October 16, 2024 • 19 mins
ADRIAN FELIX WAS A RISING STAR IN THE COLORADO DEMOCRATIC PARTY When he decided he had enough and left and the party. He didn't have some right wing revelation, he's still a died in the wool lefitist progressive but he became very disillusioned with party politics and decided to leave. I'll talk to him today about the choice, why he made it and what's next for him and other young progressives who feel the same way. He's on at 1pm.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me as a young man who was very active,
an up and comer, a massive sort of volunteer for
the Democratic Party until fairly recently when he decided to
take his philosophical marbles and go home. And joining me
now is Adrian Felix. And Adrian I put at the
bottom of my blog today, and I do an amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Blog every day.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I put it at the bottom of the blog today,
your interview with John Caldera at the Independence Institute and
from his show to my show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
First of all, yes, thank you so so much for
having me. I've been looking forward to the conversation all week.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, I'm going to start.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm not this This next question is definitely not to
throw you under the bus, okay at all. But I
reached I reached out to you maybe a couple of
years ago via Twitter and I said, hey, I'd really
like to have someone who is way across the aisle
from me I'm paraphrasing, to come on the show and
talk about some issues. And you said that sounds very intriguing.
(00:59):
Let me get that to you. I got to check
with some people, and I assumed you met party people
that you were working with because you were very active
in the Democratic Party and then it just kind of
fell off a cliff.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So I'd love to.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Know, first of all, like what was that fell off
a cliff because you were asked not to or or
you just decided it wasn't something you were interested in.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
No, so I was absolutely interested.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Just you know, for some context in my background, I've
worked in broadcasts for eleven years. I started in these talks, so.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm certainly not scared of a microphone.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Or speaking my mind. In this case, the Denver Democratic
Party has very strict rules about who was allowed to
actually go on broadcast, and the only person that they
want to speak or to do that type of stuff
is the chair.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
At the time, I was not the chair, so I
was told no.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I kind of thought that maybe was what happened, because
you and I had a fairly robust exchange there for
a moment, and I was hopeful that and in all honesty,
I would still be open.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To that because I want to be clear with my listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
This is not a case of Adrian being red pilled
and all of a sudden becoming a maga republican, right,
That's not what we're talking about how would you describe
yourself politically?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So I would absolutely describe myself as a progressive. I
think that the Democratic Party has, certainly, within the last
few months, have kind of moved much more right. I
think that they're trying to gain a voter that certainly
is not mean, you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Know, And I don't want to go down the same
path as John Caldera did, but we have to do
a little bit of this to sort of lay the
foundation a little bit. And you expressed frustration and again
to my listeners, I actually embedded that interview because I
think it's very interesting. I'm just really really interesting to
hear from someone who is so far across the political spectrum.
And I consider myself at this point to be, you know,
(02:53):
center right. I cannot identify with the right of the
people running the Republican Party right now in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I too, am an independent.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Now, what was the final straw for you that made
you say being a part of this party is okay
even if you yourself still hold those progressive ideals that
the Democratic Party says they do too.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well. At the beginning of I believe it was July,
the Colorado Democratic Central Committee had a resolution proposed that
was about making a ceasefire resolution for the conflict in
Israel and Palestine. I was very much for it. I
(03:37):
thought that based off of, you know, the platform of
the Colorado Democratic Party, that this should be a shoe win.
They rejected it, and it was kind of the last
straw for me. Obviously things have been building for a while.
They discontinue to kind of maneuver right, push right, push
the left out, but that was truly like a final
(04:00):
stock for me.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You know what's funny is that if you listen, if
I sat you down at a table with any of
my listeners, say you've a handful or smaller group of
people on the left that do listen because they love
to hate me, which I'm fine with, by the way,
But they would all say, are.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You kidding me?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The Colorado Democratic Party is moving to the right, because
all they know is that since twenty nineteen, when the
Democrats have really taken over running Colorado, we've had just
a lot of stuff come down the pike that is
not right at all, whether it's oil and gas, register,
you know, regulations, whether it's kind of nanny statism when
(04:38):
it comes to landlords and things of that nature, they
pass a lot of stuff that have made everything more
expensive here. So where do you see them other than
this Israeli Palestini issue, Where do you see them moving
to the right or moving away from the left progressive.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Area that you would havebit you know, I think that
a lot of that has to do with, let's say,
the way that they view taxation, you know, proposition hh.
Last year, I was very dead set against it. I
thought that it was probably one of the least progressive
things that we can do in the face of the
eviction crisis that Colorado was facing. I don't think the
(05:16):
data shows that homeowners are really the ones that are
that are, you know, being pushed out of their homes
with foreclosure. It was kind of watching them maneuver that
situation to say, hey, we know people are becoming unhoused
to our renters, but we'd like to take your tabor
refund in order to you know, offset the cost of
(05:38):
giving these people a property tax quote unquote. To me,
that was that was very much right. But I think
that it's also unsurprising given the fact that our governor
Jared Pulis, you know, in twenty eighteen ran as a
progressive but at the end of the day, truly is not.
And I think that that's reflective over the last six years.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I did hear you say something that I wanted to
agree with you on ndred percent in your interview with
John Caldera, and that is Jared Pulis is a liar.
So I heard you say that, and I was like,
I high five to you in my mind, Adrian, because
we are in aggrievement on that. But I want to
ask you because I think you were your defection from
the Democratic Party as a young left leaner, and I'm
going to put you in the hard left category.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I have to because.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's where my audience needs needs the context because you
are a hard left individual. You supported Tim Hernandez and
Elizabeth Epps in their re election campaign, So you I mean,
I would would you say you're on the hard left
of the of the Left Party, I.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Would say I agree. I would say that I've come
a long way from being a well county boy. Denver
has certainly radicalized me, and I would say that I'm
certainly far left.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So when you talk about these issues with other young people,
because how old are you, Adrian, what do you I'm
guessing you can't.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I'm very young looking thirty four, okay, perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But that's You're still a millennial, right, You're still a
millennial when you talk to people who believe the same
way you do. Are they disillusioned with the party as well?
Are we seeing the beginning of young people turning their
back on the two party system?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, you know, I think that it's not a general
thing for young people, But what I will say is
that data shows that young men my age are the
ones who are choosing to defect.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Young men your age. That's very interesting. Well you know what, though,
I think that makes sense. What is driving them away?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
You know, there's a discussion right now that what they
think it is, and I disagree with this, is that
democratic politics is to female focused or women focused in
terms of their policy agenda, which I know, for in
my own case, just certainly isn't the case. You know,
abortion access is on the ballot. I'm happy to support
(07:47):
people who want that, that's fine, But for me, it's
about the investment of am I as a thirty four
year old man ever going to be able to be
in a position to own a home, to have a family,
to have good health insurance, right, it's more of the
economics of it than I think anything.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Else that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I mean, I mean that's just because obviously the Democratic
Party has been the party of women for a long
time in terms of pushing those issues to the forefront.
So maybe they've pushed them a little too far to
the forefront, is what I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You know, I think that's definitely the case. But I mean,
even with you know, Kamala Harris running and you know,
there's a discussion about that black men are leaving the
Democratic Party, So they put forth an agenda that is
quite frankly, very clueless to the needs and the desires
of young men like you know, to sit here and say, well,
we're going to protect your cryptocurrency.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Access if I can't even afford a home.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Like, how clueless do you have to be, you know,
to think that that is a priority of young black
men or young men across the spectrum.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Are you all bothered by that sort of identity politics
that misses the mark for those various identities?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, yes, when it misses the mark. Now, imagine Kamala
Harris had said, I really want to focus on, you know,
making our justice system a little bit more equitable, or
doing something about the death penalty as we know, you know,
a black man was unjustly murdered by the state just
weeks ago. Those things are on topic, and in our
face cryptocurrency it's so off the mark that it's offensive. Right,
(09:31):
So if they if they do it right, by all means,
but when they do it wrong, it really just blows up.
And I mean Kamala Harris was ratioed, you know, on
Twitter for it. She's certainly getting that backlash. What do
you think.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
About the way Kamala Harris was elevated to the candidacy, So.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You know, to be fair, I did turn in a
primary ballot before the Democratic ticket.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I was an uncommitted delegate.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, she wasn't on the ballot I turned in
to my knowledge, when in this country voted for her.
To me, it's it's very much the democratic establishment in
doing what they do best. And it's exactly why I
think I've chosen to take a step back, Like you
cannot tell me that you are for democracy and then
go over everyone in this country to choose a candidate
(10:18):
that you think is best. That's not democracy.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Amen to that again. Second thing we're in agreement on Adrian.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
We're on a roll. Let's go No, I'm just kidding,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It sounds in the interview with John Caldera you go
into this a little a little bit, but it sounds
like you have become very disillusioned by party by party politics.
And I say it like that because here's a news
flash that may make you feel better or worse. Same
thing on the right, right, it's just different, but it's
(10:47):
the same when it comes to the inside inner workings
of the party.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That seems to be where your issue is.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Right, I think at a fundamental core when I look
at my desires for the future of this country and
then the Democratic Party and not necessarily what they say
they're going to do, but what I watched them do,
it's not the same. And so there's a point where
I had to really reconcile that what I desire for
(11:15):
the world isn't the same agenda as theirs, and I
have to make do with that. I have to take
that for what it is. But with that said, then
they have to understand that it's not going to be
my worth, my time and investment to support them.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
How many hours a week do you think you were
given to the party before you step back.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Oh my gosh, it's a fantastic question.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I would say that I probably got back maybe forty
hours a month of my life. And you know, let
me say this. My sister recently passed in April. I'm
so sorry, so you know, it's been a very tough time.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
But that said, that lack of.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Energy towards democratic politics has really been put towards myself
and my family and the people that I love, and
I think that's a good thing and I'm seeing the benefit.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Of that good I'm sorry you lost your sister, and
I'm glad that you are, you know, using this time
to move forward. But I will tell you there's a
lot of people, me included, because I have been professionally
watching politics for twenty years almost now with this job
and now I watch politics before, but professionally watching politics,
and I am as cynical as you can possibly be.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
There.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
There are maybe three politicians at the federal level that
I trust with any sort of you know, veracity, and
the rest of it is tell me what you're going
to tell me, and I know.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
That you're going to do something completely different.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I know that when you're out there running for office,
You're saying whatever you need to say to get elected,
but it's up to me as the voter to try
and figure out who's lying more.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The reason I say all that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Is because ultimately I still play in the sandbox, you
know what I'm saying. So you can't take your marbles
and go home. So what do you do with this now?
What do you do with where you are? And how
do you move forward? Because I know you're still actively
engaged somehow.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Sure, So I think it's really about giving time and
energy to the candidates that I support, as well as initiatives.
You know, I turned in my ballot yesterday, and let
me be very clear, there is a lot of life
spaces in terms of the candidates, right, but I also
got to really focus and on the issues.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
That are on the back right.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And that was, you know, a way for me to
still feel like I'm engaged and I understand what's going on,
but also put my energy towards the things that I
know and care about. It's if you're if I see
you're a candidate, and I can I think I'm at
a point in my own political career where I can
spot it a mile away who's a liar and who's not.
If I get that sense, you're not going to get
(13:49):
my time.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So so are you are?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Are there progressive not Democratic organizations that you can be
a part of, or you know, are you going to
be moving forward in any formal way with creating a
space for progressives who no longer believe the Democratic Party
is aligning with their values.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
You know, it's a great question. Since I've unaffiliated from
the Democratic Party. I was approached by the Democratic Socialists
of America, in particular the Denver chapter.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
You know, again, it's like, I have to be able to.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
View your organization and your agenda and also see you
doing the work to make it to make me believe
that it's going to be worthwhile for me. At this point,
I can say that I haven't seen that within any
other progressive organization in Colorado, whether that be the Democratic
Socialist of Colorado or you know, the Green Party. I
would say that neither of those organizations have done enough
(14:47):
or have proven to me as a voter and an
activist that it would be worthy of my time.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What are the biggest issues for you? Everybody has their
issues that they are they're all up and for me,
it's the national debt. I am horrified by it every
every time I think about it. What are the things
that drive you those issues?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know? I think that first and foremost for me,
my biggest issue is taxation. Yeah, it really is the
driving force between you know, what we can accomplish and
what we don't accomplish. As a progressive, I am a
true believer that if we wish to accomplish any type
of agenda item, it should become at the hands of
the rich and the wealthy. The Democratic Party will tell
(15:26):
you that's what they believe, but that's necessarily not necessarily
how they'll vote. So you know, taxation is absolutely up there.
I would probably also say environmental issues, being a Weld
County boy.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, So on the taxation issue especially, I have a
feeling you and I are as far apart as anyone
could be, because my view is is that if you
unleash the American economy, then there's more tax money coming
in and things of that nature. That being said, when
you talk about taxation for the rich, I mean you
have to know how much the top ten percent of
(15:58):
income tax payers pay, right of the total composition of
income taxes. I mean, you know what the percentage already is,
what is the percentage that the top one percent should
pay of their income in your mind?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Well, you know, I mean even within that top one percent, Like,
there's obviously a difference between a Jared Polis and then
Elon Musk in terms of well right, So to me,
it's like Jared Polis, while we should be taxing him
fairly as small potatoes, and from what I've seen in
this taxes, he really doesn't pay that much. But Elon Musk,
like we could probably take half of his wealth and
(16:32):
then I promise you that man will be fine.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Well, I'd urge you to look and see what's happening
in Norway because Norway, and I know this sounds like
a curve ball, but I literally just read about this
for like three hours.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Norway actually passed the.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Unrealized capital gains taxes that Kamala Harris was talking about.
They passed a wealth tax on unrealized gains. And what
has happened is that the millionaires and billionaires are simply
leaving Norway.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
They're just moving.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And so, I mean there certain things about that kind
of supposition which sounds great, but the reality is people
will react accordingly. They're not just going to sit and
take it. Elon Musk is not going to give you
half of his wealth. It's just not gonna happen. So
when we talk about things like that, this is why
I want to have you on the show on a
regular basis, Adrian, Like, we choose an issue and we
(17:19):
have a discussion about those issues because I think you're
good at expressing your viewpoint and I think we can
have a conversation that would be very illuminating where we
could have a better I bet we agree on things
that we probably would not necessarily think that we would
agree on, because ultimately, I believe and I hope you
believe this about me, even though it might be, you know,
(17:40):
anathema to think that people on the ride are not
the devil. I want the best for this country. I
want the best for the people in this country, and
I believe that you do too.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yes, so I go ahead. I'm certainly open to it,
you know, coming on today, you know, being this the
first time, I think as an activist within the Democratic Party,
I think my attitudewards my attitude towards this type of
thing was very different. But to be quite Frank and
I'm going to say this way. Now that the chains
(18:10):
are broken, I feel much more comfortable and willing to
maybe see things differently. Right, I think that democratic politics
makes it as career as possible, that it's adversarial, that
people are opponents and enemies. Because I'm away from that
kind of environment, I feel differently about it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, i'd love to have you on the show because
we're out of time now, but let's you and I
schedule this. We're going to come on, We'll do some topics.
We'll do Mandy and Adrian, not Mandy versus Adrian, Mandy
and Adrian having a conversation, and maybe we can change
the tone and tenor about these discussions because they're all
critically important, right, They're all critically important, and to reduce
(18:51):
them to nasty sound bites is not getting us anywhere. So,
Adrian Felix, I appreciate you taking the time today to
come on and talk about this. I look forward to
having discussions with.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You in the future.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And as a newly fellow registered independent, welcome to the
soon to be majority party here in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Absolutely, I'm having a great time and thank you so
much for having me all right, that's Adrian Felix
Joining me as a young man who was very active,
an up and comer, a massive sort of volunteer for
the Democratic Party until fairly recently when he decided to
take his philosophical marbles and go home. And joining me
now is Adrian Felix. And Adrian I put at the
bottom of my blog today, and I do an amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Blog every day.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I put it at the bottom of the blog today,
your interview with John Caldera at the Independence Institute and
from his show to my show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
First of all, yes, thank you so so much for
having me. I've been looking forward to the conversation all week.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, I'm going to start.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm not this This next question is definitely not to
throw you under the bus, okay at all. But I
reached I reached out to you maybe a couple of
years ago via Twitter and I said, hey, I'd really
like to have someone who is way across the aisle
from me I'm paraphrasing, to come on the show and
talk about some issues. And you said that sounds very intriguing.
(00:59):
Let me get that to you. I got to check
with some people, and I assumed you met party people
that you were working with because you were very active
in the Democratic Party and then it just kind of
fell off a cliff.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So I'd love to.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Know, first of all, like what was that fell off
a cliff because you were asked not to or or
you just decided it wasn't something you were interested in.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
No, so I was absolutely interested.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Just you know, for some context in my background, I've
worked in broadcasts for eleven years. I started in these talks, so.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I'm certainly not scared of a microphone.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Or speaking my mind. In this case, the Denver Democratic
Party has very strict rules about who was allowed to
actually go on broadcast, and the only person that they
want to speak or to do that type of stuff
is the chair.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
At the time, I was not the chair, so I
was told no.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I kind of thought that maybe was what happened, because
you and I had a fairly robust exchange there for
a moment, and I was hopeful that and in all honesty,
I would still be open.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To that because I want to be clear with my listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
This is not a case of Adrian being red pilled
and all of a sudden becoming a maga republican, right,
That's not what we're talking about how would you describe
yourself politically?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So I would absolutely describe myself as a progressive. I
think that the Democratic Party has, certainly, within the last
few months, have kind of moved much more right. I
think that they're trying to gain a voter that certainly
is not mean, you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Know, And I don't want to go down the same
path as John Caldera did, but we have to do
a little bit of this to sort of lay the
foundation a little bit. And you expressed frustration and again
to my listeners, I actually embedded that interview because I
think it's very interesting. I'm just really really interesting to
hear from someone who is so far across the political spectrum.
And I consider myself at this point to be, you know,
(02:53):
center right. I cannot identify with the right of the
people running the Republican Party right now in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I too, am an independent.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Now, what was the final straw for you that made
you say being a part of this party is okay
even if you yourself still hold those progressive ideals that
the Democratic Party says they do too.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well. At the beginning of I believe it was July,
the Colorado Democratic Central Committee had a resolution proposed that
was about making a ceasefire resolution for the conflict in
Israel and Palestine. I was very much for it. I
(03:37):
thought that based off of, you know, the platform of
the Colorado Democratic Party, that this should be a shoe win.
They rejected it, and it was kind of the last
straw for me. Obviously things have been building for a while.
They discontinue to kind of maneuver right, push right, push
the left out, but that was truly like a final
(04:00):
stock for me.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
You know what's funny is that if you listen, if
I sat you down at a table with any of
my listeners, say you've a handful or smaller group of
people on the left that do listen because they love
to hate me, which I'm fine with, by the way,
But they would all say, are.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You kidding me?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The Colorado Democratic Party is moving to the right, because
all they know is that since twenty nineteen, when the
Democrats have really taken over running Colorado, we've had just
a lot of stuff come down the pike that is
not right at all, whether it's oil and gas, register,
you know, regulations, whether it's kind of nanny statism when
(04:38):
it comes to landlords and things of that nature, they
pass a lot of stuff that have made everything more
expensive here. So where do you see them other than
this Israeli Palestini issue, Where do you see them moving
to the right or moving away from the left progressive.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Area that you would havebit you know, I think that
a lot of that has to do with, let's say,
the way that they view taxation, you know, proposition hh.
Last year, I was very dead set against it. I
thought that it was probably one of the least progressive
things that we can do in the face of the
eviction crisis that Colorado was facing. I don't think the
(05:16):
data shows that homeowners are really the ones that are
that are, you know, being pushed out of their homes
with foreclosure. It was kind of watching them maneuver that
situation to say, hey, we know people are becoming unhoused
to our renters, but we'd like to take your tabor
refund in order to you know, offset the cost of
(05:38):
giving these people a property tax quote unquote. To me,
that was that was very much right. But I think
that it's also unsurprising given the fact that our governor
Jared Pulis, you know, in twenty eighteen ran as a
progressive but at the end of the day, truly is not.
And I think that that's reflective over the last six years.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I did hear you say something that I wanted to
agree with you on ndred percent in your interview with
John Caldera, and that is Jared Pulis is a liar.
So I heard you say that, and I was like,
I high five to you in my mind, Adrian, because
we are in aggrievement on that. But I want to
ask you because I think you were your defection from
the Democratic Party as a young left leaner, and I'm
going to put you in the hard left category.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I have to because.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That's where my audience needs needs the context because you
are a hard left individual. You supported Tim Hernandez and
Elizabeth Epps in their re election campaign, So you I mean,
I would would you say you're on the hard left
of the of the Left Party, I.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Would say I agree. I would say that I've come
a long way from being a well county boy. Denver
has certainly radicalized me, and I would say that I'm
certainly far left.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So when you talk about these issues with other young people,
because how old are you, Adrian, what do you I'm
guessing you can't.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I'm very young looking thirty four, okay, perfect.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
But that's You're still a millennial, right, You're still a
millennial when you talk to people who believe the same
way you do. Are they disillusioned with the party as well?
Are we seeing the beginning of young people turning their
back on the two party system?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Well, you know, I think that it's not a general
thing for young people, But what I will say is
that data shows that young men my age are the
ones who are choosing to defect.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Young men your age. That's very interesting. Well you know what, though,
I think that makes sense. What is driving them away?
Speaker 3 (07:27):
You know, there's a discussion right now that what they
think it is, and I disagree with this, is that
democratic politics is to female focused or women focused in
terms of their policy agenda, which I know, for in
my own case, just certainly isn't the case. You know,
abortion access is on the ballot. I'm happy to support
(07:47):
people who want that, that's fine, But for me, it's
about the investment of am I as a thirty four
year old man ever going to be able to be
in a position to own a home, to have a family,
to have good health insurance, right, it's more of the
economics of it than I think anything.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Else that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I mean, I mean that's just because obviously the Democratic
Party has been the party of women for a long
time in terms of pushing those issues to the forefront.
So maybe they've pushed them a little too far to
the forefront, is what I'm hearing.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You know, I think that's definitely the case. But I mean,
even with you know, Kamala Harris running and you know,
there's a discussion about that black men are leaving the
Democratic Party, So they put forth an agenda that is
quite frankly, very clueless to the needs and the desires
of young men like you know, to sit here and say, well,
we're going to protect your cryptocurrency.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Access if I can't even afford a home.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Like, how clueless do you have to be, you know,
to think that that is a priority of young black
men or young men across the spectrum.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Are you all bothered by that sort of identity politics
that misses the mark for those various identities?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, yes, when it misses the mark. Now, imagine Kamala
Harris had said, I really want to focus on, you know,
making our justice system a little bit more equitable, or
doing something about the death penalty as we know, you know,
a black man was unjustly murdered by the state just
weeks ago. Those things are on topic, and in our
face cryptocurrency it's so off the mark that it's offensive. Right,
(09:31):
So if they if they do it right, by all means,
but when they do it wrong, it really just blows up.
And I mean Kamala Harris was ratioed, you know, on
Twitter for it. She's certainly getting that backlash. What do
you think.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
About the way Kamala Harris was elevated to the candidacy, So.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
You know, to be fair, I did turn in a
primary ballot before the Democratic ticket.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I was an uncommitted delegate.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
You know, she wasn't on the ballot I turned in
to my knowledge, when in this country voted for her.
To me, it's it's very much the democratic establishment in
doing what they do best. And it's exactly why I
think I've chosen to take a step back, Like you
cannot tell me that you are for democracy and then
go over everyone in this country to choose a candidate
(10:18):
that you think is best. That's not democracy.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Amen to that again. Second thing we're in agreement on Adrian.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
We're on a roll. Let's go No, I'm just kidding,
you know.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It sounds in the interview with John Caldera you go
into this a little a little bit, but it sounds
like you have become very disillusioned by party by party politics.
And I say it like that because here's a news
flash that may make you feel better or worse. Same
thing on the right, right, it's just different, but it's
(10:47):
the same when it comes to the inside inner workings
of the party.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
That seems to be where your issue is.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Right, I think at a fundamental core when I look
at my desires for the future of this country and
then the Democratic Party and not necessarily what they say
they're going to do, but what I watched them do,
it's not the same. And so there's a point where
I had to really reconcile that what I desire for
(11:15):
the world isn't the same agenda as theirs, and I
have to make do with that. I have to take
that for what it is. But with that said, then
they have to understand that it's not going to be
my worth, my time and investment to support them.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
How many hours a week do you think you were
given to the party before you step back.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Oh my gosh, it's a fantastic question.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I would say that I probably got back maybe forty
hours a month of my life. And you know, let
me say this. My sister recently passed in April. I'm
so sorry, so you know, it's been a very tough time.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
But that said, that lack of.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Energy towards democratic politics has really been put towards myself
and my family and the people that I love, and
I think that's a good thing and I'm seeing the benefit.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Of that good I'm sorry you lost your sister, and
I'm glad that you are, you know, using this time
to move forward. But I will tell you there's a
lot of people, me included, because I have been professionally
watching politics for twenty years almost now with this job
and now I watch politics before, but professionally watching politics,
and I am as cynical as you can possibly be.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
There.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
There are maybe three politicians at the federal level that
I trust with any sort of you know, veracity, and
the rest of it is tell me what you're going
to tell me, and I know.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
That you're going to do something completely different.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
I know that when you're out there running for office,
You're saying whatever you need to say to get elected,
but it's up to me as the voter to try
and figure out who's lying more.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
The reason I say all that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Is because ultimately I still play in the sandbox, you
know what I'm saying. So you can't take your marbles
and go home. So what do you do with this now?
What do you do with where you are? And how
do you move forward? Because I know you're still actively
engaged somehow.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Sure, So I think it's really about giving time and
energy to the candidates that I support, as well as initiatives.
You know, I turned in my ballot yesterday, and let
me be very clear, there is a lot of life
spaces in terms of the candidates, right, but I also
got to really focus and on the issues.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
That are on the back right.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And that was, you know, a way for me to
still feel like I'm engaged and I understand what's going on,
but also put my energy towards the things that I
know and care about. It's if you're if I see
you're a candidate, and I can I think I'm at
a point in my own political career where I can
spot it a mile away who's a liar and who's not.
If I get that sense, you're not going to get
(13:49):
my time.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So so are you are?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Are there progressive not Democratic organizations that you can be
a part of, or you know, are you going to
be moving forward in any formal way with creating a
space for progressives who no longer believe the Democratic Party
is aligning with their values.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
You know, it's a great question. Since I've unaffiliated from
the Democratic Party. I was approached by the Democratic Socialists
of America, in particular the Denver chapter.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
You know, again, it's like, I have to be able to.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
View your organization and your agenda and also see you
doing the work to make it to make me believe
that it's going to be worthwhile for me. At this point,
I can say that I haven't seen that within any
other progressive organization in Colorado, whether that be the Democratic
Socialist of Colorado or you know, the Green Party. I
would say that neither of those organizations have done enough
(14:47):
or have proven to me as a voter and an
activist that it would be worthy of my time.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What are the biggest issues for you? Everybody has their
issues that they are they're all up and for me,
it's the national debt. I am horrified by it every
every time I think about it. What are the things
that drive you those issues?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
You know? I think that first and foremost for me,
my biggest issue is taxation. Yeah, it really is the
driving force between you know, what we can accomplish and
what we don't accomplish. As a progressive, I am a
true believer that if we wish to accomplish any type
of agenda item, it should become at the hands of
the rich and the wealthy. The Democratic Party will tell
(15:26):
you that's what they believe, but that's necessarily not necessarily
how they'll vote. So you know, taxation is absolutely up there.
I would probably also say environmental issues, being a Weld
County boy.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, So on the taxation issue especially, I have a
feeling you and I are as far apart as anyone
could be, because my view is is that if you
unleash the American economy, then there's more tax money coming
in and things of that nature. That being said, when
you talk about taxation for the rich, I mean you
have to know how much the top ten percent of
(15:58):
income tax payers pay, right of the total composition of
income taxes. I mean, you know what the percentage already is,
what is the percentage that the top one percent should
pay of their income in your mind?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Well, you know, I mean even within that top one percent, Like,
there's obviously a difference between a Jared Polis and then
Elon Musk in terms of well right, So to me,
it's like Jared Polis, while we should be taxing him
fairly as small potatoes, and from what I've seen in
this taxes, he really doesn't pay that much. But Elon Musk,
like we could probably take half of his wealth and
(16:32):
then I promise you that man will be fine.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Well, I'd urge you to look and see what's happening
in Norway because Norway, and I know this sounds like
a curve ball, but I literally just read about this
for like three hours.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Norway actually passed the.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Unrealized capital gains taxes that Kamala Harris was talking about.
They passed a wealth tax on unrealized gains. And what
has happened is that the millionaires and billionaires are simply
leaving Norway.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
They're just moving.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
And so, I mean there certain things about that kind
of supposition which sounds great, but the reality is people
will react accordingly. They're not just going to sit and
take it. Elon Musk is not going to give you
half of his wealth. It's just not gonna happen. So
when we talk about things like that, this is why
I want to have you on the show on a
regular basis, Adrian, Like, we choose an issue and we
(17:19):
have a discussion about those issues because I think you're
good at expressing your viewpoint and I think we can
have a conversation that would be very illuminating where we
could have a better I bet we agree on things
that we probably would not necessarily think that we would
agree on, because ultimately, I believe and I hope you
believe this about me, even though it might be, you know,
(17:40):
anathema to think that people on the ride are not
the devil. I want the best for this country. I
want the best for the people in this country, and
I believe that you do too.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yes, so I go ahead. I'm certainly open to it,
you know, coming on today, you know, being this the
first time, I think as an activist within the Democratic Party,
I think my attitudewards my attitude towards this type of
thing was very different. But to be quite Frank and
I'm going to say this way. Now that the chains
(18:10):
are broken, I feel much more comfortable and willing to
maybe see things differently. Right, I think that democratic politics
makes it as career as possible, that it's adversarial, that
people are opponents and enemies. Because I'm away from that
kind of environment, I feel differently about it.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Well, i'd love to have you on the show because
we're out of time now, but let's you and I
schedule this. We're going to come on, We'll do some topics.
We'll do Mandy and Adrian, not Mandy versus Adrian, Mandy
and Adrian having a conversation, and maybe we can change
the tone and tenor about these discussions because they're all
critically important, right, They're all critically important, and to reduce
(18:51):
them to nasty sound bites is not getting us anywhere. So,
Adrian Felix, I appreciate you taking the time today to
come on and talk about this. I look forward to
having discussions with.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
You in the future.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And as a newly fellow registered independent, welcome to the
soon to be majority party here in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Absolutely, I'm having a great time and thank you so
much for having me all right, that's Adrian Felix
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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