November 4, 2024 • 25 mins
Tap in for an important conversation about the election, community care, and building a more just and equitable world, no matter who wins, through a restorative justice lens.
Voting ends in about 24 in most spaces so its not too late, especially if you're considering casting a protest vote.
Vote Harris in a swing state to defeat Trump.
Cast a protest vote in a safe state to put Dems on notice.
Go to swapyourvote.org to pledge and stay connected!
Visit swapyourvote.org for more info.
But there are parts of this conversation that apply to the rest of this week, and your political life moving forward.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The most important thing to remember when you're
voting for President of theUnited States is Hi, my name is
David Ryan Varsega, castro,harris all five names for all
the ancestors, and welcome tothe Amplify RJ podcast as I
amplify the philosophy,practices and values of
restorative justice as Inavigate the world.
Restorative justice is aphilosophy, set of practices and
(00:24):
values that are rooted inindigenous values of
interconnection that emphasizerepair of harm when harm occurs,
but also proactively focuses onbuilding and strengthening
relationships rooted in equityand trust.
So you can apply that frameworkto lots of different settings,
and the thing that is front ofmind for me and so many people
(00:44):
is the US election.
A couple caveats.
Amplifyrj isn't inherentlypolitical, although you can make
your assumptions about where Istand based on the fact that I
explicitly teach restorativejustice through an abolitionist,
anti-racist and decolonial lens.
I am no political expert.
These are my opinions.
I'm not telling you who to votefor, how to vote and when we're
(01:05):
talking about US elections,let's remember that we're having
this conversation about acountry that was built on land
theft, genocide, broken treaties, forced assimilation and
chattel slavery.
So, with that being said, thisconversation is about the
election tomorrow and about howto engage in political life
under these circumstances ingeneral.
(01:26):
So the most important thing toremember about voting for the
President of the United Statesis the job of the President.
So let's go over that For thoseof you who don't know.
The job of the President of theUnited States is to lead the
executive branch of the federalgovernment, act as
commander-in-chief of the armedforces and serve as the head of
(01:50):
state and government.
This means that theirresponsibility includes
implementing, enforcing orvetoing laws passed by Congress,
conducting foreign policy,appointing federal judges,
officials, ambassadors andcabinet members.
The president also setsnational priorities, proposes
legislation and prepares thefederal budget.
So the president isn't adictator.
The president can't just enactwhatever policy they want.
(02:11):
We do have executive orders,but those are used sparingly and
with very specificcircumstances, and so when you
think about voting for theperson that you want to uphold
that office, so when you thinkabout the options that we have
for the person to fill this job,we have two major candidates.
One, donald Trump, would do aterrible job from my perspective
(02:33):
at the vast majority of thesethings.
He is not someone who wouldbuild the world that I want to
see again, with values of equityand trust and building and
strengthening relationships andrepairing harm.
That's not something that goeswith the person or the politics
of Donald Trump.
Now, the other major candidateis Kamala Harris.
(02:55):
Right, and there are manythings that I agree with her
with, and there are many thingsabout her and her policies and
the Democratic Party's agendathat I don't agree with and find
intolerable.
In fact, if you're like me, oneof the major points of
contention with the Harris-Wallscampaign is the way that they
(03:16):
are going to deal with foreignpolicy, specifically around the
ongoing genocide of thePalestinian people in the
apartheid Israeli state.
So, with that in mind, let'sfocus on the commander-in-chief
part of the Palestinian peoplein the apartheid Israeli state.
So, with that in mind, let'sfocus on the commander-in-chief
part of the president's job.
What are they thecommander-in-chief of?
When we say commander-in-chief,they are the commander-in-chief
of the US armed forces, butreally it's the US empire.
(03:38):
There's no doubt that the US isthe world's most dominant
military power and the Presidentof the United States is devoted
to preserving US power.
Where they can and they'll dowhatever it takes.
So when we think about theperson who's going to inhabit
this role, specifically from thetwo major political parties, of
course they're going to doeverything in their power to
(03:59):
maintain a friendly militarypresence in the Middle East.
This video is not going to gointo all the details of the
conflict of the Middle East andthe creation of the state of
Israel and how that's beenpropped up by Western powers,
but with US military dominancein mind, of course, the
candidates of the major partiesare going to make decisions that
I don't agree with and thatdon't align with restorative
(04:20):
principles.
Right, when we think aboutrestorative justice, it's about
doing things with people, nothaving power over them, not
exerting power over not doingthings for people and not
ignoring problems.
What are the ways that we cando things in collaboration, with
equity in mind?
Sharing power, that's not theway that most countries in the
world work transparently, butthat's not the way, specifically
(04:40):
, that the strongest militarypower in the world works either.
As someone whose arguablyleftist political awakening was
over a decade ago, these thingsdon't surprise me anymore.
So my encouragement to you, asyou're looking to people in
positions of power who are doingthings that you disagree with,
is to stop being disappointed inpeople who are doing the job
(05:02):
that they signed up to do.
At best, they're upholdinginequitable systems and at worst
, they're strengthening them.
People who seek out power andare protected by power will do
whatever it takes to keep power.
So, instead of beingdisappointed in people who are
not upholding expectations youset for them without their
consent, organize protest.
(05:23):
Use every tool at your disposalto force them into making the
changes that you want to see.
Don't get it twisted Electoralpolitics is not our pathway to
collective liberation, and Ibelieve our country and world
would be a lot worse under aDonald Trump presidency.
There are many things that Iagree with the Harris-Walls
campaign about, but I won'tstand for some of the foreign
(05:44):
and domestic policy decisionsthat they'll make.
So I'm not here to vote.
Shame.
And I understand if you'resomeone who says, forget, make.
So I'm not here to vote.
Shame.
And I understand if you'resomeone who says forget all this
, I'm not voting.
These people don't represent me.
But since I'm a citizen of mycity, my county, my state and my
country, not voting to me meansthat I don't get an opportunity
to voice my opinion with thetools given to me in this
(06:04):
specific way.
So I'm voting third partybecause here in California, my
vote for Harris or Trump won'tdecide where the electoral votes
go and I registered with Swapyour Vote to let a similarly
minded voter in a swing statecast their vote for Harris-Walls
in good conscience.
To break that down, here's anexcerpt of a conversation I had
with their team on Instagramearlier today.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Hi, I'm Maren.
I'm one of the social medialeads for Swap your Vote.
I joined honestly in theproject.
A week and a half ago I saw itin a Facebook group.
Someone posted about it.
I was like, oh, this is a greatidea.
And then it's just been up andup from there.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean for me.
I saw it this morning, like theway that it came together.
I was watching John Oliver andlike at the end of his thing he
was like, oh, swap your vote.
And like, oh, I mean, I alreadyvoted last week third party.
I was like, oh, this could be alittle bit more useful.
So I went to the Googles I'mlike, oh, there's a project in
(07:03):
the UK that does this,apparently.
Yeah, I saw this from our USbase and decided I would reach
out.
And here we are.
So I imagine that most peoplewho follow Amplify are J, and
I'm making this assumption, andif it's not true for you, I'm
sorry, but obviously you don'twant to support Trump and do
(07:25):
anything that you can to not lethim be president again, because
that would be disastrous for somany people in our country.
And while there are a lot ofthings that we agree with with
the Harris-Walls campaign, thereare a lot of things that we
can't tolerate, specificallyaround the ongoing genocide in
the apartheid state of Israel ofthe Palestinian people.
And for me personally, thereare some domestic things as well
(07:48):
, and everybody has theirparticulars about you know why a
vote for Harris or Harris-Wallsisn't the greatest idea for
them.
I'm in California and it waseasy for me to decide to vote
third party, and I have.
Historically, because it'sCalifornia, it's going to go
blue.
But how can we, as people insafe states or people in swing
(08:11):
states of this political leaning, do our best to make sure that
our voices are heard whileminimizing the risk of a Trump
presidency?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, that's great to hear.
I'm glad you found it today,you know, you know it's the day
before as well, but yeah, so I'moriginally from Pennsylvania
and I'm a Pennsylvania voter andI was feeling very, very
conflicted with what to doBecause I think, like you
mentioned, there are a lot ofpressures on all sides to either
(08:43):
vote for Harris to stop Trumpis the one argument or obviously
vote third party, because youdon't want to vote for someone
committing genocide, which iscompletely valid.
And I kind of personally feltlike, oh, I guess I'll walk in
the voting booth and flip a coin, kind of feeling of like I
honestly don't know what I'mgoing to do because there isn't
(09:04):
a clear moral obligation ordecision.
There isn't a clear moralobligation or decision, and so,
kind of now that we're in thefinal hours, I would say the
biggest thing to help is to talkto your friends that are
feeling that way, especially inswing states, because currently
(09:27):
we have about 10 times more safestate folks signed up than
swing state voters, and that'sjust because of the nature.
There are a lot more safe statesin the country than there are
these swing states, these likeseven-ish states, where each one
it comes down to a couplethousand votes, and so if you
know anyone that's having thesefeelings, doesn't know what to
(09:48):
do and is looking for any sortof you know anyone that's having
these feelings, doesn't knowwhat to do and is looking for
any sort of you know notsolution but like a strategy,
definitely point them in ourdirection.
And we're matching super fast.
We're like a little bit of abacklog.
I think we have like a hundredSwing State voters still waiting
for a match, but we have a teamthat's like going, going, gonna
, keep going all night longuntil we get everyone yeah, this
(10:10):
is done, super grassroots.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Can you tell me a little bit about the origin of
the project?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
yeah.
So um ray is one of theco-founders and um, they're a
part of rabbis for ceasefire, umand a couple other grassroots
organizing efforts.
And then andrew, one of ourother co-organizers, um is is
actually the creator of theclimate clock in New York City.
If you've ever seen it with thecountdown and I think a little
(10:35):
bit of the story goes um, Ithink one of them had voted
third party in 2000.
With what?
For Ralph Nader, and then weended up with a Bush presidency,
gore losing by just about 200votes, and vote swapping was
actually utilized in thatelection, and if about 200 more
(10:56):
people had swapped their votesin Florida, we would have had a
Gore presidency and not a Bushpresidency, and that obviously
could have had exponentialimpacts on US involvement in the
Middle East or Afghanistan.
So I think for them there weresome lessons learned and they
were also, through activistcircles, connected with the UK
folks that have just done thissuccessfully, uk France there's
(11:21):
been a lot of talk about oh mygosh, there was this left
coalition upset, the right winglost and that's because there
was a strategic vote swappinghappening.
Um, so this is not a strategythat is new and it's not a
strategy that is just in the us.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
This is something that um is used globally yeah, I
mean the first time that Irealized what was like watching
the west wing a long time ago,there was this episode where um
donna had, like a, miscast herballot and like found a
republican to switch and, likeyou know, that's like a kitschy
love love story that startedfrom there.
But, um, this is legal.
We should say, like this islegal.
(11:57):
Um and um, there are lots ofpeople who are willing to do
this and I think you know thisbeing the day before um, I'm
thinking about tomorrow, but I'malso thinking about this idea
on this scale is new to so manypeople.
And so, like, by sharing youremail address in a safe state or
a swing state, when we'rethinking about building power
(12:20):
for the future, having thisinfrastructure built now, even
if you're already in a safestate, and like you know, like
you said, like you have asurplus, like send your
information to swap your vote.
So in the future, when you knowthe democrat, I don't have a lot
of hope for the democraticparty moving forward in the
future as we continue toorganize and continue to be in
(12:41):
relationship with people whothink left of what the
democratic Party has to offermore progressively and you know
people can use other adjectivesto describe their leftist
politics.
There are movements that can bebuilt from moments like this.
It's not just about tomorrow,although tomorrow is important.
Talk to your friends in swingstates.
(13:02):
If you're in a safe state,share your information.
But it's not just about thismoment.
It's about the future thatwe're going to continue to build
.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
The other thing I'll say, too, is if you have a
friend in a swing state that youlove and trust, you can just
swap, you know.
You know you don't have to signup on our website.
Some people are like well, youknow, like with a stranger, how
can I do this?
Which is a very valid, you knowconcern.
And so if you know someone thatyou trust to your vote with,
(13:31):
like, that is a perfectopportunity.
And then, as you mentioned, itis legal.
So the it was the Ninth CircuitCourt of Appeals, porter v
Bowen, 2007.
If anyone wants to look up thecourt case, vote swapping is
protected under First Amendmentfree speech, and again,
reiterating, at the end of theday's a pledge.
There's no monetary orfinancial exchange.
It's about strategy, it's aboutcommunication, it's about trust
(13:55):
, and so that's how it'sprotected.
And we, you know, talk to theoriginal lawyer that argued and
won the case, and so you knowwe're set there.
I know a lot of people areinitially like why is loud?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
but yes, yeah, it is yeah, so a pretty
straightforward process.
It took me like four minutes togo through.
On swapyourvoteorg uh, that'simportant, that our part is
important, um, and really wantto encourage people to use that
to vote if I was, uh, or toexchange that or at least share
your information.
Um, if I was savvier withsocial media, I think I would
(14:27):
have that linked somewhere.
But it's pretty straightforward.
Um, swap your vote, or.
I know it's in y'all's bio aswell.
Um, I think we've got aquestion um there.
Is it really swapping if mostsafe state folks getting
involved, we're leaning thirdparty already?
Um, I don't know how you wantto take that.
(14:48):
Yeah, if you've got a response,yeah, I mean, we're definitely
looking.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
We're looking mostly for those swing state voters
that are like really on thefence, not so much the people
that have, like really decidedlike, oh yeah, I'm going to vote
for Harris and I was alwaysgoing to vote for Harris.
Like we're looking for thosepeople that this is kind of
their swap.
This is a solution for them.
This is a solution for them.
But obviously everyone iswelcome to like join in and
(15:15):
participate.
And I would say it is still aswap because part of the pledge
is pledging to vote for who theswing state would have voted for
in their state.
So maybe, like you're leaningon voting third party and you're
thinking about voting for JillStein, but then you get paired
with a swing state voter andthey would have voted for
(15:35):
Claudia and Karina, right?
So then your pledge is to votefor their choice rather than
like the direction that youwould have gone in originally.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, and you know, earlier on Scambrow's scrolling
and this Octavia Butler quotecame up, when, you know, a
student had asked her about,like you're naming all these
problems, what's the solution?
And she's like there's nosingle answer that will solve
all of our futures problems.
There's no magic bullet.
Instead, there are thousands ofanswers at least, and you can
be one of them if you choose.
Right, this is not a cure.
(16:05):
All Right, with your actiontoday, you're not going to swing
an election for Cornel WestClaudia and Karina Orgelstein
for Cornell West Claudia andKarina Orgelstein, right, like
we're very realistic about whatthat's doing, but like this is
strategy for building for thefuture.
And, like likes said in thecomments, this is two for one.
(16:26):
So you're matching you'reactually matching two safe state
voters to every one swing statevoter, so we're making sure
that.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, we originally had like a one-to-one one and
then we had so many more safestate folks sign up and you know
we like checked and it's stillprotected by free speech, and I
think it also helps some ofthose voters in swing states
that are still hesitant, youknow, to be like well, we can
like two for one, we can doubleyour impact.
(16:53):
Because the reality is is thatthe um candidates, the like
major party candidates, areright now like pretty much
exclusively campaigning in swingstates and they're missing out
on these millions of peopleacross the country in these like
supposedly safe states thatjust get ignored and taken.
You know their votes are takenfor granted, um.
(17:16):
So part of this, too, is sayinglike, hey, you know, you can't
just expect our votes all thetime, like we're we're
leveraging the fact that it ismostly safe, but we are saying
like we're gonna put you onnotice, like you know, you need
to earn our votes too.
You need to earn every voteacross the country.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It's not something that you can just expect from us
, you know, without, withoutearning it yeah, and like when
we, when we're naming problemsin the us electoral system right
, myriad, and you know, not allof them are getting solved today
but, um, this is a way foragain those of us who are third
party minded, towards the leftspecifically, and I think that's
(17:53):
important.
Um, one of the things that Isaw on your website like you're
not swapping with, uh, people inred state.
Like you're not swapping fortrump boats, right, um, right,
um, it's really uh, like Ireally appreciated that being
explicitly laid out on on thewebsite.
Um, anything else that youwanted to leave the people with.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I was gonna say to think about long-term
strategies.
We have an faq on the website.
Anything else that you wantedto leave the people with?
Yeah, I was gonna say to thinkabout long term strategies.
We have an FAQ on our websitenow and you know there's still a
conversation that's going tohappen with, like, our internal
team of like how we're going topivot.
Obviously, abolishing theelectoral college, you know,
changes everything, changes thegame.
(18:34):
There's a national popular votecompact, interstate vote
compact.
So checking that out and thenalso looking into alternative
voting systems such as rankedchoice voting or approval voting
, allows for votes to get splitand for like folks that are
(18:54):
running that from smallerparties to be considered spoiler
candidates, and differentvoting reforms such as rank
choice voting and approvalvoting, eliminate that.
So they eliminate, you know,any sort of like oh, this is a
spoiler candidate or oh, I haveto vote for the lesser of two
evils.
And Maine and Alaska both haverank choice voting and it's on
the ballot across the country.
And there's lots of othervoting reforms, including like
(19:21):
proportional representation,that are like good things to
like learn about now and likestart working locally.
To be like, okay, how can wechange our statewide election
process to really amplify thevoices of the people and not
corporate interests.
So this is just the beginningand you know we're future
oriented and we're dedicated tocreating a more just world for
(19:43):
everyone in it.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Action steps.
Go to SwapYourVoteorg.
Fill in your information.
Go through that process If youwant to learn more about this
conversation.
If you're just jumping on atthe end, um, it's going to be
posted in full on my instagramfeed, the amplify rj instagram
feed.
And um, a longer uhconversation about the election
(20:06):
um, it's going to go up in theamplify rj podcast feed.
Um, thanks y'all so much forjumping on so last minute and
everybody, take care ofyourselves for the next couple
of days, please do, please takecare of yourselves.
Remember, voting is not arevolutionary act.
But regardless of how Tuesdaygoes, there's a lot of work for
(20:28):
us to continue to do for all ofour collective liberation.
Maybe swapping your vote todaycould be just one small action
to make organizing under thenext president a little less
burdensome.
And don't forget to payattention to your local
elections too.
I know we're getting late inthe process, but do your
research, find voting guidesthat align with your values and
do your best.
Your city, county and statelevel decisions shape your world
(20:51):
just as much as nationaldecisions.
The second thing to remember isthat your political life does
not begin or end with casting aballot.
You vote every day with the waythat you spend your time and
with the way you spend yourmoney.
We all make trade-offs everyday living under capitalism,
both as workers and consumers,but you got to do the best you
can.
Part of that is reallyunderstanding what your values
(21:14):
are and what compromises you'rewilling to make on a personal
level in our imperfect world.
But if you want to be moreintentionable about making
equitable change in yourcommunity, find the people who
are doing work in your communityand work alongside them.
I'm not here to endorse aspecific party or organization,
but there are always people inyour community who are fighting
the good fight.
You don't have to reinvent thewheel or work from scratch.
(21:34):
Find people who are working onan issue that you care about in
a way that you feel good aboutand go work alongside them.
They won't be perfect just likeyou're not perfect, and there
are going to be contradictionsand conflict there.
But choosing your lane orchoosing an issue in your
community is not only a greatway to build community, it's
probably the most effective waythat you can make change.
(21:55):
Unless you happen to be abillionaire listen to this Shoot
I'll take multi-millionairewith some cash to throw around
to make some political change.
Then DM me and we'll talk.
I've got some ideas.
The third and kind of finalthing to remember about this
election and this electionseason is that our work and the
(22:17):
mission of collective liberationdoes not change.
After Tuesday.
We'll have to organize, educate, advocate, legislate oh man,
too many rhyming words to buildthe world that we want to see.
So get some rest, take care ofyourself, check in on your
(22:40):
community, check in on yourelders, check in on your friends
, especially the ones who arepublicly doing the work.
From experience andconversations that I've had with
people, I know so many of usare tired and barely hanging on.
Building a world rooted inprinciples of interconnection
means that we take care of eachother with the big decisions
(23:00):
that we make and on the micro,interpersonal levels as well,
whether it's sending some food,offering to watch somebody's
kids, or just a check-in calltext or DM.
Connect with your community sowe all can keep going in this
work.
Before I sign off today, I justwanted to share that my lane,
david's lane, is the work ofAmplify RJ.
(23:21):
This is not an inherentlypolitical organization.
I, as the founder, haveprinciples and values that I
want to put out into the world,towards justice, towards equity,
but while I'm not involvingmyself in capital P politics,
this is a place where people canlearn the basics, the
fundamentals of restorativejustice and growing community
alongside like-minded people whowill encourage and challenge
(23:44):
you.
I've been on a break for a while, but if you want to learn more
about restorative justice or getinvolved, please make sure
you're following us on allsocials or sign up for our email
list on our website.
There will be new things comingsoon In the spirit of community
.
I have a couple asks.
One I shared some information,I shared my opinions.
I'd love to know yours.
If you're watching on YouTube,leave comments.
(24:06):
If you're listening on anotherplatform, you can comment on
Spotify or hit me up via email,mediaamplifierjcom.
I'd love to hear from you.
Of course, there are going tobe a bunch of new things coming
here, so like, subscribe, rate,review and be old school about
it and tell a friend.
Word of mouth, I dare you.
(24:27):
For those of you who have beenaround for a while, you know
that this podcast used to becalled this Restorative Justice
Life.
Both for brand alignmentreasons and because I'm doing
something a little bit differentthan the long form interviews,
I've renamed the podcast theAmplify Restorative Justice
Podcast, and with that comes anew sign off.
I know it's a scary time for somany of you, but in closing,
(24:51):
let me share these words May yoube safe, may you be happy, may
you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease and may
you work for this to be truefor everyone.
Take care, y'all.
The most important thing to remember when you're
voting for President of theUnited States is Hi, my name is
David Ryan Varsega, castro,harris all five names for all
the ancestors, and welcome tothe Amplify RJ podcast as I
amplify the philosophy,practices and values of
restorative justice as Inavigate the world.
Restorative justice is aphilosophy, set of practices and
(00:24):
values that are rooted inindigenous values of
interconnection that emphasizerepair of harm when harm occurs,
but also proactively focuses onbuilding and strengthening
relationships rooted in equityand trust.
So you can apply that frameworkto lots of different settings,
and the thing that is front ofmind for me and so many people
(00:44):
is the US election.
A couple caveats.
Amplifyrj isn't inherentlypolitical, although you can make
your assumptions about where Istand based on the fact that I
explicitly teach restorativejustice through an abolitionist,
anti-racist and decolonial lens.
I am no political expert.
These are my opinions.
I'm not telling you who to votefor, how to vote and when we're
(01:05):
talking about US elections,let's remember that we're having
this conversation about acountry that was built on land
theft, genocide, broken treaties, forced assimilation and
chattel slavery.
So, with that being said, thisconversation is about the
election tomorrow and about howto engage in political life
under these circumstances ingeneral.
(01:26):
So the most important thing toremember about voting for the
President of the United Statesis the job of the President.
So let's go over that For thoseof you who don't know.
The job of the President of theUnited States is to lead the
executive branch of the federalgovernment, act as
commander-in-chief of the armedforces and serve as the head of
(01:50):
state and government.
This means that theirresponsibility includes
implementing, enforcing orvetoing laws passed by Congress,
conducting foreign policy,appointing federal judges,
officials, ambassadors andcabinet members.
The president also setsnational priorities, proposes
legislation and prepares thefederal budget.
So the president isn't adictator.
The president can't just enactwhatever policy they want.
(02:11):
We do have executive orders,but those are used sparingly and
with very specificcircumstances, and so when you
think about voting for theperson that you want to uphold
that office, so when you thinkabout the options that we have
for the person to fill this job,we have two major candidates.
One, donald Trump, would do aterrible job from my perspective
(02:33):
at the vast majority of thesethings.
He is not someone who wouldbuild the world that I want to
see again, with values of equityand trust and building and
strengthening relationships andrepairing harm.
That's not something that goeswith the person or the politics
of Donald Trump.
Now, the other major candidateis Kamala Harris.
(02:55):
Right, and there are manythings that I agree with her
with, and there are many thingsabout her and her policies and
the Democratic Party's agendathat I don't agree with and find
intolerable.
In fact, if you're like me, oneof the major points of
contention with the Harris-Wallscampaign is the way that they
(03:16):
are going to deal with foreignpolicy, specifically around the
ongoing genocide of thePalestinian people in the
apartheid Israeli state.
So, with that in mind, let'sfocus on the commander-in-chief
part of the Palestinian peoplein the apartheid Israeli state.
So, with that in mind, let'sfocus on the commander-in-chief
part of the president's job.
What are they thecommander-in-chief of?
When we say commander-in-chief,they are the commander-in-chief
of the US armed forces, butreally it's the US empire.
(03:38):
There's no doubt that the US isthe world's most dominant
military power and the Presidentof the United States is devoted
to preserving US power.
Where they can and they'll dowhatever it takes.
So when we think about theperson who's going to inhabit
this role, specifically from thetwo major political parties, of
course they're going to doeverything in their power to
(03:59):
maintain a friendly militarypresence in the Middle East.
This video is not going to gointo all the details of the
conflict of the Middle East andthe creation of the state of
Israel and how that's beenpropped up by Western powers,
but with US military dominancein mind, of course, the
candidates of the major partiesare going to make decisions that
I don't agree with and thatdon't align with restorative
(04:20):
principles.
Right, when we think aboutrestorative justice, it's about
doing things with people, nothaving power over them, not
exerting power over not doingthings for people and not
ignoring problems.
What are the ways that we cando things in collaboration, with
equity in mind?
Sharing power, that's not theway that most countries in the
world work transparently, butthat's not the way, specifically
(04:40):
, that the strongest militarypower in the world works either.
As someone whose arguablyleftist political awakening was
over a decade ago, these thingsdon't surprise me anymore.
So my encouragement to you, asyou're looking to people in
positions of power who are doingthings that you disagree with,
is to stop being disappointed inpeople who are doing the job
(05:02):
that they signed up to do.
At best, they're upholdinginequitable systems and at worst
, they're strengthening them.
People who seek out power andare protected by power will do
whatever it takes to keep power.
So, instead of beingdisappointed in people who are
not upholding expectations youset for them without their
consent, organize protest.
(05:23):
Use every tool at your disposalto force them into making the
changes that you want to see.
Don't get it twisted Electoralpolitics is not our pathway to
collective liberation, and Ibelieve our country and world
would be a lot worse under aDonald Trump presidency.
There are many things that Iagree with the Harris-Walls
campaign about, but I won'tstand for some of the foreign
(05:44):
and domestic policy decisionsthat they'll make.
So I'm not here to vote.
Shame.
And I understand if you'resomeone who says, forget, make.
So I'm not here to vote.
Shame.
And I understand if you'resomeone who says forget all this
, I'm not voting.
These people don't represent me.
But since I'm a citizen of mycity, my county, my state and my
country, not voting to me meansthat I don't get an opportunity
to voice my opinion with thetools given to me in this
(06:04):
specific way.
So I'm voting third partybecause here in California, my
vote for Harris or Trump won'tdecide where the electoral votes
go and I registered with Swapyour Vote to let a similarly
minded voter in a swing statecast their vote for Harris-Walls
in good conscience.
To break that down, here's anexcerpt of a conversation I had
with their team on Instagramearlier today.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Hi, I'm Maren.
I'm one of the social medialeads for Swap your Vote.
I joined honestly in theproject.
A week and a half ago I saw itin a Facebook group.
Someone posted about it.
I was like, oh, this is a greatidea.
And then it's just been up andup from there.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean for me.
I saw it this morning, like theway that it came together.
I was watching John Oliver andlike at the end of his thing he
was like, oh, swap your vote.
And like, oh, I mean, I alreadyvoted last week third party.
I was like, oh, this could be alittle bit more useful.
So I went to the Googles I'mlike, oh, there's a project in
(07:03):
the UK that does this,apparently.
Yeah, I saw this from our USbase and decided I would reach
out.
And here we are.
So I imagine that most peoplewho follow Amplify are J, and
I'm making this assumption, andif it's not true for you, I'm
sorry, but obviously you don'twant to support Trump and do
(07:25):
anything that you can to not lethim be president again, because
that would be disastrous for somany people in our country.
And while there are a lot ofthings that we agree with with
the Harris-Walls campaign, thereare a lot of things that we
can't tolerate, specificallyaround the ongoing genocide in
the apartheid state of Israel ofthe Palestinian people.
And for me personally, thereare some domestic things as well
(07:48):
, and everybody has theirparticulars about you know why a
vote for Harris or Harris-Wallsisn't the greatest idea for
them.
I'm in California and it waseasy for me to decide to vote
third party, and I have.
Historically, because it'sCalifornia, it's going to go
blue.
But how can we, as people insafe states or people in swing
(08:11):
states of this political leaning, do our best to make sure that
our voices are heard whileminimizing the risk of a Trump
presidency?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, that's great to hear.
I'm glad you found it today,you know, you know it's the day
before as well, but yeah, so I'moriginally from Pennsylvania
and I'm a Pennsylvania voter andI was feeling very, very
conflicted with what to doBecause I think, like you
mentioned, there are a lot ofpressures on all sides to either
(08:43):
vote for Harris to stop Trumpis the one argument or obviously
vote third party, because youdon't want to vote for someone
committing genocide, which iscompletely valid.
And I kind of personally feltlike, oh, I guess I'll walk in
the voting booth and flip a coin, kind of feeling of like I
honestly don't know what I'mgoing to do because there isn't
(09:04):
a clear moral obligation ordecision.
There isn't a clear moralobligation or decision, and so,
kind of now that we're in thefinal hours, I would say the
biggest thing to help is to talkto your friends that are
feeling that way, especially inswing states, because currently
(09:27):
we have about 10 times more safestate folks signed up than
swing state voters, and that'sjust because of the nature.
There are a lot more safe statesin the country than there are
these swing states, these likeseven-ish states, where each one
it comes down to a couplethousand votes, and so if you
know anyone that's having thesefeelings, doesn't know what to
(09:48):
do and is looking for any sortof you know anyone that's having
these feelings, doesn't knowwhat to do and is looking for
any sort of you know notsolution but like a strategy,
definitely point them in ourdirection.
And we're matching super fast.
We're like a little bit of abacklog.
I think we have like a hundredSwing State voters still waiting
for a match, but we have a teamthat's like going, going, gonna
, keep going all night longuntil we get everyone yeah, this
(10:10):
is done, super grassroots.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Can you tell me a little bit about the origin of
the project?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
yeah.
So um ray is one of theco-founders and um, they're a
part of rabbis for ceasefire, umand a couple other grassroots
organizing efforts.
And then andrew, one of ourother co-organizers, um is is
actually the creator of theclimate clock in New York City.
If you've ever seen it with thecountdown and I think a little
(10:35):
bit of the story goes um, Ithink one of them had voted
third party in 2000.
With what?
For Ralph Nader, and then weended up with a Bush presidency,
gore losing by just about 200votes, and vote swapping was
actually utilized in thatelection, and if about 200 more
(10:56):
people had swapped their votesin Florida, we would have had a
Gore presidency and not a Bushpresidency, and that obviously
could have had exponentialimpacts on US involvement in the
Middle East or Afghanistan.
So I think for them there weresome lessons learned and they
were also, through activistcircles, connected with the UK
folks that have just done thissuccessfully, uk France there's
(11:21):
been a lot of talk about oh mygosh, there was this left
coalition upset, the right winglost and that's because there
was a strategic vote swappinghappening.
Um, so this is not a strategythat is new and it's not a
strategy that is just in the us.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
This is something that um is used globally yeah, I
mean the first time that Irealized what was like watching
the west wing a long time ago,there was this episode where um
donna had, like a, miscast herballot and like found a
republican to switch and, likeyou know, that's like a kitschy
love love story that startedfrom there.
But, um, this is legal.
We should say, like this islegal.
(11:57):
Um and um, there are lots ofpeople who are willing to do
this and I think you know thisbeing the day before um, I'm
thinking about tomorrow, but I'malso thinking about this idea
on this scale is new to so manypeople.
And so, like, by sharing youremail address in a safe state or
a swing state, when we'rethinking about building power
(12:20):
for the future, having thisinfrastructure built now, even
if you're already in a safestate, and like you know, like
you said, like you have asurplus, like send your
information to swap your vote.
So in the future, when you knowthe democrat, I don't have a lot
of hope for the democraticparty moving forward in the
future as we continue toorganize and continue to be in
(12:41):
relationship with people whothink left of what the
democratic Party has to offermore progressively and you know
people can use other adjectivesto describe their leftist
politics.
There are movements that can bebuilt from moments like this.
It's not just about tomorrow,although tomorrow is important.
Talk to your friends in swingstates.
(13:02):
If you're in a safe state,share your information.
But it's not just about thismoment.
It's about the future thatwe're going to continue to build
.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
The other thing I'll say, too, is if you have a
friend in a swing state that youlove and trust, you can just
swap, you know.
You know you don't have to signup on our website.
Some people are like well, youknow, like with a stranger, how
can I do this?
Which is a very valid, you knowconcern.
And so if you know someone thatyou trust to your vote with,
(13:31):
like, that is a perfectopportunity.
And then, as you mentioned, itis legal.
So the it was the Ninth CircuitCourt of Appeals, porter v
Bowen, 2007.
If anyone wants to look up thecourt case, vote swapping is
protected under First Amendmentfree speech, and again,
reiterating, at the end of theday's a pledge.
There's no monetary orfinancial exchange.
It's about strategy, it's aboutcommunication, it's about trust
(13:55):
, and so that's how it'sprotected.
And we, you know, talk to theoriginal lawyer that argued and
won the case, and so you knowwe're set there.
I know a lot of people areinitially like why is loud?
Speaker 1 (14:07):
but yes, yeah, it is yeah, so a pretty
straightforward process.
It took me like four minutes togo through.
On swapyourvoteorg uh, that'simportant, that our part is
important, um, and really wantto encourage people to use that
to vote if I was, uh, or toexchange that or at least share
your information.
Um, if I was savvier withsocial media, I think I would
(14:27):
have that linked somewhere.
But it's pretty straightforward.
Um, swap your vote, or.
I know it's in y'all's bio aswell.
Um, I think we've got aquestion um there.
Is it really swapping if mostsafe state folks getting
involved, we're leaning thirdparty already?
Um, I don't know how you wantto take that.
(14:48):
Yeah, if you've got a response,yeah, I mean, we're definitely
looking.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
We're looking mostly for those swing state voters
that are like really on thefence, not so much the people
that have, like really decidedlike, oh yeah, I'm going to vote
for Harris and I was alwaysgoing to vote for Harris.
Like we're looking for thosepeople that this is kind of
their swap.
This is a solution for them.
This is a solution for them.
But obviously everyone iswelcome to like join in and
(15:15):
participate.
And I would say it is still aswap because part of the pledge
is pledging to vote for who theswing state would have voted for
in their state.
So maybe, like you're leaningon voting third party and you're
thinking about voting for JillStein, but then you get paired
with a swing state voter andthey would have voted for
(15:35):
Claudia and Karina, right?
So then your pledge is to votefor their choice rather than
like the direction that youwould have gone in originally.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah, and you know, earlier on Scambrow's scrolling
and this Octavia Butler quotecame up, when, you know, a
student had asked her about,like you're naming all these
problems, what's the solution?
And she's like there's nosingle answer that will solve
all of our futures problems.
There's no magic bullet.
Instead, there are thousands ofanswers at least, and you can
be one of them if you choose.
Right, this is not a cure.
(16:05):
All Right, with your actiontoday, you're not going to swing
an election for Cornel WestClaudia and Karina Orgelstein
for Cornell West Claudia andKarina Orgelstein, right, like
we're very realistic about whatthat's doing, but like this is
strategy for building for thefuture.
And, like likes said in thecomments, this is two for one.
(16:26):
So you're matching you'reactually matching two safe state
voters to every one swing statevoter, so we're making sure
that.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, we originally had like a one-to-one one and
then we had so many more safestate folks sign up and you know
we like checked and it's stillprotected by free speech, and I
think it also helps some ofthose voters in swing states
that are still hesitant, youknow, to be like well, we can
like two for one, we can doubleyour impact.
(16:53):
Because the reality is is thatthe um candidates, the like
major party candidates, areright now like pretty much
exclusively campaigning in swingstates and they're missing out
on these millions of peopleacross the country in these like
supposedly safe states thatjust get ignored and taken.
You know their votes are takenfor granted, um.
(17:16):
So part of this, too, is sayinglike, hey, you know, you can't
just expect our votes all thetime, like we're we're
leveraging the fact that it ismostly safe, but we are saying
like we're gonna put you onnotice, like you know, you need
to earn our votes too.
You need to earn every voteacross the country.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It's not something that you can just expect from us
, you know, without, withoutearning it yeah, and like when
we, when we're naming problemsin the us electoral system right
, myriad, and you know, not allof them are getting solved today
but, um, this is a way foragain those of us who are third
party minded, towards the leftspecifically, and I think that's
(17:53):
important.
Um, one of the things that Isaw on your website like you're
not swapping with, uh, people inred state.
Like you're not swapping fortrump boats, right, um, right,
um, it's really uh, like Ireally appreciated that being
explicitly laid out on on thewebsite.
Um, anything else that youwanted to leave the people with.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, I was gonna say to think about long-term
strategies.
We have an faq on the website.
Anything else that you wantedto leave the people with?
Yeah, I was gonna say to thinkabout long term strategies.
We have an FAQ on our websitenow and you know there's still a
conversation that's going tohappen with, like, our internal
team of like how we're going topivot.
Obviously, abolishing theelectoral college, you know,
changes everything, changes thegame.
(18:34):
There's a national popular votecompact, interstate vote
compact.
So checking that out and thenalso looking into alternative
voting systems such as rankedchoice voting or approval voting
, allows for votes to get splitand for like folks that are
(18:54):
running that from smallerparties to be considered spoiler
candidates, and differentvoting reforms such as rank
choice voting and approvalvoting, eliminate that.
So they eliminate, you know,any sort of like oh, this is a
spoiler candidate or oh, I haveto vote for the lesser of two
evils.
And Maine and Alaska both haverank choice voting and it's on
the ballot across the country.
And there's lots of othervoting reforms, including like
(19:21):
proportional representation,that are like good things to
like learn about now and likestart working locally.
To be like, okay, how can wechange our statewide election
process to really amplify thevoices of the people and not
corporate interests.
So this is just the beginningand you know we're future
oriented and we're dedicated tocreating a more just world for
(19:43):
everyone in it.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Action steps.
Go to SwapYourVoteorg.
Fill in your information.
Go through that process If youwant to learn more about this
conversation.
If you're just jumping on atthe end, um, it's going to be
posted in full on my instagramfeed, the amplify rj instagram
feed.
And um, a longer uhconversation about the election
(20:06):
um, it's going to go up in theamplify rj podcast feed.
Um, thanks y'all so much forjumping on so last minute and
everybody, take care ofyourselves for the next couple
of days, please do, please takecare of yourselves.
Remember, voting is not arevolutionary act.
But regardless of how Tuesdaygoes, there's a lot of work for
(20:28):
us to continue to do for all ofour collective liberation.
Maybe swapping your vote todaycould be just one small action
to make organizing under thenext president a little less
burdensome.
And don't forget to payattention to your local
elections too.
I know we're getting late inthe process, but do your
research, find voting guidesthat align with your values and
do your best.
Your city, county and statelevel decisions shape your world
(20:51):
just as much as nationaldecisions.
The second thing to remember isthat your political life does
not begin or end with casting aballot.
You vote every day with the waythat you spend your time and
with the way you spend yourmoney.
We all make trade-offs everyday living under capitalism,
both as workers and consumers,but you got to do the best you
can.
Part of that is reallyunderstanding what your values
(21:14):
are and what compromises you'rewilling to make on a personal
level in our imperfect world.
But if you want to be moreintentionable about making
equitable change in yourcommunity, find the people who
are doing work in your communityand work alongside them.
I'm not here to endorse aspecific party or organization,
but there are always people inyour community who are fighting
the good fight.
You don't have to reinvent thewheel or work from scratch.
(21:34):
Find people who are working onan issue that you care about in
a way that you feel good aboutand go work alongside them.
They won't be perfect just likeyou're not perfect, and there
are going to be contradictionsand conflict there.
But choosing your lane orchoosing an issue in your
community is not only a greatway to build community, it's
probably the most effective waythat you can make change.
(21:55):
Unless you happen to be abillionaire listen to this Shoot
I'll take multi-millionairewith some cash to throw around
to make some political change.
Then DM me and we'll talk.
I've got some ideas.
The third and kind of finalthing to remember about this
election and this electionseason is that our work and the
(22:17):
mission of collective liberationdoes not change.
After Tuesday.
We'll have to organize, educate, advocate, legislate oh man,
too many rhyming words to buildthe world that we want to see.
So get some rest, take care ofyourself, check in on your
(22:40):
community, check in on yourelders, check in on your friends
, especially the ones who arepublicly doing the work.
From experience andconversations that I've had with
people, I know so many of usare tired and barely hanging on.
Building a world rooted inprinciples of interconnection
means that we take care of eachother with the big decisions
(23:00):
that we make and on the micro,interpersonal levels as well,
whether it's sending some food,offering to watch somebody's
kids, or just a check-in calltext or DM.
Connect with your community sowe all can keep going in this
work.
Before I sign off today, I justwanted to share that my lane,
david's lane, is the work ofAmplify RJ.
(23:21):
This is not an inherentlypolitical organization.
I, as the founder, haveprinciples and values that I
want to put out into the world,towards justice, towards equity,
but while I'm not involvingmyself in capital P politics,
this is a place where people canlearn the basics, the
fundamentals of restorativejustice and growing community
alongside like-minded people whowill encourage and challenge
(23:44):
you.
I've been on a break for a while, but if you want to learn more
about restorative justice or getinvolved, please make sure
you're following us on allsocials or sign up for our email
list on our website.
There will be new things comingsoon In the spirit of community
.
I have a couple asks.
One I shared some information,I shared my opinions.
I'd love to know yours.
If you're watching on YouTube,leave comments.
(24:06):
If you're listening on anotherplatform, you can comment on
Spotify or hit me up via email,mediaamplifierjcom.
I'd love to hear from you.
Of course, there are going tobe a bunch of new things coming
here, so like, subscribe, rate,review and be old school about
it and tell a friend.
Word of mouth, I dare you.
(24:27):
For those of you who have beenaround for a while, you know
that this podcast used to becalled this Restorative Justice
Life.
Both for brand alignmentreasons and because I'm doing
something a little bit differentthan the long form interviews,
I've renamed the podcast theAmplify Restorative Justice
Podcast, and with that comes anew sign off.
I know it's a scary time for somany of you, but in closing,
(24:51):
let me share these words May yoube safe, may you be happy, may
you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease and may
you work for this to be truefor everyone.
Take care, y'all.
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