0: the middle.
00:22:20.865 --> 00:22:24.865
Speaker 0: So if we unbind the parties from money, then the then
00:22:25.320 --> 00:22:28.360
Speaker 0: the represent you identify, say, hey.
00:22:28.360 --> 00:22:31.000
Speaker 0: Now somebody running through the congress says, I'm not a democrat.
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:32.680
Speaker 0: I'm a I'm a progressive.
00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:34.840
Speaker 0: I'm a neoliberal.
00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:38.840
Speaker 0: Whatever group they're they're gonna because if you go to Congress as an independent,
00:22:38.875 --> 00:22:39.675
Speaker 0: you have no power.
00:22:39.675 --> 00:22:43.035
Speaker 0: You have to be with some you have to caucus with a group.
00:22:43.035 --> 00:22:44.955
Speaker 0: And that's where Bernie gets his power.
00:22:44.955 --> 00:22:47.035
Speaker 0: He caucuses with the progressives.
00:22:47.035 --> 00:22:51.035
Speaker 0: So we want people that aren't don't have a party
00:22:51.090 --> 00:22:54.530
Speaker 0: label and that the Main Street party is not really a party label.
00:22:54.530 --> 00:22:58.530
Speaker 0: It just allows them to affiliate a caucus level, not at a party
00:22:58.530 --> 00:22:58.770
Speaker 0: level.
00:22:58.770 --> 00:23:00.770
Speaker 0: And that's where the money is out of it.
00:23:00.770 --> 00:23:04.770
Speaker 0: There are no real you know, the caucuses aren't about elections.
00:23:04.850 --> 00:23:06.105
Speaker 0: People don't yet identify it.
00:23:06.105 --> 00:23:06.465
Speaker 0: Identify it.
00:23:06.465 --> 00:23:10.465
Speaker 0: But that would be our long term goal is to basically put
00:23:10.665 --> 00:23:14.665
Speaker 0: the public primary out of business and get people identifying by caucus
00:23:14.985 --> 00:23:18.985
Speaker 0: within congress, not party outside of Congress.
00:23:19.080 --> 00:23:23.080
Speaker 1: So right now, we're using approval voting, top four primary, and ranked
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:23.960
Speaker 1: choice voting.
00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.960
Speaker 1: So why why that combination, and why does your system
00:23:28.280 --> 00:23:32.280
Speaker 1: produce, like, results that the current system can't?
00:23:33.045 --> 00:23:37.045
Speaker 0: Well, the the money distorts representation in our current system.
00:23:37.205 --> 00:23:39.365
Speaker 0: That that's why you're getting extreme candidates.
00:23:39.365 --> 00:23:42.165
Speaker 0: So if people aren't extreme enough, they'll put more money out and get something
00:23:42.165 --> 00:23:42.725
Speaker 0: more extreme.
00:23:42.725 --> 00:23:46.725
Speaker 0: But our system their this the stats on, things like rank
00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:50.980
Speaker 0: choice voting and approval voting is that they, they, number
00:23:51.220 --> 00:23:55.220
Speaker 0: one, give people the confidence and not just picking the favor all
00:23:55.220 --> 00:23:59.220
Speaker 0: the
time, which happens in our current first pass first
00:23:59.455 --> 00:24:02.015
Speaker 0: pass the post system.
00:24:02.015 --> 00:24:06.015
Speaker 0: So what we're looking at doing in our first three rounds, we go from
00:24:06.015 --> 00:24:09.695
Speaker 0: the the large field down to a top twenty down to a top ten,
00:24:09.695 --> 00:24:13.350
Speaker 0: is use what's called approval voting, meaning you're allowed to vote for as many
00:24:13.350 --> 00:24:14.310
Speaker 0: people as you approve of.
00:24:14.310 --> 00:24:16.950
Speaker 0: So it might be those people that match up on the values.
00:24:16.950 --> 00:24:17.990
Speaker 0: It could be your cousin.
00:24:17.990 --> 00:24:20.950
Speaker 0: You don't match up on values, but you promised at dinner you would do
00:24:20.950 --> 00:24:21.350
Speaker 0: that.
00:24:21.350 --> 00:24:24.630
Speaker 0: So you're gonna be able to go in and it could be a neighbor,
00:24:24.630 --> 00:24:27.765
Speaker 0: and use approval voting, in those first three rounds.
00:24:27.765 --> 00:24:31.765
Speaker 0: When we get to a top four, approval voting is one of the methods
00:24:31.925 --> 00:24:33.045
Speaker 0: that we're looking at.
00:24:33.045 --> 00:24:36.805
Speaker 0: There's four methods that we really want, to put in front of users and
00:24:36.805 --> 00:24:37.925
Speaker 0: get some feedback.
00:24:37.925 --> 00:24:40.085
Speaker 0: Rank choice voting,
00:24:40.085 --> 00:24:44.085
Speaker 0: star voting, which is like, you know, evaluating a movie,
00:24:44.360 --> 00:24:48.040
Speaker 0: pick two, meaning you gotta pick two because two are going on to the
00:24:48.040 --> 00:24:49.400
Speaker 0: final and like that approval.
00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:53.400
Speaker 0: So, in the beta version, we're gonna give users
00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:57.400
Speaker 0: a choice, to pick it, you know, and gather data and feedback.
00:24:58.335 --> 00:25:02.335
Speaker 0: So it's not academics that are choosing these systems, which is really
00:25:02.495 --> 00:25:06.495
Speaker 0: what's is these legislations being put forth is by people who are just
00:25:06.815 --> 00:25:08.895
Speaker 0: classroom people.
00:25:08.895 --> 00:25:12.490
Speaker 0: And let actual users and constituents say, hey.
00:25:12.490 --> 00:25:14.410
Speaker 0: This is really the way this should be.
00:25:14.410 --> 00:25:18.410
Speaker 0: Because there's a lot of, you know, political, you know,
00:25:18.570 --> 00:25:22.170
Speaker 0: opinions going around about whether these methods are good.
00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:26.170
Speaker 0: It'd be really nice to ask the constituents,
00:25:26.275 --> 00:25:27.315
Speaker 0: the users Right.
00:25:27.315 --> 00:25:28.115
Speaker 0: What they think.
00:25:28.115 --> 00:25:28.515
Speaker 0: You know?
00:25:28.515 --> 00:25:31.315
Speaker 0: So that's our goal is to gather that data through this cycle.
00:25:31.315 --> 00:25:33.955
Speaker 0: We just wanna educate people on this process.
00:25:33.955 --> 00:25:36.515
Speaker 0: It's a huge paradigm shift.
00:25:36.515 --> 00:25:40.515
Speaker 0: So hopefully, that answers your question about why we have those different the final
00:25:40.610 --> 00:25:42.450
Speaker 0: round will be pick one.
00:25:42.450 --> 00:25:46.450
Speaker 0: You know, be like our general election that we I don't see that changing.
00:25:47.330 --> 00:25:49.090
Speaker 0: You know, if it does, great.
00:25:49.090 --> 00:25:51.890
Speaker 0: We would change it, but we want the last round to emulate what we
00:25:51.890 --> 00:25:54.185
Speaker 0: have in the general election.
00:25:54.185 --> 00:25:57.545
Speaker 1: So for people that are listening right now and they're like, oh, that's peaked
00:25:57.545 --> 00:25:58.185
Speaker 1: my interest.
00:25:58.185 --> 00:26:02.185
Speaker 1: Like, what what can they do to give you more data, to support the
00:26:02.265 --> 00:26:04.745
Speaker 1: movement, to spread the message?
00:26:04.745 --> 00:26:07.890
Speaker 1: What would you like people to know?
00:26:07.890 --> 00:26:08.130
Speaker 0: Yes.
00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:11.890
Speaker 0: I mean, you know, this is something that's been going on in kind of
00:26:11.890 --> 00:26:13.570
Speaker 0: a laboratory for a couple years.
00:26:13.570 --> 00:26:16.690
Speaker 0: We've just starting to get the word out literally this year.
00:26:16.690 --> 00:26:18.370
Speaker 0: I think it was on my first podcast.
00:26:18.370 --> 00:26:22.370
Speaker 0: I did one last quarter or the last quarter of two thousand twenty five
00:26:22.955 --> 00:26:24.155
Speaker 0: and done thirty.
00:26:24.155 --> 00:26:26.795
Speaker 0: But I want people to you know, it's a big change.
00:26:26.795 --> 00:26:30.795
Speaker 0: I mean, just wrapping your head around how different this is is, a
00:26:30.795 --> 00:26:31.675
Speaker 0: lot of education.
00:26:31.675 --> 00:26:35.675
Speaker 0: So going to mainstreet party dot org, the web page, a brand new
00:26:35.675 --> 00:26:39.190
Speaker 0: way, would really bring you up to speed on how this contest works.
00:26:39.190 --> 00:26:43.190
Speaker 0: If you're a nerd like Molly, you go to,
00:26:43.510 --> 00:26:45.670
Speaker 0: wilson's fountain dot u s.
00:26:45.670 --> 00:26:49.030
Speaker 0: But at this point, wilson fountain dot u s is really where we did
00:26:49.030 --> 00:26:53.030
Speaker 0: a lot of the research behind the free and equal election clause,
00:26:54.085 --> 00:26:58.085
Speaker 0: the rules behind how a super PAC, a national party, a local
00:26:58.165 --> 00:27:01.925
Speaker 0: committee, and a candidate committee, how we're gonna operate those very differently than they
00:27:01.925 --> 00:27:02.900
Speaker 0: work today.
00:27:02.900 --> 00:27:04.820
Speaker 0: We're still gonna operate within the rules.
00:27:04.820 --> 00:27:05.780
Speaker 0: They will qualify.
00:27:05.780 --> 00:27:09.780
Speaker 0: They will they will operate within regulations,
but we're gonna
00:27:10.100 --> 00:27:12.900
Speaker 0: make them work in a way where it works for the people, not for
00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:14.500
Speaker 0: the politicians.
00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:18.500
Speaker 0: But mainstreet party dot org is where you can go to our our donation
00:27:18.755 --> 00:27:22.435
Speaker 0: page or the, we have petition on change dot org.
00:27:22.435 --> 00:27:24.675
Speaker 0: We wanna show traction.
00:27:24.675 --> 00:27:27.875
Speaker 0: We think to get a super donor involved in this on the Super PAC
00:27:27.875 --> 00:27:30.750
Speaker 0: level, there's gotta be interest from the people.
00:27:30.750 --> 00:27:31.790
Speaker 0: So that's what we want.
00:27:31.790 --> 00:27:33.870
Speaker 0: Like, share, tell your friends and neighbors.
00:27:33.870 --> 00:27:34.430
Speaker 1: I love it.
00:27:34.430 --> 00:27:36.030
Speaker 1: Well, that's what we're doing here today.
00:27:36.030 --> 00:27:36.750
Speaker 1: That's for sure.
00:27:36.750 --> 00:27:40.670
Speaker 1: So what does success look like for America's, Main Street party?
00:27:40.670 --> 00:27:44.670
Speaker 1: Like, five years from now, what you know, if if you could imagine,
00:27:44.695 --> 00:27:48.695
Speaker 1: success for the for the organization, what would that look like?
00:27:48.935 --> 00:27:50.055
Speaker 0: That's the plan.
00:27:50.055 --> 00:27:51.175
Speaker 0: It's a five year plan.
00:27:51.175 --> 00:27:54.535
Speaker 0: I mean, our first round would be the House of Representatives.
00:27:54.535 --> 00:27:58.535
Speaker 0: The second round, it would be expanding that and now getting into the senate.
00:27:58.600 --> 00:28:01.240
Speaker 0: And then the third round, we hope we have enough traction that we could
00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:05.080
Speaker 0: do a multi round nomination process for the president of the United States in
00:28:05.080 --> 00:28:06.600
Speaker 0: two thousand thirty two.
00:28:06.600 --> 00:28:10.600
Speaker 0: That this is really something that the way we nominate a president
00:28:10.600 --> 00:28:11.720
Speaker 0: is absolutely horrible.
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.615
Speaker 0: It's bad enough as this for the house and the senate, but this is
00:28:15.615 --> 00:28:16.575
Speaker 1: just, you know,
00:28:16.575 --> 00:28:20.575
Speaker 0: New Hampshire, you know, sets the course for the entire country and that
00:28:20.895 --> 00:28:24.415
Speaker 0: their states are just weighing so late in the process, they don't count at
00:28:24.415 --> 00:28:24.735
Speaker 0: all.
00:28:24.735 --> 00:28:28.735
Speaker 0: There's no reason why we can't have a field of, like, twenty, thirty
00:28:28.750 --> 00:28:32.590
Speaker 0: candidates and do this over multiple rounds and the whole country weighs in and
00:28:32.590 --> 00:28:35.550
Speaker 0: we pair the field like we do with every other thing we do.
00:28:35.550 --> 00:28:35.870
Speaker 1: Right.
00:28:35.870 --> 00:28:36.190
Speaker 1: Right.
00:28:36.190
--> 00:28:38.190
Speaker 1: It's it's it's quite mind boggling.
00:28:38.190 --> 00:28:42.190
Speaker 1: And I think even the average uneducated American who's
00:28:42.375 --> 00:28:46.215
Speaker 1: not paying attention will say that, you know, the electoral college and, like, they
00:28:46.215 --> 00:28:48.215
Speaker 1: don't really they don't think their vote matters.
00:28:48.215 --> 00:28:48.455
Speaker 1: Right?
00:28:48.455 --> 00:28:52.055
Speaker 1: Like, so, you know, even people that aren't paying attention know that the thing
00:28:52.055 --> 00:28:54.535
Speaker 1: is broken and we we need something else.
00:28:54.535 --> 00:28:57.580
Speaker 1: You know, it's just it's it's just not working.
00:28:57.580 --> 00:29:00.380
Speaker 0: And if it's a compelling contest, people will pay attention.
00:29:00.380 --> 00:29:04.380
Speaker 0: And we every two years, we start following sports in the Olympics
00:29:04.540 --> 00:29:05.820
Speaker 0: that we've never heard.
00:29:05.820 --> 00:29:06.220
Speaker 0: You know?
00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:06.620
Speaker 0: Right.
00:29:06.620 --> 00:29:08.860
Speaker 0: Just produce an interesting contest.
00:29:08.860 --> 00:29:09.180
Speaker 1: Right.
00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:12.380
Speaker 0: You know, make it as what we have now is a bad reality contest.
00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:14.465
Speaker 0: Let's make a good one.
00:29:14.465 --> 00:29:14.705
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:29:14.705 --> 00:29:16.785
Speaker 1: May the odds forever be in your favor.
00:29:16.785 --> 00:29:19.745
Speaker 1: We were like, we're inching so much closer to that day by day.
00:29:19.745 --> 00:29:21.265
Speaker 1: It's, like, really mind boggling.
00:29:21.265 --> 00:29:24.545
Speaker 1: I I rewatched all those movies a few months ago to prepare myself for
00:29:24.545 --> 00:29:28.545
Speaker 1: the oncoming apocalypse, but, hopefully we'll we'll steer off
00:29:28.550 --> 00:29:29.590
Speaker 1: course before then.
00:29:29.590 --> 00:29:33.110
Speaker 1: But, I I mean, I I I really respect what you're doing, you know,
00:29:33.110 --> 00:29:35.910
Speaker 1: in taking number one, the fact that you were like, if I get this
00:29:35.910 --> 00:29:39.465
Speaker 1: PPP money, I'm gonna do something good and you did it and I I
00:29:39.465 --> 00:29:43.465
Speaker 1: really, really respect that, you know, that you cared enough to save your employees
00:29:43.465 --> 00:29:46.185
Speaker 1: and your business and then you did something with it and that you're putting
00:29:46.185 --> 00:29:49.145
Speaker 1: so much effort especially as an older white man straight up.
00:29:49.145 --> 00:29:49.865
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
00:29:49.865 --> 00:29:51.145
Speaker 1: You have less skin, you know, you have less
00:29:51.145 --> 00:29:54.170
Speaker 0: Hey, I gotta undo the damage we've done as a whole generation.
00:29:54.170 --> 00:29:54.410
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:29:54.410 --> 00:29:55.290
Speaker 1: You do, my friend.
00:29:55.290 -->
00:29:58.570
Speaker 1: But you also have less time on this planet and it's a lot easier
00:29:58.570 --> 00:30:01.850
Speaker 1: for guys that look like you to tap out and say, hey, I'm on
00:30:01.850 --> 00:30:05.610
Speaker 1: I'm on the, you know, I'm on the far side of this whole program.
00:30:05.610 --> 00:30:07.505
Speaker 1: I don't I'm gonna kinda tap out.
00:30:07.505 --> 00:30:11.505
Speaker 1: So I really appreciate you doing this work and implementing and
00:30:11.505 --> 00:30:15.265
Speaker 1: getting the word out there and, you know, putting in the work because that's
00:30:15.265 --> 00:30:15.825
Speaker 1: what it takes.
00:30:15.825 --> 00:30:19.505
Speaker 1: So I hope that people listening are inspired by this, motivated by this, you
00:30:19.505 --> 00:30:22.020
Speaker 1: know, educated by this conversation.
00:30:22.020 --> 00:30:23.300
Speaker 1: I know I've learned a lot.
00:30:23.300 --> 00:30:26.100
Speaker 1: One of the benefits of doing this podcast is I learn a little bit
00:30:26.100 --> 00:30:27.780
Speaker 1: more from every guest.
00:30:27.780 --> 00:30:31.620
Speaker 1: And I think right now that matters more than ever to be, like, slightly
00:30:31.620 --> 00:30:35.620
Speaker 1: educated on topics and stop speaking about things you know nothing about
00:30:36.125 --> 00:30:38.685
Speaker 1: aka the world could take that advice right now.
00:30:38.685 --> 00:30:42.685
Speaker 1: So I think, I I I appreciate your time and education and
00:30:42.765 --> 00:30:45.405
Speaker 1: experience and and knowledge to be there be here.
00:30:45.405 --> 00:30:46.525
Speaker 1: So thank you.
00:30:46.525 --> 00:30:47.485
Speaker 0: Thank you so much, Molly.
00:30:47.485 --> 00:30:50.080
Speaker 0: You've given me the the platform to do it.
00:30:50.080 --> 00:30:50.400
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.200
Speaker 1: Well, we'll make sure that we have all of your links and everything below
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:54.640
Speaker 1: so that people can connect with you.
00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:56.160
Speaker 1: Go on the website.
00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:58.400
Speaker 1: We'll tag you on LinkedIn and do all the things.
00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:00.160
Speaker 1: But, yeah, pay attention.
00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.160
Speaker 1: America's Main Street party seems like a really great solution.
00:31:04.165 --> 00:31:08.165
Speaker 1: I mean, if, like you said, if if America's top whatever can get this
00:31:08.245 --> 00:31:11.125
Speaker 1: done, then then why can't we, you know?
00:31:11.125 --> 00:31:14.325
Speaker 1: We can order phones and food and all kinds of stuff from our phones.
00:31:14.325 --> 00:31:15.605
Speaker 1: We don't even have to talk to people.
00:31:15.605 --> 00:31:18.405
Speaker 1: So why do we have to do this archaic thing of going to polling?
00:31:18.405 --> 00:31:20.400
Speaker 1: But, you know, it doesn't make any sense.
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:24.400
Speaker 1: And so, let's, let's let's push this change forward, check out the organization,
00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:29.680
Speaker 1: and until next time, please share the content, send it to a friend, and
00:31:29.748 --> 00:31:30.948
Speaker 1: be excellent to each other.
00:31:30.948 --> 00:31:32.948
Speaker 1: We'll see you on the flip side.