Gary Lucks Insists We Are the Power — And Shows Us How

On this episode of Bald Ambition, Mookie Spitz sits down with environmental attorney and activist Gary Lucks to tackle a question millions of frustrated Americans keep asking themselves: “What the hell am I actually supposed to do besides scream at the TV?” Drawing from his book We Are the Power, Gary argues that democracy survives only when ordinary people stop doomscrolling and start organizing.

Instead of vague “go vote” rhetoric, Gary offers concrete ways people can channel anxiety into action:

• Join grassroots groups like Indivisible or Activate America.
• Host Zoom fundraisers and local organizing events.
• Volunteer at farmers markets and community outreach tables.
• Phone bank, text bank, canvass, and register voters.
• Train as election observers and protect voting rights.
• Use apps like Five Calls and Goods Unite Us to make political engagement part of everyday life.

The conversation repeatedly returns to one core idea: activism goes beyond political strategy and amounts to psychological survival. Gary calls it “political therapy,” arguing that collective action beats isolated despair every time.

Then Mookie turns to accountability. While agreeing that voter suppression, gerrymandering, and disinformation are serious threats, Mookie argues Democrats have also sabotaged themselves with elitist messaging, cultural overreach, weak emotional connection, and a chronic inability to speak like normal human beings.

 He calls out:

• Ignoring working-class frustration.
• Overcomplicating simple issues with policy jargon.
• Mishandling immigration and crime messaging.
• Leaning too hard into divisive identity politics.
• Underestimating Trump’s ability to emotionally connect with voters.
• Forgetting that charisma and relatability matter as much as policy.

Gary largely agrees, admitting Democrats often sound “wonky” while Republicans dominate the emotional battlefield. The result is a lively, funny, occasionally brutal conversation about activism, media, polarization, voter psychology, and why Democrats need to stop assuming voters will automatically “do the right thing.”

Both agree: no savior is coming. If Americans want democracy to function, they have to participate in it themselves. Choosing a presidential candidate with charisma would also help, insists Mookie. Give them a listen!

The Guest

Gary Lucks, JD, CPEA, is a progressive author, activist, and environmental attorney who has spent four decades at the intersection of law, policy, and sustainability. He is the founder of Progressive Action East Bay and Resistance Action East Bay Indivisible, the latter of which is one of California's most active grassroots political networks. Lucks is also the author of You Are Not Alone: Your Roadmap to Effective Political Action and coauthor of California Environmental Law and Policy, an Environmental Law textbook used in law schools and universities (published by Solano Press and also available on Amazon). More at garylucks.com.

His Book

https://www.garylucks.com/book

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to Vault Ambition.
I'm your still very vault host,Mookie Spitz.
And the one with all theambition today is Mr.
Gary Lux.
Welcome to the podcast, Gary.
Thanks for letting me be here.
Good to meet you and be part ofthis.
Good to meet you too.

(00:22):
You are an environmentalattorney by day, and you are
also an activist, an organizer,and you have a book that I can't
wait to talk to you about.
We are the power.
There you go.
And as I understand it, it is aprescriptive guide, grassroots

(00:44):
level, for organizing, gettingyour ass out to vote for these
critical midterms.
Share a few of your rallyingcries and motivators because the
Democrats have been wonderful atsnapping defeat from the jaws of

(01:10):
victory over and over again.
And uh I personally would lovethe switcher rule.
Let's let's change it up.
It's healthy for democracy.
And regardless which side you'reon, we need to keep this frothy
mix of democracy activelyengaged.

(01:32):
And now it's the Democrats'turn.

SPEAKER_01 (01:35):
Yeah, well, I I would not have written this book
if there was something else outthere.
And we all have a very clearunderstanding of what we're
facing.
The pundits are quite uh uhaccurate in terms of their depth
and detail, looking at what theproblem is, why we're here.

(01:57):
And we know it from every angle,it's saturated.
But what we don't know is howpeople can engage, because you
listen to a pundit on the news,and people say, We're in these
dire straits, and it's up to youto go out and vote and make a
difference in a rhetorical way.
And then they leave us flat andwithout any depth or detail or

(02:18):
direction or roadmap on where wego and how we get there.
And so if someone had writtenthat book, I would have gone on
with my business.
And so I would venture to guess,and there's some data out there
that points to if you ask, youknow, a hundred people leaving a
No Kings protest what they'll donext, anecdotally, I would say

(02:43):
90 plus percent will post theirpictures and call it good and
feel like they've done theirpart.
And ultimately, and I thinkthere's some data I can uh
confirm it's like 70 to 80percent of people, I believe,
empirically, just don't doanything more than that.
And so, you know, Michelle Obamasays go do something, or uh

(03:04):
people say just go vote, um, andand so on, but it's rhetorical.
So I wrote the book because I'vebeen a lifelong activist, I've
worked on every campaign sincecollege.
I'd rather not do that, but I'mconvinced that it's everybody's
civic duty, like jury duty.
We have to be part of ourdemocracy.
Um, we've been so um uh socomplacent for my entire life

(03:31):
taking for granted our freedoms,uh free speech, uh due process,
um, the right to vote uh in afair, free and fair election,
and so on.
All of these freedoms that we'vetaken for granted are at risk,
in my personal opinion, and wehave to fight for them.
And it's not like you spend oneelection cycle, it has to be a

(03:52):
lifelong commitment.
Um, you know, I in the book Iwrite about uh sometimes I I get
up on a weekend where Itypically spend a couple hours
each Saturday and Sunday handingout flyers, energizing and
educating people and what theycan do to make a difference.
And sometimes I I think, God,you know, I just want to sleep.

(04:14):
Or I'm at the farmer's marketand I'm like, ah, I just I want
to go home.
I want to go out, go out and gofor a hike.
But then I I go back and I thinkabout people, and I was just
watching a documentary about theCivil War just uh last night,
and 700,000 people lost theirlives to deliver what we have
that we take for granted, andthey would have given anything

(04:34):
for a two-hour shift on afarmer's market uh that versus
going waking up that morning notknowing whether they'd survive
to the next day.
So the book is all about howpeople can be part of uh of
history with this midtermelection we're facing, but also
be part of the solution and partof democracy and um weigh into

(04:58):
an outcome that we can be proudof.
100%.

SPEAKER_00 (05:02):
You know who was great at getting out voters,
especially African American men,minority voters in record
numbers.
That was Donald Trump in thelast election.
And he did it with bombast,hyperbole, theatrics, insults,

(05:25):
performance art.
It it motivated segments of theDemocratic Party to flip in ways
that was truly, we hear it allthe time, unprecedented.
We could do better, I wouldassume, as Democrats, getting
that base activated to doanother screw tape letter, kind

(05:48):
of C.S.
Lewis example.
Carl Rove said that if you canactivate your base, you can win
elections.
What's so hard about gettingDemocrats to go vote in the way
that you mentioned, especiallywhen facing challenges like the

(06:11):
Trump administration 2.0,especially when states like
Tennessee, Alabama, soonMissouri are gerrymandering with
the Supreme Court's A-O-K abouteven using race ostensibly as a
criteria, because now you needto substantiate that in the
court of law.

(06:31):
And all of these red states feelthey've got carte blanche to
just redraw their maps.
And conversely, Virginia hasthrown back the Democrats'
attempt at this.
What is going on?
And how how does your bookpropose to turn this cycle of

(06:54):
frustration around for the left?

SPEAKER_01 (06:58):
90 million people didn't show up in the 2024
election.
Um, Donald Trump did not win bya majority, uh, he won by a
plurality uh and didn't crestover 50%.
And so if a fraction of those 9million people showed up, it
would have been a differentoutcome.
And, you know, there are allkinds of reasons why Democrats

(07:22):
don't show up.
Um, part of it is because thereare rules that depress and
suppress the vote in uh certaindemographics that make it more
difficult as a burden, a barrierto overcome.
Uh, there's also a lot ofrhetoric uh with disinformation
that uh is demoralizing.

(07:42):
And part of the reason the MAGAmovement grew up as it did, in
my view, is that people felt,well, you know, the Democrats
are no better than theRepublicans, and it's a false,
but in my view, it's a deepfalse equivalency.
But ultimately, people,especially the blue-collar
workers that uh and and andworking class that were in the
Democrat Party's uh column forthe longest time, they're for

(08:07):
all kinds of structural andother reasons, they're they're
left behind.
And despite Democrats' efforts,it doesn't happen in one uh
election cycle.
So there are all kinds ofreasons why people sit it out.
Um and you know, and as ageneral rule, uh the the
demographic, at leasthistorically, of the Democrats

(08:30):
have been working class andmiddle class.
And they tend to be more mobile,renting and moving from place to
place and don't re-register.
And because of these barriersthat are placed in front of
them, a lot of uh people whomight otherwise be registered
aren't able to vote.
And then voter intimidation andand all kinds of reasons why
people don't show up, butultimately the way we overcome

(08:54):
that is through organization umand uh strategy.
And so the the Democratic Partywas accused of political
malpractice in the 2024election, notwithstanding having
been quite successful from 2018,2020, 2023, 2025, losing the big

(09:17):
uh presidential kahuna wasdemoralizing for people.
And so that that's anotherfactor.
People are demoralized and feellike, oh, well, it just my
efforts don't work despitereasons for success.
And so one reason to energizeand motivate people motivate
people is to realize that theDemocrats have won seven of the
last nine presidential electionswith a popular vote, but the

(09:40):
electoral college got in the wayfor some.
And so the Democrats actuallyhave done quite well, but we
don't feel it.
So there's kind of this psychicuh barrier that is in place as
well.
And the Democratic Party hasbeen accused of malpractice
because, for different reasons,they did uh fail us in some

(10:01):
ways, and there's new leadershipunder Ken Martin, uh, and
there's a 50-state strategywhich is designed not just to uh
be competitive in the reddistricts um in the future, but
working hard in the purpledistricts.
So the it's an investment forthe future.

(10:21):
Um, and and so organizationstrategy, supporting the
Democratic Party, and also Iwrite in the book we we list 80
organizations, many that grew upin the recent uh election cycles
that are focused on grassrootsuh opportunities to be part of
the democratic process.

(10:42):
So, together with the DemocraticParty, activate America, uh
State the States Project, uhFlip the Vote, uh Sister
District, all theseorganizations that came about,
they can work in concert withthe Democratic Party.
So there's reason to be hopefulthat we can succeed, but back to

(11:04):
your original question, we needto be able to target those who
are occasional voters, feeldemoralized.
And the only way that willhappen is through raising money,
supporting the Democratic Party,state and federal, uh, and
supporting the uh other NGOs andthe Senate and Congressional

(11:25):
Committee's focus on winning.
And we just have to be able tobe behind that and give time,
money, and effort and leverageyour passion, resources, and
relationships to be part of thatsolution.

SPEAKER_00 (11:38):
Can you drill down a little bit?
And then we could get into thenitty-gritty and perhaps get
back to policy, but I reallywant to keep it practical
because you bring up manyspecific recommendations.
And I'm sure our listeners andviewers are like, I don't like
what's going on, and we need tochange it up, but I honestly

(12:01):
don't know how.
I might have gone to a King'srally every time I turn on the
TV, I'm fuming to the pointwhere I don't even want to watch
the news anymore.
Uh, I had hopes that with Bidenthings would would turn over and
that Trump would be goneforever, a blip on history.
And it's flipped to the pointwhere there's been no more

(12:23):
significant a figure in ourlifetimes than than the Donald.
And it's a nightmare.
But I don't know what to do atthis point.
So, Gary, tell me what I can do.
Help help me out here.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (12:40):
Well, I've been an activist every uh for every
election cycle, and then youknow, I've had opportunities to
write policy papers for GovernorNewsom for fine send when she
ran for governor and led electedofficials in the state
legislature here in Californiawhere I live.
So I'm a policy junkie, but I'velearned uh about getting the

(13:02):
vote out.
And there's traditionalopportunities of getting the
vote out, which we can discuss.
But in the book, I offer a menuof choices whether you live in a
blue uh congressional districtor a blue state, a purple part
of the country, or a red part ofthe country.
And there the most importantthing anyone can do is commit

(13:28):
some time.
Um and think about how much timepeople worry and complain about
the news, about theircircumstance.
Those minutes turn into hours,and hours turn into a lot of
time.
If people can just take acertain percentage of those
hours on a weekly, monthly basisand say, I'm gonna commit to

(13:51):
doing any one of the followingthings.
So I'll start off.
I'm in a blue, I'm in Oakland,California, a deep blue part of
the blue state.

SPEAKER_00 (13:59):
Orange County here.
I'm all purple, I'm all purple.

SPEAKER_01 (14:03):
We're gonna get to let me start with blue and then
we'll go to purple.
So, okay, so there's a lot thatpeople can do in the blue to
help in the in the swingable uhpurple uh battleground states.
And so there's outsized time,money, and resources in a blue
area that can be exported toOrange County or you know, North

(14:29):
Carolina or somewhere else.
And so what we can do is numberone, join an organization.
And I list 80 of them in thebook.
The most easy, the easiest oneto consider joining would be
indivisible.
Um, I started an indivisiblegroup 10 years ago.
We're the Resistance Action EastBay Indivisible Group.

(14:50):
We've grown to 1,200 members.
Now, not all of them are activeor they ebb and flow, but we
have a core of our members.
And each indivisible group, ofwhich there are about 25, 2600
in the country, each one of themhas their own personality,
resources, complexion, areas offocus.
And so what I write about issome of the areas of focus that

(15:13):
we have.
But join a group.
Um, we started the first uh, wegave the first seed money to one
of the other groups I highlyrecommend.
It used to be called Flip the 14in 2018.
Um, we gave the first seed moneyto start them.
They flipped seven of the 14seats in California in 2018 from

(15:34):
red to blue.
And they've now grown to anationwide organization that
they call themselves ActivateAmerica.
They work in the purpledistricts.
You can join Activate America,and they they do grassroots shoe
leather work of phone banking,text banking, postpartum, um,
and and and and knocking ondoors, right?

(15:56):
But join a group is number one.

SPEAKER_00 (15:59):
Oh, let me put a pin in it for a second because this
is a big state change from uhlosing your mind watching TV to
channeling that energy, gettinga personal catharsis and
actually doing something.
So these groups you mentioned,indivisible, these various

(16:19):
organizations, I can find themonline, I could offer my time,
money, talents, and they'll plugme in to things that are
feasible for me within my busyschedule.
I'm free weekends, I'm freeWednesdays, I work the night

(16:41):
shift, etc.
And then they will partner withme to utilize me in any way that
I can offer.

SPEAKER_01 (16:50):
Absolutely, yeah.
Um, like you know, anywhere fromlike we have teachers in our
group, we have graphic artistsin our group, we have lawyers in
our group, everyone can play, wehave musicians in our group.
Um, we did this a year ago.
We we uh connected with anearthscape artist who wanted

(17:10):
invited us to uh volunteer onOcean Beach in San Francisco to
do uh uh earthscape art on um,and there was a couple
football-sized field uhdimensions of a message on
activating, energizing, andbeing part of the solution.

(17:30):
So it doesn't matter whetheryou're an artist or a lawyer,
there's so much you can do, oryou have money or resources or
connections with people, and sojoin and and the thing is
there's a home for everybody, alane for everybody.
Um, so and what I coin this termpolitical therapy.
And so everyone's freaked outthe existential impact is

(17:55):
psychically impacting people,and so what we you can be alone
in despair and complain andworry and be on the sidelines
and defeat us, or you can bepart of an organization where
you come together with kindredspirits for common cause, and
and people come away feelingthey they built connections,
friendship, and they feel likethey're doing something and you

(18:18):
sleep better at night, which ismy own therapy, is why I do
this, right?
So joining a group, and and Ilist 80 of them in in in the
book.
Um, and then the most important,the next most important thing we
can do in in uh order, quitefrankly, is raise money, and
I'll explain how we do it in amoment.
Because the the Republican Partyand the MAGA uh people have

(18:43):
considerable financial advantageright now compared to uh the the
the um Democrats.
The MAGA PAC is as over$300million.
Uh the Republican Party is inthe black with over$100 million.
The Democratic Party, up untilrecently, hit is in the red.
And so we're way behind.

(19:04):
And you can't raise money at theend of the cycle, you have to
raise money front-loaded in thebeginning of the cycle.
We're in the spring of 2026.
So we just started thismethodology I write about in the
book called Parties forDemocracy.
We we started in 2020 working onraising money with a big

(19:25):
concert.
We had connections with BonnieRay.
Uh, we were one degree separatedfrom David Crosby.
We're gonna have a big venue,raise about 150 to 200k net, and
get people engaged and energizedto work for Biden.
And then COVID derailed thewhole effort.
And so, but instead of givingup, we morphed it into Zoom

(19:46):
parties, which is something thatseems like straightforward, but
number one, it's not done nearlyenough and it's not done well.
And so we raised$450,000 inthree months in the summer of
2020.
And each host averages$10,000.
So, you know, Mookie, you end updoing one of these parties.

(20:09):
I'll work with you.
Um, you just spend four to fivehours of time together.
We can curate a party.
You invite your friends andfamily across the country, five
o'clock on a Thursday at theirdesk.
In one hour, um, we like on wecan raise$20K for any one of
these organizations or theDemocratic Party or whomever or
a combination of the both.

(20:30):
We did a party a week ago,raised$12,000 to$15,000 with my
friend um honoring their dad,who was a great activist who
passed.
Um, two weeks earlier, a friendof mine raised$24,000 an hour.
And the average is 10.
So if you have 10 friends,that's that's$100,000.
We work with you.
So my point is now's the time tocommit to raising money.

(20:55):
And if you do like a fundraiserin person, it's a lot of time
and effort to organizelogistics, RSVPs.
But the party for democracy is aZoom party that takes four or
five hours mostly putting youremail list together, sending out
a couple of reminders, doing arun-of-show, and showing where
the money goes with QR codes.
And it's it it works.

(21:16):
And we want to raise anotherhalf a million dollars this
year, and that's just ourindivisible group.
Imagine if 2,500 indivisiblegroups each did a few parties,
we talked about millions andmillions of dollars.
So join an organization, raisemoney early.

SPEAKER_00 (21:33):
Both these methods turn personal anxiety into
collective action.
And along the way, you'reactually networking with other
human beings, you're meetingpeople, you're clubbing it up.
Instead of just doing a rockclimbing meetup or a hiking
meetup or a biking meetup, youcan do a meetup for the

(21:55):
midterms.
And you can do this in two ways,like you mentioned, join an
organization.
Become actively involved overtime, or even throw a Zoom party
to make some money.

SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
Yeah, and people and it brings people together.
You know, it I did one for mybirthday, and you know, they're
people I haven't seen for years,you know, on the East Coast.
So friends and family enjoy it.
When my friend honored his dad,they had all kinds of pictures.
They invited friends and family,so they got family pictures.
So and there was a HollywoodSquares type of connection after

(22:28):
the formal show where people arelike, Oh, how have you been
reconnecting?
So it, you know, the wholepurpose of this entire effort
has to be underpinned by joy.
We cannot let them take joy awayfrom us.
Um, we have fun doing this.
It's like I'd rather be doingother things.
So we make great connections andwe laugh and we're doing

(22:51):
something meaningful.
So there's a psychic benefit todoing this together with joy,
and it can't it can't deprive usof that as we fight this most
important fight.

SPEAKER_00 (23:02):
I love the socialized approach to it.
I think that it's very holistic,it's very therapeutic.
And uh, you know, in the in themilitary they say, quit your
bitching and drop your linen,right?
Which is uh, you know, it's alittle bit vulgar, but it's like
stop complaining and dosomething.
Just go for it.

(23:24):
It's such such a therapy, it'ssuch a catharsis, it's a
terrific release.

SPEAKER_01 (23:29):
Well, and and the other, the third thing I'll say
that is highly effective, um,and what I've shared with you so
far can be done in blue, purple,and red districts.
You can join a group if inOrange County, you can join a
group in North Carolina, you canraise money anywhere.
And in fact, if you're in a redarea feeling demoralized and

(23:51):
alone, you can reach out to yourfriends and family who are
kindred spirits outside of yourpurple or blue or red area.
So these are not descriptive interms of what you do.
And the third thing I'd sharewith you that we've done a lot
of is we're at we first startedout at um transit stops in the
Bay Area, it's called the BayArea Rapid Transit.

(24:13):
When people would come off thetrains, we'd hand them a flyer,
and the flyer would be you know,one quarter of an eight and a
half by eleven page with a QRcode with a two-minute ask of
where to give timer money.
A lot of people are getting offthe train, they're reading the
paper, they're angry, they'reupset, they're confused.
We're there with a flyer.
Like, this is how you canchannel that.

(24:34):
So we're kind of a trustedadvisor.
We build rapport relationships.
And then after COVID, the thetrain uh ridership dropped.
So we worked our way to farmersmarkets.
We're in about six to sevenfarmers markets, and we want to
grow it across the country.
And every week we're there for atwo-hour shift from like 10 to
12.

(24:55):
And people at the farmersmarkets tend to be uh more
engaged and more likely to be inthe purple blue column.
And so we've recruited a vastmajority of our volunteers at
the farmers market, and you'rein in California, you know, we
typically were focusing onpurple districts for years.

(25:16):
But when Prop 50 emerged as theuh antidote to Texas's effort to
mid-cycle illegally uh uhgerrymander, we as Californians
in the blue had to get engaged,and so we focus on registering
voters at the farmers marketsand educating them on why it
really mattered.

(25:36):
So the farmers market, whetheryou're in Orange County or
elsewhere, is a great way tobuild community and build uh
recruits and connect with peopleand educate them.

SPEAKER_00 (25:47):
If you have a little table and you sip in coffee and
it's like you need to volunteer,prove me wrong, that kind of
thing, or or what do you do?
Walk around with with flyers orQR codes?
How does that work?

SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Yeah, so we have these really portable mini
ironing board size tables thatfold up.
So in one arm you've got thetable, and the other arm you
have a canvas bag.
And in the bag we have likebumper stickers and buttons.
I should have worn a button foryou.
Um, and then uh we have asign-up sheet and sun tan

(26:22):
lotion, um, and um we set up atthe table and we've got our
flyers, and I'll usually have asign that that conveys the
message of the week.
So um, for example, um inCalifornia, we have this uh
gubernatorial race coming up inthe next month.

(26:42):
There's lots of concern aboutthe possibility of our our
jungle primary producing twoRepublicans that would uh uh
advance to the general election.
And our message this last coupleweeks has been don't vote early.
Normally you want to vote early.
This is not the time to voteearly.
Wait for the the um top two orthree candidates to congeal and

(27:08):
settle and then vote among them.
So that's like the month-longmessage, and we'll shift to
getting the vote out next, butwe keep shifting our message,
and so we hand out the flyersand people come up to us, and
number one, they the vastmajority are like so grateful
and they thank us for beingthere because they appreciate
what we're doing.

(27:28):
We become trusted advisors, werecruit volunteers along the
way, and it's gratifying, and itcan be done in a purple, red, or
blue district.

SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
Excellent.
So purple, red, or blue, join anorganization, set up Zoom calls
and be a fundraiser.
And if you can, participate ingrassroots campaigning,
marketing, getting folks to signup, getting folks to
participate, getting folks togive some of their coin.
And whenever you do any of this,you're getting away from

(28:00):
freaking out at the at thescreen and going out there into
the world and meetinglike-minded souls with a common
purpose.
And that's good good for thegood for the heart and good for
the mind.

SPEAKER_01 (28:12):
And what happens too is you know, as I said earlier,
if you complain on average 10hours a month, which is probably
more for most of us, and youtake two of those hours and you
show up at a farmer's market oror give money or do a party for
democracy Zoom call, that's twohours obviating the problem
you're complaining about.
So you're actually workingtowards a solution and assuaging

(28:33):
your apprehension and concernalong the way.
Uh another couple things peoplecan do, they can like Minnesota,
Minnesotans were unbelievablyinspiring.
Uh, and you know, what they didin the bitter cold is is really
heroic and patriotic.
And they were constitutionalobservers.
And there's all our groupdoesn't do this, but other

(28:55):
groups, indivisible groups andothers do.
They're gearing up for whatcould happen in um November with
disenfranchisement andintimidation at the polls, um,
or another version of whathappened with ICE or the
National Guard in LA and inMinnesota.
So other groups are focusing ontraining people to be ready when

(29:16):
or if uh there's intimidationand uh uh the federal government
acting illegally to prepare andand and be the observers uh to
protect people's fourth andfifth amendment of due process
and of and not you know uhavoiding illegal search and
seizure.
So that's another thing peoplecan do.

(29:38):
And lastly, uh I'll I'll shareafter the election uh or after
November when we had theseoutsized double-digit victories
uh in purple districts andspecial uh uh elections, we
pivoted from uh getting the voteout to educating people on where
their money goes with thecompanies that they support.

(30:01):
In an or in what we call the BuyBlue campaign.
And so the Buy Blue campaignuses an app called the Goods
Unite Us app that emerged afterthe Citizens United case by two
lawyers in the Midwest.
And they basically wanted toeducate people on where

(30:22):
companies give their money, dothey give it to the Republicans
or Democrats or neutrally?
And so it it's really empoweringso you know you can vote with
your dollars.
So during the holiday season,after November, we wore blue and
white Santa hats in the farmersmarket and we handed out uh

(30:42):
flyers on the Goods Unite Usapp, and we would and it's on
you download it on your phone,and I would ask people if you're
a coffee drinker, if you had achoice between Pete's coffee and
Starbucks, which yourpreference.
And most people picked, if I'mnot mistaken, Pete's coffee,

(31:02):
which is anecdotal evidence,right?
And then I would go to the GoodsUnitis app and say, where do you
think Pete's gives their moneyto?
And where do you think Starbucksgives their money?
And the majority of people werestunned and really disappointed
and enlightened at the same timewhen they found out that Pete's
gave, I forget the number, butit was like over 65 to 70
percent went to Republicansbased on Federal Election

(31:25):
Commission data.
And the and Starbucks gave ummore money to Democrats.
So that's knowledge is power,right?
So post-election, we did bycots.
You can buy supporting companiesthat align with your values.

SPEAKER_00 (31:43):
Those are great.
So just to summarize your twoadditional things that you can
do.
So the first, the first few werejoin an organization, do a Zoom
fundraising call, and then getyour ass out there at the
farmers market to do somegrassroots canvassing.
And these other two happenpretty much concurrently with

(32:07):
events.
So, for example, be a witness,be an observer.
It made a huge difference inMinnesota.
When Americans complain and theycomplain with a voice, change
does occur, even with thisadministration.
And the other one is uh withthis app and just being more

(32:27):
self-aware, uh, be aconscientious consumer.
Understand that the brand namesthat you participate in by want
of being a consumer give tocauses also.
And they're not value neutral.
There's humans in theboardrooms, they make big
decisions, and the big decisionstend to delineate red versus

(32:52):
blue.
So be transparent about it andbe conscientious in terms of
funneling that money to theideology, to the value system
that you believe in.

SPEAKER_01 (33:04):
Beautifully said.
Yeah, well, well, wellsummarized.
And I'll add two more.
Uh, one is called the Five Callsapp.
The five calls app curates yourmessage to your elected
representatives.
And there's strong evidence,empirically and otherwise, that
supports the fact that ourelected officials pay attention

(33:27):
to phone calls.
Um, and so but you know, peopleare intimidated by that.
The five calls app curatesdifferent scripts and then would
get you, depending on where yourdistrict is, to your
representative.
Now it's important to note thatif you're unhappy with say um,
you know, Mitch McConnell inKentucky um with what he's

(33:52):
doing, you're wasting your timeif you're calling his office
because they they correlate uhyour area code or or your zip
code with uh the origin of thecall.
So the five calls app takes allthat guesswork out of it in
terms of what to say, how to sayit, with a menu of choices, and
you get directly to yourrepresentative.

(34:14):
So that's another thing to makeyour voice heard.
Um and the last thing I'll shareat the moment would be um
election protection.
This is going to be the mostimportant election.
We say that every two years, butthere's there's no exception by
far in this case.
And if you're a paralegal, youknow a paralegal, you are a

(34:35):
lawyer, you know a lawyer,encourage them to do the
training and show up in swingdistricts where elections might
be contested because we need toprotect the vote like we never
have before.

SPEAKER_00 (34:47):
So these two ideas, just to cap it off, have to do
with the old school pick up thephone and call your
representative and express youropinion.
Now, I know some people in themusic business, and remember
that app Shazam, where you youhear a song and you're not
quite, you know, you're askingpeople, you know, at the bar or

(35:08):
restaurant, who is that?
Do you or what's what's so youhit the app and then you put it
up in the air and then it hearsit and then it pulls it up.
Usually it connects to Spotifyor whatever, and it's like, oh
wow, it's the Supremes and it'sthe song I love.
Those little gesturesdisproportionately influence

(35:30):
what gets chosen to be played onthe radio.
Because the industry needs data.
And even if it's a relativelysmall N, they rely on that as a
success metric, a keyperformance indicator of
popularity.
It's like the old school Nielsenratings, where 250 American

(35:51):
households chose programming for100 million people before the
age of digital.
And the Shazam app actuallyinfluences radio play.
And if old school, you pick upthe phone and you call your
congressman and you annoy themthat way, it actually does make
a difference just becausethey're getting some
information.

(36:11):
We had a, you know, the youknow, Mr.
Congressman, Ms.
Congresswoman, the phone's offthe hook this week and they're
not having it.
Well, that's that's an input.
That's information.
So you think you might not makea difference, but you actually
are.
So that's very, very interestingand impactful.

SPEAKER_01 (36:32):
It moves the it moves the needle, and just like
town halls will move the needle,even if you're if you're in a
purple area or even a red area,um, one thing that people can
do, which has been pioneered byindivisible and others, is to do
an empty town hall.
You know, if if the Republicancongressperson is unwilling to

(36:53):
have the courage to uh representand face their voters and put
that empty chair there and andcall them out, right?
That's something you can do in ared district, right?
Um, and if you're in a red areaor a blue area, consider
traveling in October to a swingdistrict, a purple district that

(37:17):
might be a lot of people inNorthern Cal uh will go to uh
Reno, California.
Southern Californians will go toLas Vegas.
Um, I went to Tucson in in uhthe fall of 2024, a swing state
to see a college roommate, andseveral of my friends can uh uh
showed up and and converged onmy roommate, and uh we walked

(37:39):
precincts for a couple ofweekends.
So consider taking election dayoff or consider traveling for at
least one weekend um and havingfun with your friends making a
difference and quite frankly,having no regrets.

SPEAKER_00 (37:54):
Yeah, go for it.
Make your voice heard, and theselittle bits cumulatively in
aggregate make adisproportionate amount of
difference.
That's usually the case.

SPEAKER_01 (38:08):
A lot of elections are tight.
Like, you know, um just about anhour and a half drive in the
Central Valley from where I livein the Bay Area.
Um, Adam Gray, who ran forCongress, he won by less than
200 votes.
Right?
You know, there there are narrowvictories, and it all adds up by

(38:32):
turning out the occasionalvoters that we're targeting.
It really doesn't feel like it.
And and some people complainabout oh, you know, I'm making
phone calls and I only reach oneout of 30 people.
The data shows that it matters.
Um, incrementally andcollectively, it all matters.
The most important uh get offthe vote, turn out the vote

(38:55):
activity is frankly knocking ondoors.
And some people are intimidatedby that because they think, oh,
I've got to persuade someone.
It's not about persuasion, it ittamps down the apprehension,
it's about targeting voters,educating them where their
polling place is.
There's gonna be lots ofconfusion out there.
So, as trusted advisors knockingpeople on the door, that's an

(39:17):
opportunity with a friend orsomeone that you're paired with
to turn the vote out with ahigher probability of an outcome
versus a phone call.
Um, and you're not having topersuade.
And it's energizing for the mostpart.
I mean, every once in a while,to be honest, you get someone
who's unfriendly.
And but that's what your partneris there for to just, you know,

(39:39):
take a deep breath and move on.

SPEAKER_00 (39:41):
But to your point, when you knock on somebody's
door, you're not gonna changetheir mind.
What you're doing is is justactivating voters who have an
inclination and a belief systemthat aligns with yours, only
circumstantially they're notactually going out there to pull
the trigger.
Back to Carl Rove.

(40:02):
If you just get your base outthere, you're gonna win.

SPEAKER_01 (40:07):
Exactly.
It's turning out your base.
Right.
And that that's how electionsthe elections are won or lost,
for sure.
You know, the other thing I inthe book I talk about is
disinformation and deepcanvassing, which I mean, we
need to win this midtermelection to defend our
democracy.
Um, and it's gonna be years ofrebuilding and strengthening our

(40:32):
institutions, codifying whatwere norms that we took for
granted.
But ultimately, we need to umbuild connections and find our
neighborly connections again.
And over time, when we have ourdemocracy intact, we need to
come together and throughcivility um find common ground

(40:56):
because uh my friend BillShireman, who wrote a book
called Come uh In This Together,he points out that 70% of people
believe on 90% of the issues.
It's the 15% of the extreme leftand the extreme right that will
never agree, but 70% agree on umclean water, clean air, uh on um

(41:21):
gun safety, um issues thatshould not be polarizing, but
because of disinformation,people in their corner,
confusion, and all kinds ofreasons, we're polarized, and we
need to disentangle that Gordianknot and find ways for us to
come together.
But that's a longer timehorizon.

(41:42):
Um, there's a a friend of minewho's who was the founder of
Move On, uh Joan Blades and herhusband.
And Joan um uh started anorganization called Living Room
Conversations, and it's allabout trying to get your uncle,
who you don't talk to anymore,who's a red uh in the red
column, uh, and find commonground and rebuild those

(42:06):
relationships.
And what we find is the more youlead with commonality about your
kids, what you care about, yoursafety, you find out that we
have a lot more in common.
And then that uh tears downthose barriers.
So eventually we need to reallyinvest in rebuilding, but today
we have to fight to hold on toour democracy, especially

(42:27):
between now and November.

SPEAKER_00 (42:29):
Scott Galloway, the NYU professor, marketing guy,
big mouth.
Uh I I I love him and hate himat the same time, probably
because he reminds me of me.
He's uh the ultimate bloviator.
But uh he's got a new podcastcalled Raging Moderates.

(42:50):
And uh he hits home every pointyou just made, which is most
folks are reasonable, they'vegot common sense, they've got
lived experience, and they wanttheir kids to be safe and happy,
they want to do a good job, earna decent income, and just things
to move on and move on in abipartisan way.

(43:12):
And and just because of socialmedia, especially because of
social media, wedge issues,polarization, clickbait.
Uh, if you want to make money,if you want to accrue power
based on our media ecosystem,then it's that raucous 15% on
either side that are churningthis cauldron of polarization,

(43:39):
much to our collectivedetriment.
And it's uh it's a real shame.
So, to your point, we need toget over that hump.
To summarize your last pointabout if you know a paralegal,
you know a lawyer, uh, the ideaof election fraud runs deep for
authoritarians the world over.

(44:00):
If you can claim that free andfair elections are rigged, are
tainted, then what you're reallydoing is you're throwing a
Molotov cocktail into thebedrock of democracy itself.
You are invalidating ademocratic society so that you
could superimpose tyranny on topof it.

(44:23):
It's part of the playbook.
And unfortunately, we've beenexperiencing a lot of that.
Are elections here in Americaflawed?
Well, nothing is perfect.
But was there systemic fraud?
That's been shown over and overagain to be demonstrably.

(44:44):
But conspiracy theories feed offof that contrarian nature.
You can't throw evidence atpeople.
You can't say that there were 63court judgments, all of which
ruled that the election wasvalid, because it merely
reinforces that frenzy.
So you need to be authoritative,you need to take action, and you

(45:07):
need to rely on that foundationof expertise.
And that's to your point aboutactivating the legal system in a
way that protects not this isthe thing that drives me nuts.
Goes to the gerrymandering, too.
When we pull this shit, it'shorrible for everybody.

(45:28):
Because if you're taking rightsaway from me, eventually my
people are gonna take rightsaway from you.
And it's a downward spiral ofabuse, corruption, and
degradation of the principlesthat have made this country what

(45:49):
it is.
And it's a real shame right now.

SPEAKER_01 (45:52):
It is, and you know, with the Supreme Court has not
done us any favors uh with uhoverriding uh or emasculating
the Voting Rights Act, and we'rereturning to Jim Crow South
where uh you're disenfranchisingpeople of color.
I mean, Louisiana is 35% or souh black, and they're trying to

(46:13):
eliminate every all districts sothere'll be no uh people of
color.
Um same thing with Alabama,Mississippi.
And you know, disenfranchisementis just antithetical to what our
democracy is about, and we're amulticultural, multiracial
country, and we're gonnacontinue to be more so alive.

SPEAKER_00 (46:32):
No, we're not, because again, elements of that
50% right are boldly going whereauthoritarians have never gone
before.
There, the dog whistles are nowmegaphone shout-outs that we are
a white Christian maleheterosexual nation.
Deal with it, and that is thegame plan.

SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
So and Obama, you know, there was such advancement
with President Obama, but thebacklash is what we're facing.

SPEAKER_00 (47:03):
Backlash is huge, especially with Obama's second
term.
That that's what really did it.
That was the evolution of aneruption of the Tea Party during
that phase, and and that's whenthe rage of those having to
endure the white man's burdenbecame became truly manifest.

(47:24):
And you know, here we are.
But that said, the Democratsneed to put a mirror to
themselves as well, and this hasto do not only with policy, but
even with what's done with allthat money.
And in this sense, I'd love tohear your thoughts about that
because fundraising is a keyelement of your grassroots

(47:47):
approach.
And as we know, uh, you know,Kamala and Tim had a billion
dollars and it didn't work.
So I'm being a friendlycontrarian here to make your
point of view more acute withwhat's effective and what isn't

(48:10):
when it comes to the Democratsretaking the White House.
A lot of mistakes were made, andan obsession with Trump and
everything MAGA, I thinksometimes misses the point that
the Democrats need this periodof soul searching.
And when we're doing thisactivism and we're really

(48:34):
connecting with our fellows totake it back, as you say.
I think when it happens, and itwill happen because we tend to
oscillate between one extremeand another, I would hope
personally that some importantlessons on the left have been
learned.

SPEAKER_01 (48:55):
Absolutely.
Um, as I said earlier, I thinkthere was a lot of soul
searching.
Uh Ken Martin, the newDemocratic chair, has a long
history of successful uhoutcomes when he was a state
chair.
Um and yeah, there was lots ofmalpractice that took place in
the Kamala Biden era.

(49:16):
Um we can go into that.
But you know, and money alone isnot going to get us where we
need to go for sure.
Um, but you know, there's such auh disparity.
The vast majority of money thatthe Democrats raise are small
volume, right?
And because of Citizens Unitedand PAX, the MAGA and

(49:36):
Republicans have fewer donorsbut larger amounts.

SPEAKER_00 (49:40):
Yeah, now AI, the techie bros have gone full MAGA.
They were all at theinauguration.
Zuck, Zuck, even Bezos, right?
It's it's amazing.
You go from the buying theWashington Posting to donating

(50:00):
to the new ballroom.
How's that for a for a backflip?

SPEAKER_01 (50:04):
Well, that means democracy will die in darkness,
which is the mantra of theWashington Post.
If we don't and you know, andand one thing I do want to
share, I think people we have tosupport journalism.
Um we you know we have tosupport newspapers uh because
they are the watchdogs, right?

(50:25):
For democracy will not succeedwithout uh facts and
information.
Um and you know, we have to givemoney uh not give money, but buy
the guardian, by um your localnewspaper, have investigative
journalism supported.
It's critical, right?

SPEAKER_00 (50:45):
Get a subscription to the New York Times, even
though they did that cataclysmic30 best songwriters in America.
That that was unforgivable.
I almost unsubscribed from NYD.
Seriously, I was like, you youdidn't include Billy Joel.

SPEAKER_01 (51:10):
But you know, we we need to support, you know, the
AP, um, NPR, um uh PBS NewsHour.
I mean, these are legitimatesources of news that no one can
deny are objective and andtruthful.
Um New York Times is is is youknow a storied newspaper.
We have to support local and andother newspapers because

(51:30):
democracy will die in darknesswithout it.
I also want to share anothergreat organization that I've
come to really appreciate, andit's called the Hopium
Chronicles.

SPEAKER_00 (51:44):
We can put links in the description below.
So for the audio, whether you'reon Spotify, iHeartRadio, we'll
have links.
And then if you're on YouTubeand and seeing us, then uh we'll
we'll have links in thatdescription too for you.

SPEAKER_01 (51:59):
Yeah, and what's great about Hopium, it's um
curated by Simon Rosenberg, whoused to be an ABC reporter, and
he's uh he's he predicted in2022 that there would not be a
red wave in the elections, andhe he um uh Nate Silver was not
too happy with him because hebasically was right.

(52:20):
Um and so Simon's unbelievablycapable as a policy uh thought
leader and especially as apolitical thought leader.
So he's he puts out a a uhSubstack and um uh uh podcast
every day.
And it's the best thing outthere, in my opinion.
Um and uh yeah, so highlyrecommend that as a source of

(52:45):
information as well.
He synthesizes the news everyday, and for people who are just
de demoralized and have troublelistening to the news or
watching reading the paper, getthe hopium because what he'll do
every morning is he'll takethree hours in the morning,
he'll take all the sources ofnews where he lives in DC, he'll
synthesize it and package it,and he's never missed anything

(53:08):
that I've as a news junkiecaught as well.
So I couldn't recommend thatmore highly as well.

SPEAKER_00 (53:14):
That's a great conduit, uh steady stream of
data, insights, punditry.
And he's he's the wonk who walksthe walk, right?
Because if you could be accuratein your predictions, like Nate
Silver was, I mean, the theObama election really just he he
got he nailed it the down to theelectoral count.

(53:38):
Yeah, and he's been he's beenriding on that fume since.
I don't think he's doing thepolitics anymore.
He branched out since, but uhNate was the guy, and now this
guy's your guy.

SPEAKER_01 (53:48):
So yeah, and and he he has great interviews, really
like he's super quite wellconnected and uh just
meaningful, enlighteninginformation that I find quite
useful.

SPEAKER_00 (54:01):
Great.
Maybe I'll try to get him onbald ambition.
We can do a crossover.

SPEAKER_01 (54:06):
If you can get Simon, you you get that would be
a real too.

SPEAKER_00 (54:10):
I got Lawrence Juber on the the guitar player for
Paul McCartney.
That was my my recent coup forpodcasting.
We had a wonderful hour ofconversation, and he actually
played Strawberry Fields for me.

SPEAKER_01 (54:25):
Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 (54:27):
A little concert, so that was that was really fun.
Amazing things can happen,folks.
Go out there and canvas, do yourZoom fundraiser, join an
organization, start a podcast.
We're a DIY society.
Do it yourself.
All the tools are at ourdisposal.
I got my my microphone here, Igot my podcast app.

(54:51):
And all you need to do is hit alink, send an email, pick up the
phone, and get your ass off thecouch where you're eating
Cheetos and complaining aboutthe Cheeto, and uh and go do
something, which which is what Ilove about your perspective and
your book.
And I think that's the firststep to this mirroring of the

(55:14):
Democrats, which is um let's nottake things for granted anymore,
especially our democracy, andand give give give freedom of a
shot with the caveat that Igotta go there a little bit.
Uh secure border is a goodthing, Democrats.

(55:35):
It's really a a good thing in areasonable, humane kind of way.

(56:05):
So I'm just infusing this withjust a little bit of if you make
demands on the Americanpopulation and you demand
critical thinking and commonsense, then to your exact point,
Gary, let's be mindful of the15% on the left that are

(56:26):
creating 125% of the problems atthe voting booth.

SPEAKER_01 (56:32):
Well, and and what we find is another area where
the Democrats, I think, have notdone the best is we're not the
best messengers, right?
Um, we speak in wonky terms andpolicy jargon.
We don't speak emotionally andstraightforwardly, and it's not

(56:53):
that hard, right?
And so I think we're learningfrom that.
I think there's an investment ina 24-7 uh pushback um to get the
message out positively, and Ithink and hope we'll see more of
that in the future.
But yeah, and it's yeah, I thinkyou know the the immigration
issue.
Um Trump cratered that um in the11th hour of this summer 2024,

(57:16):
where there would have beenbipartisan agreement on strong
border and more judges and soon.

SPEAKER_00 (57:22):
But yeah, but I'm I'm not letting you get off on
that one.
It uh Biden F that up, and uhand it's we've been dealing with
that backlash as a country eversince.

SPEAKER_01 (57:34):
Well, no, but in 2024 there was bipartisan
agreement.

SPEAKER_00 (57:37):
Um then the the the immigration problem had left the
station already, and that ballwas severely dropped before
then.
Trump you know leveraged it toan example of the course, as he
does everything, but I thinkthat's part of my point, though.
That I started this with the theidea of the Democrats have this

(57:58):
litany of self-inflicted wounds.
For example, the crime issue.
Okay, I was jumped in New YorkCity by by Times Square.
Wow, and when there was a lot ofpushback on the left, there was
this notion that crime has gonedown.
The pushback to Trump forbringing in the National Guard

(58:21):
and securing the hell holes ofDemocrat urban reality, right?
Was that crime is high and weneed to bring in the military to
calm it all down.
Now that was clearly hyperbolic,overgeneralized, fascistic kind
of behavior and messaging.

(58:42):
But the Democrats coming backand saying, but crime is down,
crime is not a problem.
To me, this epitomized what'smessed up about messaging, which
is acknowledge the livedexperience of Americans, stop
telling Americans how it shouldor could be, based on an

(59:04):
academic idea, based on someprogressive concept, and
empathize with the plight of theworking people of this country.
Remember, Bernie, for 30, Icould say it on my podcast, I
already got explicit on Apple.
For 30 fucking years, BernieSanders has been saying the

(59:24):
working people of this country.
And it took all of thesecataclysmic losses for the
Democrats to go, you know, weshould pay attention to the
working people of this country.
And to me, that's an endemicproblem.
And it goes back to what youwere saying, which is this wonky
messaging, this inability tomake an emotional connection

(59:47):
with Americans andovercomplicating the shit out of
everything because the Democratsare so fragmented.
It's an obsession with identityrather than finding a unified
platform of three, four, fivepoints that you keep hitting
home, which is what, frankly,Trump and the MAGA base are

(01:00:08):
great at.
They're terrific at messaging.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:12):
Right.
They may not be honest about it,but they're true.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:16):
They swap them in and out.
It's like the Iran war.
It's like regime change until itisn't.
It's the nuclear program untilit isn't.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:26):
Yeah.
Democrats also have been toocautious and have been testing
their messaging too much.
They need to be more like Bernieand just speak the truth.
People listening.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:38):
Bernie.
I I was hoping this is this iskind of funny, but it kind of
hits this home.
I thought Bernie Sanders wouldmake the perfect vice
presidential candidate withDonald Trump in 2016.
Because they were hitting, theywere hitting.

(01:01:10):
It was the Nationalist SocialistParty.
But in all seriousness, itepitomizes this schism that the
Democrats, Democrats, get overyourselves, right?
It's like this false dichotomyis so self-destructive.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:34):
I agree.
Yeah, and and this is in myview, anecdotally, we're not a
center-right country.
We're at least a center, maybecenter-left country.
But because of votersuppression, depression, and
people staying on the sidelines,it's not there's no reflection
of the complexion of where thecountry really is.

(01:01:54):
And we have to get toorganizing, getting people to
show up, do the things I writeabout, but also the Democratic
Party, which I do believe getsit, is uh aware of what needs to
happen.
And we have to message better uhand push back against this
disinformation um industry thatthat that benefits from clicks

(01:02:16):
and emotional anger that causespeople to just propagate the lie
and the canard and and theconspiracy theory.
And it's it's it to me, it's ait's an absolute outrage, and
and we we can't stand for it,and we have to do better.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:32):
The word of the day is canard.
I love that.
That that is so that is so good.
I feel lucky having Gary Lux onthe podcast, and your message
hits home loud and clear thatyou know, I'm sitting here, the
Democrats need to do this, dothat.
That's all policy.
But at the end of the day, it'sgotta be butts in chairs, it's

(01:02:54):
gotta be asses out there, it'sgotta be canvassing,
fundraising, joiningorganizations, getting active.
And your awesome book, We Arethe Power, offers a detailed and
prescriptive guide.
In summary, your action,Jackson, which is like stop,
stop complaining, go dosomething.

(01:03:16):
Your book is delightfullyprescriptive with best
practices.
And the point that you startedwith, I think is the best point
to end with, which is we live indeeply troubling psychological
times.
The rates of addiction, suicide,unhappiness among the American
people have reduced our overallquality of life to the point

(01:03:39):
that our median age hasplummeted two, three years.
And it's not just COVID.
We're unhappy, we're frustrated,and we don't know what to do.
And what your book does is we doknow what to do, which is put
your frustration into action, goout there and do something, meet

(01:04:00):
people, affect change, you'll bebetter for it, and so will the
whole country.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:04):
Yeah, I mean, ultimately, you know, people are
alone more so than they weredecades ago.
And by joining a group, you'relike it's a civic engagement
where you can come back togetherin community.
So that's one way that's awin-win.
And I think ultimately there'sno cavalry that will protect us.
There's no knight in shiningarmor.

(01:04:25):
We keep wanting to have someoneto protect us and get us through
this.
And what I I want to emphasizeis no one's gonna save us.
And the only people that willsave us is ourselves.
And and the reason why I wrotethe book was to give people a
menu of choices.
Um and it can't be just thiselection cycle.
Um, but there's 2028 that'll beright around the corner, and

(01:04:47):
there's lots of rebuilding, somuch damage has been done.
We need to maintain that powerto have the levers of power to
rebuild and strengthen ourdemocracy, and that means
commitment not just to thiscycle, but quite frankly, just
like jury duty, it has to be alifelong uh civic duty

(01:05:10):
obligation uh that we all haveto be part of.
And what will happen is if wewin the midterms, we'll get
complacent and we'll think,okay, we can rest.
We can't rest.
And we have to pace ourselves.
So we're living a lifelongmarathon of civic duty.
And the only way we navigatethat is we work hard for six

(01:05:32):
months in one way or anotherbefore an election, 18 months
between the two-year cycle, wecan step back and keep the keep
the engine idling, but then weput it back into gear six months
before.
And that's how you navigate themarathon um that which is our
life commitment, which it has tobe, because otherwise what we
take for granted will be gone.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:53):
Amen to that.
And I want to bring up one othergreat point that you made, which
is be inclusive, listen.
To people and talk to people.
Don't shut people out.
And that'll improve andenlighten you as a voter, as an
activist, as someone whobelieves in this great country,

(01:06:16):
that inclusivity.
So if you got a funny uncle andyou don't want to invite him to
Thanksgiving, or you know, youdread when he might come around,
or if you go over to his houseand you got Fox News on all the
all the screens, have aconversation and understand that
we're all Americans.

(01:06:36):
And again, to your point, mostfolks agree on most things, and
we have been propagandized bythat fringe 15% to hate each
other and not listen to eachother.
And a lot of your activism hasto do with exactly that knock on
doors, talk to people, beinclusive, listen to the other

(01:07:01):
side, and Democrats maybe evenlearn a few things that we can
improve.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:12):
Democracy depends on Democrats uh improving their
game, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (01:07:18):
And I want to bring one last point if you still have
a couple minutes.
Um who it's all if we've learnedanything at all from the 10
years of Trump, think about it.
He rolled down that escalator 10years ago, right?

(01:07:39):
Uh, and counting.
Okay.
Two two-term president, he wouldsay three.
It's it's all there's love him,hate him, whatever.
He he's got his base and heknows his audience, and he's a
personality.

(01:08:00):
Okay, look at look at look atArnold Schwarzenegger, the guy.
You could see him being abodybuilding champion because he
had a perfectly symmetrical bodyand he was handsome, but then
action movie star and governor.
It's so don't don't judge folks.
You know, you get to the chapa.

(01:08:21):
He's the governor of our finestate of California.
So don't judge the peoples whenthey make decisions about who
they fall in love with and learnsomething, Democrats.
There's gotta be woo, there'sgotta be charisma.
You need a personality to makean emotional connection with
people, and that is the keymotivator.

(01:08:43):
We don't use our head, we useour heart.
And Democrats, that I think istheir biggest lesson, which is
choose wisely when you go forthat front man, front woman,
front they.
I'm rooting for the firsttransgender president.
Um I wrote a science fictionshort story about this like 25

(01:09:06):
years ago, and I'm rooting forthe first transgender.
I want a they president, youknow that that'll make Mookie
really happy because I thinkthen we finally figured that one
out, right?
But I just go back to who?
I mean, Pete Buttigieg, no onespeaks better than Pete, okay,

(01:09:26):
but does he have it?
Uh Gavin Newsome, he's got greathair, he looks super
presidential and he's verynimble in the debate.
Is he the guy?
Uh we could go through the list,and I don't I don't expect us to
do that now, but I just want toconvey this notion that if we've
learned anything from Mr.
the Donald, it's like we needto, it's not just about policy

(01:09:50):
Democrats, it's not aboutfreeing democracy.
At the end of the day, thecandidate has to be full of woo,
likable, and attention getting.
They need to dominate.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:06):
And yeah, relatable, and and it comes down to
emotionality.
Like amygdala in our brain iswhat reacts to fear in the fight
and flight, and you know, foxpropaganda and all the
right-wing media anddisinformation wants to make us
angry and fearful, and thatmoves behavior, right?

(01:10:28):
Um, and so we have to be awareof that when we're being
manipulated.
Um, and number one, and numbertwo, uh, you need to be able to
emotionally connect and relate.
And the candidates that willsucceed, hopefully the
democratic uh column, will berelatable and you can
emotionally connect with themand not get lost in the wonky

(01:10:51):
information that people peopleuh don't even pay attention to
and their eyes glaze over aftera while.

SPEAKER_00 (01:10:58):
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
You know, I I I would hope thatthe Democrats set up the casting
couch, and I think they're allalready overdue.
And I've had various guests touse digital technology to
engender greater transparencywhen it comes to legislation and
when it comes to voting.
I had some great guests already,and that got me thinking, and I

(01:11:20):
discussed this with them too.
Why aren't we using digitaltechnology to recruit fresh
blood for the Democrats?
We need new faces, we need newplaces.
We need to change this up,folks.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:34):
I I think the Democratic bench is
strengthening, and is I think Ithink then it'll be a
challenging primary for 2028,but I think there's a lot of
strong candidates to select fromwho I think have what we're
looking for.
Like look at Pritzker, man.
He's a commanding gravitas uhguy who uh you know making a

(01:11:58):
face.

SPEAKER_00 (01:12:01):
I'm I was born and bred in Chicago.
Ah, you're Midwestern.
I Pritzker's got charisma, butum, if if Pritzker can become
president, um I will I will weara toupee.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:15):
Well, but people like a father figure, like a
strong, safe father figure.
So my point is, I think yeah,whatever it takes to get good
candidates, and we just have tovet vet uh so we end up with
viable candidates and not get inour own way.

SPEAKER_00 (01:12:32):
Nothing against you, Princey.
My last name is Spitz, Spitz,Prince.
You know, I'm poor, you're rich.
Nothing personal.
I think you're great, but um,but you know, to my point, we we
we just might need someone elseto run.
Thanks so much, Gary Lux.

(01:12:54):
We really appreciate your time.
Get get his book, folks.
It's really good.
And get your ass off the couchand doing stuff, you'll feel
better about it.
And uh, I am going to I'm gonnashare.
Usually I don't share my podcastwith my friends.
I when when I startedpodcasting, I'll be hey, look,
and they got sick of it, and Igot sick of it.

(01:13:14):
But this this this podcast, I amgonna share personally with my
network, especially the lefties,and go and go, I see you
complaining on Facebook all thetime.
It's the the Trump memes and youknow, end of democracy, and
we're all screwed, and look atice, and etc.

(01:13:35):
etc.
And I'm gonna blast them withyour book because I think it's
the ultimate salve for uh fortroubled times.
And I appreciate you doing whatyou do.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:46):
You gotta you gotta channel that into something
productive.
And you can get the book um atyour favorite bookstore, um,
order it, or get it at BarnesNoble or Amazon or even an ebook
right now, too.

SPEAKER_00 (01:13:58):
Ladies and gentlemen, and anyone in
between, including the futurepresident of the United States
of America, uh, let's do threegenders.
I'm giving the Democrats threethree genders, not 86 three.
Thanks for listening.
Like, comment, share, and uhthank you, Gary.

(01:14:21):
This was a wonderful exchange,and I wish you the best of luck
and keep doing what you'redoing.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:25):
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 (01:14:27):
Viva la résistance.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:29):
Take care.
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 (01:14:31):
Thank you.