Latest / Coconut Justice / CJP #Ep 32: Hunter Miranda (CA-47)

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CJP #Ep 32: Hunter Miranda (CA-47) · Coconut Justice

• speaker-0: Hey, what's good? Hunter Miranda is a proud fifth generation Californian that's running for Congress for California's 47th Congressional District. More importantly, he's a lawyer that has agreed to represent me just in case I need to defend myself against all these ice bullies. This is my conversation with Hunter Miranda. Before we get into it, remember to go to Coconutjustice.com to get you some clothes that I think would look good on you. Let's go. Hey, welcome back, everyone. As you probably already know, I'm tired of other states talking about California like we're a failing state and all that stuff. So in this video, I'm bringing my I'm bringing my people with me. You guys welcome Hunter Miranda from the 47th District, California 47. Welcome, Hunter. speaker-1: Hey Carlos, thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to the discussion. speaker-0: Well yeah. ⁓ so yeah, I want to start off like that because I had a conversation. Well, I was having ⁓ interaction with someone on Instagram, you know, because Instagram is full of so many educated people that don't like to argue. so the conversation went a little bit like California is a failed state. and it's full of corruption and such and such and such and such. What's your response to something like that? speaker-1: I'd say a lot of those people that have those criticisms, I don't think have probably been here, ⁓ to be honest. But I do think there is a lot of things at the state level that need to be drastically improved upon. I am I personally believe that the California is the best state in the union. ⁓ it is my favorite place to be. ⁓ and like I said, I think Obviously, there's a lot of things that need to improve, but there's also a lot of things that California does right in a lot of things. You know, there's a reason why we're the fourth largest economy in the world. but with that comes a lot of issues as well. You know, where is that wealth actually being accumulated? Who is actually benefiting from these programs and you know, ex that that economic growth? If you look at, for example, our homeless homeless population, is just ridiculous. You know, the fact that particularly we have ⁓ so many homeless veterans in our state, you know, people that sacrificed their literal lives to serve our country, ⁓ and they come home and do not have the proper resources ⁓ they need. You know, and that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg of the issues. so with that being said, you know, there's so many things that both at the state level and the net on the federal level, we need to be doing drastically differently to actually deliver for the people of our country, ⁓ and obviously the people of California as well. speaker-0: Let's dissect the homeless the homelessness situation. And I know that every homeless person is ⁓ has found themselves that they each have their own story to tell. Right. ⁓ why is it that we have such a huge budget for homelessness, but yet we find that it's not getting better, if not worse? speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. And to your point, you know, homelessness is not, you know, a monolith, right? There's so many different aspects of it as why someone could end up ⁓ you know, without proper shelter essentially. ⁓ you know, so really understanding that there's incredible nuance to that. You know, one solution is not going to solve everything. There's not going to be one band-aid solution that's going to fix it. ⁓ so for example, if you take one of the leading causes of homelessness in the state is the simple fact that it's too expensive to live here. You there's essentially no place in the entire country now where someone can work a minimum wage job and afford a single bed bedroom apartment in the city that they're working in. And that's just an insane reality ⁓ to live in. And that is a consequence of the fact that our entire economic and governmental system has been monopolized by massive multinational corporations that have completely dominated our economy and essentially have gotten rid of a free market economy, and we're now living in an oligopoly at best and a monopoly at worst. ⁓ and that ranges across the board. That's why people can't afford, you know, groceries. Why can't obviously people can't afford health insurance? Why people can't afford homes, specifically in the home category, you have institutional buyers that will come in and buy out single family homes and price out ⁓ families or single mothers or people that need these homes or even down you know down to renting apartments and things like that where it's just become ⁓ impossible for a lot of people. So ⁓ one of the biggest things that our campaign focuses on is actually calling out the monopolization of our economy. You'll never hear a federal Democrat or Republican, especially ⁓ even talk about this issue because the parties receive billions of dollars from these massive corporations to fund their campaigns. So you won't hear a peep about it when it is one of the most existential threats to our entire country. And obviously our economy and our people is that we no longer do not live in a free market economy. We live in an oligopoly, like I said, or a monopoly at at worst, ⁓ in a lot of instances. So one of the things that we're very vocal about is calling that out and ensuring that we actually enforced our antitrust laws properly, break up these monopolies, and allow people to actually get ahead. So for instance, you know, you have people working at, you know, say Walmart or, you know, any major ⁓ Company essentially across the g across the board where they're not paying their workers enough so that the government then has to come in and subsidize things like SNAP benefits, things like you know, rental assistance, all of these things where the government, our taxpayers, are subsidizing these massive corporations because they don't pay their workers enough, just so that they can increase their profit margins by X amount or whatever it is. And showing people that there's an alternative to that. Where you still can have thriving, you a thriving economy and thriving corporations, s while simultaneously ensuring that our people are also thriving and benefiting from that. So they're not just stuck in these cycles of poverty that you see over and over again. ⁓ so that's kind of one of the the main focuses of the campaign. And that there's so many other aspects that go into that as well, but that is one of the biggest things that you'll never hear re federal elected officials even discuss. Other than say Bernie Sanders or someone that actually has a spine and is willing to call that out. because we're just stuck in these same cycles over and over again. And a lot of the times we have so many distractions and things going on that it's easy to say, okay, well, I'll I'll vote for the Democrat here because it's you know essentially the lesser of two evils in a lot of instances in a lot of people's minds. But if we show that there's an alternative to that where we can have bold policy that will actually deliver for working class people and create tangible change in their lives, put money in their pockets, Democrats would win every time, right? It's just that the at the federal level they've been so beholden to big dollar and big corporate money that they haven't been w had the political will to actually do that. So which is why I'm very excited to be in this race, to be calling that out and actually being a voice in the party to pull us in that new direction. ⁓ And it's not just me. I'm very fortunate to be part of a national coalition of people, grassroots candidates, working class people stepping up and demanding real structural change running across the board. So I highly encourage your listeners as well to be sure to check out ⁓ different candidates in their areas. There's groups like Citizens for Impeachment that has done an incredible job of coordinating grassroots candidates and really building a national movement. ⁓ so be sure to check out. people in your districts that may be primary incumbents or grassroots candidates that you may not be seeing on the news, but you'll be seeing on, you know, alternative media and things like that. So just please be mindful of that. ⁓ so yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, we have we have Kira from Citizens Impeachment coming on the show in the next couple weeks. speaker-1: ⁓ that's great. No, she's amazing. Yeah, that the whole organization has done such a great job of galvanizing and collectivizing candidates that are willing to make that change and actually call the party out. You know, it's this it's honestly pathetic in my mind that we've lost to Donald Trump twice and the Democrats speaker-0: Weird. speaker-1: To acknowledge, you know, they refuse to acknowledge their part in allowing that to happen and just put their heads in the sand and do the same things over and over again. Yeah. And if they keep doing that, then we'll just keep losing and being stuck in these cycles over and over again, rather than realizing that we as a party need to make a fundamental shift to actually deliver for working class people and unrig the economy and unrig the government. And if that is the focus of the party and not just talk, you know, there's there's a huge difference between just rhetoric. And actually delivering for people on po through policy. So if we're able to make that shift then and actually deliver for working class people, then we won't be stuck in these cycles where you have someone like Trump in office just completely decimating our constitution and our ⁓ and our country. speaker-0: And just being a straight up liar too. Like, dude, we're we're watching the same video. We're not children and we're not dumb. speaker-1: Exactly. Just the blatant lying. The fact that our you know are in across the country, people are living in fear. Even even citizens of the United States now are are living in fear of these, you know, these gangs essentially, masked people running around doing, you know, with no identification, literally murdering people in the streets. Yeah. It is an insane reality. And I I I wanna speaker-0: Let me let it's okay. because this is a perfect opportunity to explain to people. Yeah, I'm Cuban, my dad is from Cuba, he escaped Cuba. My my mom's mom escaped the Dominican Republic because of actions that look very similar to what we're seeing today. Right. The Cubans that I know that live in Florida. A lot of them are afraid to go outside anymore. Right. Why go outside to do groceries when someone is gonna cut your seatbelt, bust your window in, grab you and carry you out of a car, and then now they're shooting people. speaker-1: What is insane reality? Exactly. No, exactly. It's a beyond insane reality. And one thing I hope that specifically Democrats obviously, you know, this is an insane reality, and the consequences of that are because, you know, a lot of the times the Democrats have failed for the last 20 years to truly deliver for the working class people and show them an alternative. And then you had someone like Trump come along where voters saw him. As an alternative to this system that wasn't delivering for them. ⁓ And if we as Democrats just think that, ⁓ you know, Trump was the source of all evil, and you know, we just have to focus on being anti-Trump, well, we have to look at what why he was elected in the first place, right? Why people are so disenfranchised with the party, why people are leaving the party in droves. You know, we have to wake up and realize that we have to fundamentally fix ourselves and do things drastically differently. To prevent these situations from occurring. You know, my generation has been screaming at the top of our lungs for a while now, demanding these changes. And it's gotten to the point where if our federal elected officials aren't willing to make those changes, then we have to be the ones to step up and actually take those positions of power and ensure that this doesn't happen again. You know, we cannot afford to lose another election to someone like Donald Trump, where they clearly do not give a fuck about our constitution and our country. ⁓ it is speaker-0: And I always say this like Trump is a bumbling fool. He's just he's just bumping his way. He's like a like a like a pinball machine, the ball in a pinball machine. He's just going around bumping into literally everything. What if it was a Donald Trump-like person that wasn't an idiot? What are we gonna do? speaker-1: No. Yeah. Right. That's the thing. And if that and if especially someone with that, you know, Congress has completely abdicated their power. There's, you know, the Republicans have completely shut down, you know, their even ability to counteract so many of the things he's doing. ⁓ the Supreme Court, we know, is probably not gonna be doing much as well. ⁓ and that reality is is, you know, the perfect recipe. We're seeing it right now, you know, a perfect recipe for a complete decimation of the constitution, our country as a whole. And like you said, you know, what if someone with the actual smarts to do something even worse gets into those positions. And if we don't have anyone to counter that and an alternative to that, you know, that is a very possible reality that we could be seeing. speaker-0: I wanted to get a little selfish. I came to California. I was down in the LA area doing work and stuff like that. And I came up to Silicon Valley. When I was down in LA, I started noticing that we're losing work to people in where was it? ⁓ somewhere in South America. I'll think of it in a little bit. So then ⁓ I started making some pretty good money because they were going to this country and this country would inevitably ruin the projects. And then I would I would start making money because I came in to save the day. I came up to Silicon Valley. I'm working, doing good, and all of a sudden everything started drying up again. But this time I started doing research and come to find out it's this H one B visa thing that's happening. and so if you don't know, H one B visa is a special visa that corporations can leverage to go out into different countries to find talented people to come work here. Come to find out, your your talent level skyrockets if you work for one third the price. speaker-1: Yep, shocker. Funny how that works. speaker-0: And then I've been watching lately, you know, Rokana is the representative for Silicon Valley. And so he's got, you know, he's that dude. But now a lot of the corporation CEOs and stuff, they're they're looking to dethrone him or to take his seat away. Yep. How are what are some of the ideas or what are some of your arguments that you're going to go to Washington with when it comes to not manual labor jobs that are being taken from, you know, whoever. the you know, the apple picking jobs and all that stuff. What are we going to do as a country when it comes to jobs that are giving people that are that people are earning six figures a year? What are some of the ideas that you have and what are some of the arguments that you that you will speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: year. speaker-1: Yeah. So one of the biggest issues in that, you know, realm is education, right? So ensuring that speaker-0: ⁓ I love it that you said that. ⁓ let's go. You now you're just saying sweet things. speaker-1: And I don't know if you heard ⁓ when JD Vance was asked this question, he basically said, ⁓ you know, we don't have the the skilled workers here. You know, we d we can't as Americans speaker-0: Dumb and lazy. All of them are calling us dumb and lazy. speaker-1: Exactly. And Trump said the same exact thing, shocker, right? But you know, that it's just an example of that mindset of thinking, okay, well, we have to then import ⁓ talent when we literally we're the the we're the United States of America. We're the people of the United States of America, you know, we're the hardest working, most caring, kind people in the world. But, you know, we don't a lot of our our brightest and youngest people don't have those opportunities to get into those positions, you know. ⁓ for example, I was ⁓ I went to school at UC Berkeley, was volunteering at schools in Oakland and to see the systems there that are essentially meant to funnel people from poverty into low income jobs without giving them true opportunities to truly thrive and get ahead and and use that genius. There were so many incredibly talented, brilliant minds that just didn't have the opportunities. And that goes down there's a lot of issues as why that's the case. That goes into, you know, property taxes for school funding and ⁓ So to combat a lot of that, our policies is that you would equalize it across the board and ensure that every single district has that proper funding while simultaneously giving additional funding to areas that need it the most and simultaneously ensuring that everyone in those schools is given proper opportunities to go to things like. trade schools or you know universities or whatever it may be that they want to pursue so that they can take those high-paying jobs rather than just being stuck in cycles of poverty. And while we while we're giving away all the big dollar jobs to by importing people into the country when we have the base of talent here. ⁓ So that's one of the big things. And then and on top of that, kind of tying back into what I was talking about with monopolization and things. We've given so much power and deference over the last forty years to these massive corporations. And this is a process that has occurred under both Republican and Democratic leadership, which is again why I keep saying that the party has to really fundamentally change what we're doing. Because we've given so much power to these massive corporations, they can essentially do whatever they please in whatever manner they want to. They're they're also leading the charge in in a lot of these immigration policies, like you mentioned with the H one B or H B visas, that is ⁓ basically led by these massive corporations that are using that to bring in people that, like you said, can work for less money, but are just as talented, if not even less talented, than our own American workers here. ⁓ And again, that's just an insane reality that you won't hear people at the federal level ever talk about because they're getting billions of dollars from those corporations to fund their campaigns. So if we don't have voices in the party that are going to say, Hello, what what are we doing here? Let's let's we have to bring this to an end, ensure that these corporations are playing fair and ensuring that our American children and our American workers get first priority and are taken care of, you know, and actually have those opportunities to do those things. And it doesn't know it doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, you're a data scientist or you know, you're working on computers, you know, different things. There's so many opportunities that so many people in a spectral speaker-0: Manager jobs, there's software, there's software designer jobs. There's so many different kinds of jobs that you can't tell me we shouldn't be able to fill. And that's under the current status of education. The education obviously needs to be better. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. And we have Exactly. No, I could not agree more. And we have we have the talent, you know, our our we have so many brilliant young minds that if they just had the opportunity and the ability to do those things, you know, imagine the things that we would be accomplishing as as a country if we were able to tap into that. But right now they're a lot of them are stuck in these cycles of poverty just because of the places that they were born into or, you know, the income level of the family that they were born into. And that's just an insane reality. speaker-0: Yeah, it's it's mind-boggling. Like if you're giving all of the jobs to people that don't live here, how do you expect the economy to work? You know, like I wrote this question down. It says, why break the ⁓ why break the middle and lower class if you are a corporation owner? speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: It's fun. It's fun to make these wonderful products. You know, it's fun. It's fine if you're going to take government money to create chat GPT to take away our jobs, but then you're expecting us to pay twenty dollars a month or whatever it is. You know what I mean? speaker-1: No, I that's such a good point, is that like I was saying earlier, this a lot of people have this weird notion that if you are like strict on corporations that somehow our entire economy will fail and you know, that's just lies that are fed by those corporations. If we do it in a fair, you know, way and there's brilliant minds that have so many ideas that and that's you know, what we're proud of is to be super policy focused, where we have specific tangible policies that we can be implementing day one to actually enact these changes. ⁓ For example, like you said, with the corporations, actually ensuring that they simultaneously are making profits because that's what you know runs our economy, but doing it in a way that empowers their workers. And when those when those workers have more disposable income, that goes back into the economy. And it's it's it's a vicious cycle. And and the idea that the the pie is somehow finite that has to just be continuously chopped up into smaller pieces is insane. That's not how speaker-0: One hundred percent. speaker-1: Capitalism works, right? If we continuously expand that out while including everyone in that, then that it's just a self-feeding system that then with more money in those pockets, those families can have the choice and the flexibility to participate in the economy. They're growing as a family economically, and these corporations are still making record profits, making all their money, you know, all of these things. That is a completely doable reality. It's just that we don't have the political will right now in office to make it happen. speaker-0: I wonder how much of that is just that government is just too old. Like think about this. The what is it? The the the average age, the average age of someone in Congress is older than when we force people to retire from the military. So you're in your sixties. So like you're coming off of The Great Depression and you're like their parents at and maybe the even like I don't know. I I I don't know like Chuck Schumer. I don't know if he was part maybe the tail end of it. But anyway, we're going from a down cycle swinging back up. Yeah. But you still have the mentality of ⁓ when things were tough. speaker-1: Yeah. And I I wanna add to that too, a lot of older voters tend to get their news from traditional media when those traditional media are those corporations that are benefiting from that. So you'll never hear those conversations had on CNN, Fox News, all those big those big conglomerates that a lot of older voters usually only pay attention to because those are the corporations that are benefiting from the system. So you won't That's why you kind of never hear federal people talking about these issues when this is like one of the biggest problems with our country right now is because the people that they're getting their sources from are the ones benefiting from that system. Whereas opposed you have younger people and you know, not just younger people physically, but that younger mindset of thinking that we can do things a lot differently and have that change mindset where we're not beholden to just getting our information from these multinational conglomerate corporations. You know, we have Access to different sources of media, like you know, the work that you're doing, for example, where you're showcasing and spreading out information that a lot of people wouldn't normally hear. so empowering that to ensure that people are actually made aware of these situations, and then we can actually be fixing them if we get into office. Cause you know, unfortunately with the system we're in, it's very hard to do things from the outside. There's obviously incredible work that is being done. But if we want the real structural change that we we keep talking about, ⁓ we have to be put put ourselves into those positions of power to actually change the policies, rewrite the laws. You know, this it it's not some theoretical idea of, you know, we, you know, these nebulous concepts, like there has to be tangible specifics that we're writing into law to enact these changes. And if we don't win over the older population by showing them that this is the reality, then we'll just be stuck in these same cycles where they're they're they're complacent with just having a Democrat in office because it's not a Republican. You know, that's kind of the mindset that they have without realizing that if we as a party aren't willing to change, then we'll just be stuck in these same exact cycles. speaker-0: Yeah, and it's heartbreaking. my generation, I I I always say this to people because now, you know, I I've always been interested in politics, but now this is about as deep as I've ever gotten is being able to talk to you guys face to face. And so being able to talk to older folks, I'm kind of their shortcut. You know, older folks are tired of the BS and they're tired of turning on the terrestrial. TV and you know and they're watching watching this Minneapolis thing happen and and they're so tired of it. and so they come to me and they're like, hey, ⁓ I see you getting into everyone's business. speaker-1: Right. As you should. Someone's got him. And and to that point, I I completely think we're at a massive turning point in not just United States history, but global history, where it has gotten to a point where people are are really realizing that no one's gonna come and save us. You know, the the the party establishments aren't gonna be our saving grace. You know, we the people have to reclaim power for ourselves and truly create a government by the people for the people to make these changes. And like I keep saying, otherwise we'll just always be stuck in these same exact cycles over and over again. And I think, you know, a lot of people say this, but I genuinely believe that we're ⁓ at a massive turning point in the country where it has gotten so bad that people are ready for that real fundamental structural change. And you know, we're not asking for anything crazy. You know, these are speaker-0: We need something more than a strongly worded letter. speaker-1: Exactly. We need tangible specific changes. And these are not radical ideas. These are the simplest asks that we're asking for. We want people to live with dignity. We want to pe people to be able to afford rent, to be able to afford to send their children to school, to be able to afford to feed their families healthy meals and have the resources that every human being should have access to. That is not a simple ask. ⁓ And just to show it in that way, rather than just the constant political bickering and the constant hatred. ⁓ you know, we're at a point in our country where our fellow Americans, a lot of them literally hate each other. And that that, you know, vitriol and that anger speaker-0: Families and stuff over stilliness that doesn't matter. speaker-1: Exactly. And that's manufactured to allow the political s parties to win, right? You know, I don't know if you've seen ⁓ there's a a few interviews with Nancy Pelosi where she says that, you know, if we don't make ⁓ the other side out to be the devil, then people won't see the difference between us. And we and that whole mindset has completely encapsulated our entire political system where you know people are like I said, are literally hateful of one another. But I do want to make the caveat that. This Trump administration is particularly unique in that the fact of you know the complete disregard for the constitution, the things that are going on in the country. ⁓ so I I don't want to make it seem like I'm, you know, comparing, you know, saying, see, you know, Democrats are just as bad as Trump. I I want to make that very clear. Yeah. But I want to see the party be self-reflective and actually look inward and say, what can we be doing differently to make sure that we're actually delivering for working class people? Rather than just sticking our heads in the sand and saying, No, it's fine, it's fine, we just have to be anti-Trump. and so yeah, I want to make that very, very clear that if the and then with that, the final goal, regardless of party, you know, it doesn't matter at the end of the day what the and who's in office and what the thing is, as long as the people of the country are benefiting from that. Everyone loses the sight that our country is for the people, by the people. And we need a system that allows people the opportunity to truly thrive and get ahead and you know give have their family with dignity and respect and be able to live the lives that they want to live. You know, that's what America is all about, right? And ensuring that we have policies that make that a reality ⁓ is is not a is not a big ask. speaker-0: Yeah, there's you know, I I I've said this on ⁓ on a number of podcasts now where in the 70s they started deindrust deindustrializing America. So all the labor jobs and all that stuff were supposed to be going to, you know, the Chinas and the Indians and all that stuff. And we were supposed to be the ones that were highly educated and were coming up with different things. But they forgot to tell the middle and lower class that that's what we were gonna do. speaker-1: Yep, exactly. And so we're not giving them the resources and tools to be part of that system. Exactly. speaker-0: And how cool would it be if we fixed education and like education, like ⁓ programming and math and all that stuff, but also like how to write a check and why you shouldn't accept why you shouldn't accept ⁓ credit card at 30% APR. ⁓ speaker-1: Exactly. You know that is such a good point. speaker-0: So then that way we can we can as a nation we we grow. We we we just we get to the we rise like cream. We rise like cream and then we're able to in in ⁓ invent things and do things and all this stuff. But no, we're sitting here and we're we're we're making dumb videos with AI. speaker-1: Thanks, Dad. Yeah, exactly. And to think if you know, just the small percentage of resources that we spend on global wars that we keep perpetuating, that we spend subsidized massive corporations. We just if you took a tiny, tiny percentage of that, you could fund every school in the country. You could give every child the resources and opportunities they need to thrive, you know. And these you know, when you when when we talk like that, a lot of the times you'll hear conservatives or whatever say, speaker-0: ⁓ thank you. speaker-1: come back and say, well, no, these are you know, those are handouts, these are blah blah blahs. It's like, no, we just want to ha give people the opportunity to thrive. And this is like, yeah, you said an investment in our people so that our people can truly thrive and get ahead and not just be stuck in these same stupid cycles over and over. speaker-0: So In the black and brown communities, we don't trust you guys. ⁓ You guys meaning you know the current government. We don't trust you guys because of all of this. The wordplay, the the you know, ⁓ we're we're the greatest nation on the planet, we're we're so rich and we're the and then like we're broke as shit. We gotta jump turnstiles to take the subway. speaker-1: Right for the same. Yeah. Literally. speaker-0: Subway to work. ⁓ you you're never going to win over the black and brown communities until you you you invest in those communities. Me, obviously, I'm a big fan of education. We start fixing the schools, then we then we then we go and we give speaker-1: Exactly. Right. Exactly. speaker-0: the local small business owners some resources where they can be sustainable. And hopefully, hopefully them some of those small business owners are like grocery stores, bookstores, stuff like that. You know? So then that way, that way you don't have to send police into my neighborhood to be jacking me up when we pay taxes, but instead of instead of investing in us, you're bombing another country. Yeah. And this is the cycle that pisses me off. You bomb a country and then you build them back up and you invest in their education and you invest in their bookstores and you invest in their grocery stores. ⁓ speaker-1: Yep. Yep. While simultaneously extracting wealth and power from our working class people. It's beyond insane. And because, like we keep going back to these the politicians that we currently have in office are so beholden to that special money, those bit that big corporate money, you know, that's why they're making those decisions. When if you get people in office like people similar to the can the you know the policies that we're pushing for, and that there's so many candidates across the country. speaker-0: Breaking the middle and lower class. speaker-1: That are calling out, if you get them into office and can actually start to make those changes, you'll see a drastic change in the opportunities and things that people can actually do in their own communities. ⁓ You know, to your point where you said, I I I completely agree, education is the most vital thing to any civilization, but it goes so far beyond that too. You know, you have to be empowering local businesses, you have to stop this, you know, the the criminal justice system that is perpetuating these systems of violence and oppression on so many people. and again, that goes across the board on so many different issues that are affecting people. ⁓ and like you said, you know, we've seen literally in the last 40 years a complete decimation of the of the working middle class. And the all of the wealth in the country is going to the top major income earners, those massive corporations, and none of that is actually helping people or improving people's lives. When we can, through policy, make so many changes. You stop that system and allow people the opportunities to actually get ahead and and you know work with dignity and have make sure that their families are taken care of and give their children the opportunities to be so much more. You know, my generation is going to be poorer than my parents' generation. You know, that is just an insane reality. You know, we're supposed to be continuously growing as people, ⁓ you know, allowing our communities and our families to thrive, but That is not the reality that we're living in because our entire economic and political system is just dominated by big money. speaker-0: Yeah. And it's it's terrible. It's terrible how thoughtless and just greedy people can be. Not even we're not we're not even asking you to change the way that you live your life. speaker-1: Exactly. Literally, it's the simplest ass. And drink speaker-0: To make we're trying to make better Americans so you don't have to worry about someone stealing your TV. speaker-1: Literally. And there's this weird notion of, you know, that if somehow if other people are doing better, then I'll be worse off. You know, that that mindset is just so bizarre and you know and forced upon us, to be honest, ⁓ in so many ways. While without realizing that we are the you know, if when I benefit, you benefit, when our community benefits, we all benefit, when you know, my neighbor benefits, I benefit, when my family benefits, you know, our community benefits, you know, this this idea that we're all You know, just in this in our own little rap race is a system that has been and lies that have been put on us for so long rather than realizing that we're all in this together. And fe like you said, you know, you're building better Americans than if it it resolves and resolves so many issues that people love to just keep hounding on. And again, you're you're never gonna hear these conversations at from any federal elected official. speaker-0: It's a team. speaker-1: You know, they are gonna be so just stuck on their talking points, what their consultants told them to talk about, yeah, you know, what their focus groups happen to say was like a big issue. Yeah. ⁓ and when these are the fundamental root causes of so many issues we're seeing. You know, another thing that always makes me so upset with the system is that anytime there's a solution that they're like, you know, we're gonna fight for this group and stand up for this group, and they come with these. stupid band-aid solutions that just cause, you know, temporary fixes without actually addressing the root causes of those issues. You know, why is there rampant poverty in so many areas? Why is there such a high dropout rate for children not being able to go to college? You know, why are some kids graduating high school with a fourth level reading, you know, fourth grade reading level? You know, these these systems in place that we have do nothing to actually fix those root causes of so many of these issues. and actually empower our people to live, you know, like their lives with dignity and respect and happiness. ⁓ because we're just fixated on these on this nonsense, because the people benefiting from that system are the ones that are buying out our political system. speaker-0: Yeah. And let me tell you this, young people and even some of the older people, I I I understand that or I've seen online where they're trying to tell you not to go to school because it's expensive and it's not even worth it and it's only a piece of paper and la la la. Don't fall for that trap. Don't fall for that trap. Because what's gonna happen is in a little bit when when whenever we decide to or whenever whenever Trump pisses off the rest of the world and we have to do all our own work again. Right. That's gonna be the excuse that they that they use to not give you the job. speaker-1: Right. Exactly. Just exactly. speaker-0: Please keep going to school. Please work on having this is the only addiction I want you guys to have is education. The only addiction I want you to have. speaker-1: And so one of our big policy points is to increase obviously funding for all of these programs and all that. But one huge issue is transparency. A lot of the times you'll have students and especially in the for-profit section of our education system, so many of these private institutions, you they'll, you know, they'll advertise and they'll try and get tons of students to spend in a lot of cases hundreds of thousands of dollars that these students will go in debt to to these programs. That a lot of the times aren't necessarily as beneficial as they could be. So one thing we want to do is prioritize transparency among these institutions where you as a student can actually go on and say, okay, what would be my return if I were to s invest, you know, X amount of money or my time or years of my life through this program? What are the actual benefits that I would get out of and what opportunities would I have? While simultaneously pointing out that a lot of these for profit companies, you know, they're not in it to actually benefit the children. They're there to make money off of it. So we need to take the funding and resources that we give to so many of these public or sorry, private institutions and make sure that our public systems are properly funded so that anyone can get these opportunities for free. You know, the idea that a student has to pay to go to school and and at any level, in my opinion, is I agree. You know, they should have speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: From K to higher education completely free so that they can build that re those resources without starting their life a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand dollars in debt, ⁓ where they're just stuck with these these debts that just end up growing and growing. A lot of people, I I've talked to so many ⁓ elderly people that still have student loans that are unpaid, and they're at a lot of them are just saying, you know, I'm gonna die with this debt. That's just an insane reality. When we have the resources and funding, you can simultaneously be lowering taxes, cut off subsidies to these massive corporations, take a small sliver of the amount that we spend just going to foreign conflicts abroad to our military industrial complex. That's a whole nother topic I'd love to discuss, the throat hole of our military industrial complex on our system. And you can just take a small percentage of that and completely fund our education system through and through and allow all of our children the opportunity to thrive. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ it's it's not that difficult. Everything all the pieces are there. speaker-1: It's really not. It's there. Literally. That's the thing. One thing is there to understand that we are incredibly wealthy as a nation. It's just all of the wealth is going to a very small, small percentage of people. When you can take all of that wealth and ensure that all of our people have opportunities and resources to get ahead, then it's it's a simple fix. It's just a matter of having the political will to actually do it. speaker-0: Do you think do you think the struggle to get to that point is only because these rich people think that this is a game? speaker-1: I think the rich people are doing it intentionally so that they can maintain their wealth. I think they're in this mindset that if they don't do everything to constantly be building and concentrating their wealth, that it'll somehow be lost is a a weird, bizarre mentality to have. Like we were talking about earlier, this the the the pie of America should be continuously growing and the inclusive of everyone to be a part of that. If we have this mindset where, you know, we have to just keep concentrating wealth and into, you know, of literally four or five corporations or four or five individuals for that matter, is a crazy, you know, it's nonsense. It doesn't make any sense other than to keep their wealth and perpetuate it. You know, a major source of that problem is how we tax people. Our entire tax base is based off of income tax. So that means people working when you receive a paycheck, you know, getting that taxation ⁓ taken out. And you see people, you know, sometimes you know, insane rates sometimes where some you have these rich people and massive corporations that aren't taking paychecks. So they don't have an income that's taxable, where they're just hoarding all of that wealth. So if you ease you could easily set up a system that makes sure that we tax that fairly. reduce income tax drastically for working class people and we'll have far way more money to do what we need ⁓ with our country. So that's kind of another major point of our campaign is complete tax reform, making sure that we take the burden off of working class people and guarantee that ⁓ massive corporations, the billionaire, the millionaire class, are actually paying their fair share. And a key word fair share, you know, this isn't you know an idea where we're just taking all of that wealth and just distributing it. You know, that's not what's happening. It's such a simple basic ask in fairness and and and making making people well aware that the reason that so many of those corporations and billionaires and millionaires are in the positions they are is because they get subsidized with our money. You know, our money goes to so much research, so much subsidation across the board on so for so many of these companies to do with their things. Yeah, it's ridiculous. speaker-0: Yeah. And that again, that's the frustrating part is it costs more to subsidize all of these huge corporations than it would to actually fix education and empower Americans to go out there and and and and play this game. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. And it's not it's not a big ask. It's a it's the bare minimum. The bare minimum. And again, like I keep saying, you're never gonna hear federally elected officials even talk about this. You know, they're they're really good at their slogans and their catchphrases where they're gonna fight for the working class and stand up to this and fight for that when it comes to actually policies and decisions, they fall short every single time. ⁓ and it's gone to the point where if again, like I keep saying, if we the people don't take that power back and demand. Well, not not just demand. We're tired of demanding, we're tired of asking that we will actually take those positions of power for ourselves through the electoral process and make those changes because clearly the people we keep electing aren't going to be doing it. So we have to be the ones to step up and just do it ourselves. speaker-0: Yeah. How do you, a grassroots candidate, how do you, how have you been? And how are you planning on competing with someone that's backed by Citizens United? speaker-1: Yeah, so that's a fantastic question. So we've been like I keep saying, our whole thing is by the people for the people. We want a government that is actually reflective of the needs of the people. So we are doing everything we can to be eng engaging with voters at every level. We are out canvassing every single day. We're phone banking. We've had such a massive group of people wanting to volunteer with our with our campaign because they real they're like I said earlier, people are realizing that you know the parties aren't gonna save us. Nobody's come gonna come and save us. It's that we the people have to actually be doing it. So one thing that we want to be very focused on. is specific policy goals that will actually deliver those results. So if you go to our website at huntermiranda2026.com, you'll see our entire policy platform laid out. and we love engaging with voters. So we love talking with voters on issues that affect them directly and how we can maybe adjust our policies to make that make sure that we're addressing those issues and things like that. And actually engaging with voters at that level and meeting them where they are rather than the top-down approach that so many campaigns have where they say, you know, here's our, you know, what the democratic platform is. And that you'll have they'll if you look at 90% of Democrats and especially Republicans, they'll just have complete vague policy platforms where, you know, they'll have the the key ones like healthcare, like reproductive rights, which are very important things, but they're all just so generic. They'll say, you know, we're gonna fight for healthcare and fight for this. without any tangible policies to actually deliver that for the people. So one thing we've been doing is actually working with a lot of organizations that have been doing this policy work for a long time, where they have these brilliant ideas on how we can solve so many of these issues. ⁓ Particularly, you know, group groups that are directly affected by those. Problems, they're the ones that know best how to fix it, right? Rather than just the party saying, no, we know what to do, we'll we'll tell you what to do, but actually working with voters at that level ⁓ to develop policy and then ensuring that we have a strong ground game. You know, a lot of people like to get distracted with the social media and stuff, which is really important, but having a ground game to actually ensure that voters are filling your name in at the ballot box, that is critical to win any election. So we're very realistic in that regard that our major focus is just ensuring that voters are one aware of our campaign because you know it's it's pretty tough to get out there when you are challenging an incumbent Democrat because the party system is so beholden to incumbents that they just love to you know keep them in because they they're Democrats. ⁓ rather than realizing that the party needs to fundamentally change and that's what we've been saying for so long. ⁓ So yeah it really comes down to the ground game and making sure that we're directly talking with voters, showing them that there's an alternative to this. And when I basically 90% of the time I talk with voters, they get it. They they understand that this is the problem. It's just a lot of the times, you know, they haven't really fully delved into why the the party system is is helping perpetuate that and how we can actively fix that. ⁓ so I think that's kind of the key in in terms of communicating with voters directly. but yeah that's been our our main focus. speaker-0: Speaking of which, you are you're in the 47th district. So what area does that cover? speaker-1: Yes. Yeah, so that's southern Orange County. So that's inclusive of Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills. speaker-0: Beautiful, which is beautiful. speaker-1: my favorite place in the world. ⁓ Laguna Woods, Irvine is a one of the major cities that a lot of people know of. Dustin is now in our district after Prop 50, Foothill Ranch. So that kind of whole southern section of Orange County. speaker-0: Are you originally from out there? speaker-1: Yeah, so born and raised in the district. ⁓ this is my literal favorite place on earth. If you see behind me, that's Laguna Beach, ⁓ one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. ⁓ my parents are there right now, actually enjoying the sun. ⁓ born and raised in the district and have come to realize that you know, there's a being in southern Orange County specifically, there's a lot of wealth in the area, but then there's a lot of poverty as well. And a lot of people don't realize that, that there's You know, it's kind of the tale of two cities in a lot of regards. where you have people that that care and they want to make a lot of change, but they've been kind of they've bought into this system that thinking, you know, okay, the typical way of doing politics will probably, you know, incrementally help people along the way. ⁓ but now, like I keep saying, I think there's a huge paradigm shift where people are realizing that that's not gonna happen and that we need to be demanding bold, structural, fundamental change. ⁓ Otherwise, we're just gonna be keep doing the same nonsense over and over again. speaker-0: And you said Orange County. I know that Orange County is a Trump land. And I don't think that people understand just how red California actually is. Can you explain that dynamic and what it's like running for office under the banner of Democrat in such a red part of the state? speaker-1: state. Yeah. So it's it's a very, very interesting dynamic because like you said, you know, a lot of people have the assumption, you know, everyone in California is an extreme liberal and all these states. Maybe not. speaker-0: Which is we gotta heal billies with shotguns too. speaker-1: Exactly. So you have such a it's such a diverse state where there's so many different, you know, population groups and things like that that ⁓ that come into play with that. So specifically in our district, you know, there are very red areas. ⁓ after Prop 50, we kind of shifted, we've shifted pretty heavily more ⁓ democratic. ⁓ but there are big pockets of Republican voters, but they're interesting because a lot, there's a segment of obviously that are, you know, the the MAGA Trump supporting types, but there's a lot of, you know, more traditional or however you want to refer to it, types of Republicans that aren't necessarily beholden to Trump, but are very, very conservative in a lot of ways. So playing that dynamic, but one of the biggest things that I've come to realize is that these issues are not Democrat or Republican. You know, when you talk about these issues that for example, like I keep saying this the problem with the two party system, money in politics, Massive corporations dominating everything. These are universal things that so many people agree with. They just often will get distracted by all the other nonsense to say, you know, this is why I'm a Republican or this is why I'm a Democrat type of thing. ⁓ so one thing that we've really been focusing on is those core issues that actually will address the root causes of so many of the issues we're facing. And people get that, you know, they understand that that's a lot of the times the things that need to be done and discussed. ⁓ it's just the political will of actually making it happen. so yeah, it's definitely an interesting, although it there are very, very blue areas as well. So that's so yeah, a lot of people also assume that all of Orange County is super republican, but that is not the case. There's just very vocal certain populations that are very, very vocal in that regard. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ speaker-1: I want to kind of make the point of sh of saying that this is a moment where we as Americans have to come together. You know, it's not a matter of just scoring political points for your party or, you know, making sure that just, you know, our party wins just for the sake of winning, right? It's that we can actually deliver for people and actually improve their lives. when, you know, on the on the flip side of that, you can just be distracted by the politics and this. you know, the notions of, you know, ⁓ we can't go too far because it might not be politically correct, you know, all of these things. ⁓ which people are fed up with. We're tired of that. We're tired of politics as usual. We need real change. ⁓ and that's not gonna come if we keep doing the same things. speaker-0: I I couldn't agree more. Like we keep doing for the 53 years that I've been around, everyone has been saying the same thing. You can't change politics. You can't change well, you guys keep doing the same shit. speaker-1: Exactly. And we keep electing the same people. Well a lot of people don't focus on primaries, which is a huge issue, that we'll just a lot of voters will just wait till the general election and be okay, now we're stuck with these two choices. Let me choose the party that I agree with the most. When those choices are usually ⁓ you know, won't be addressing these root cause issues that we keep talking about, which is n why I think it this is such an important time that people are really paying attention to primaries this season. You've had the most primary challenges, I think. I don't know if this is true, but I probably in the history of the country, you know, you see challenges across the entire nation. deep blue states, even you know, some deep red districts, you know, people are being challenged across the board and that's needed. You know, we need to have that those conversations. ⁓ one of the pushback that we get from the Democratic Party is, you know, how dare you challenge a Democrat or how dare you say that there's something wrong with the party. ⁓ and that mindset is just gonna keep us in these systems over and over again. We have to be the primary should be that we work things out, talk about policy, come with the best nominee to make the our country a better place, ⁓ rather than just saying, no, we just need a Democrat in office because that's good enough. ⁓ is ridiculous. speaker-0: Because in that way, it this is one of the things as a normal person. This is one of the things that I just don't fully understand. ⁓ you have a candidate that runs and then wins the seat, and it seems like they just become a puppet for whomever has the money, whomever gave them the money to be there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes. And you know. speaker-1: Yep. Exactly. No, that is that is it to a T. and they so many Democrats will just tow the party line where they'll they they're not willing to say, no, wait, let's do this differently, or you know, they they just get their policies handed to them in a in a pretty book that says that vote this way. You know, that's and that's why we're in the systems we're in, because those parties who get all of so much of their funding from these massive corporations, from the billionaire, millionaire class. ⁓ and that's again why we're why we're here. and if we don't call that out and say, hey, we can be doing things differently. And one of the the biggest things be running for office is that no one cares at in the industry of campaigning and the the political sphere, no one cares about policy. Everyone just cares about money. I've never, as in in my campaign, I have never been approached by any organization to say, Hey, you know, what policies are you working on? Blah blah blah. It's always immediately How much money have you raised? How much money do you have for the campaign? There's no discussion of policy at all because the normal system is that okay, the Democrats are always going to agree with the same policy. Republicans will always agree with policy. So let's just raise enough money to try and beat the other one out. Where are we need new system that actually is focused on specific policies that will deliver for working class people that aren't just going to take what the party says is the best way to do it? You know, we have so many brilliant minds in our country. That have that know so many of the solutions to a lot of these issues. It's just that the people that are actually passing those laws aren't gonna do that. So if we replace the people that are passing those laws with people that will, we can actually make those changes. ⁓ and one of the biggest issues is how funding for campaigns actually occurs. So that's another major part of our policy platform is reforming how we actually fund our political campaign system. To give more power to actually normal people, right? Rather than just saying, okay, ⁓ a Democrat's gonna raise, you know, my opponent has raised our over $2 million already, and I'm sure it's gonna be a lot more, ⁓ because they just get funneled this money because they're an incumbent. ⁓ where if we change that system to say, hey, you know, you can't as a corporation, you can't just be spending a limited amount of money as much as you want to get these people elected, ⁓ and actually make a fair system that's anti-corruption. ⁓ and allows people to win elections fairly that actually have the reflective of the needs of the people, then you'll see a completely different country. but you're never gonna see people at the federal level talking about this because they're the ones benefiting from it. So speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, we need to abolish Citizens United ASAP. Bottom line is your first. speaker-1: So yeah, it starts with ⁓ things too that can be done to fix that issue. ⁓ ideally the goal, the long-term goal would be a constitutional amendment to change the wording to s to make it clear that you know, money is not speech and that corporations can't spend endlessly. But simultaneously, that you know, because constitutional amendments are a process, but I do think that's possible. But there's also so many things legislatively that can be done to fix those issues. ⁓ for example, back We used to have such strict, intense campaign finance laws and you had some of the you know, the the freest and fair elections that we've seen. And then over the last century, really, you've seen a complete dismantling of that. And now you've and now it's culminated in Citizens United and things like this, where you have for you for example, you had Elon Musk spend a quarter of a billion dollars, two hundred and fifty million dollars. You get Trump elected, then get appointed to be the one of the most powerful people in the government with Doge. Like if that's not just blatant bribery and corruption, then I like and that's just one example, obviously, of how corrupt and insane the Trump administration is. but it it's a reflection of our system, right? The fact that that was able to occur completely legally, you know, completely within the bounds of wide open finance. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: It's insanity and democrats won't talk about that issue the the because they also get so much money from these corporations. speaker-0: Yeah. how are you getting your campaign funded? speaker-1: Yeah, so we're all grassroots. ⁓ so all of our money just comes from donors. ⁓ we r have been a real focus on voter engagement. Right now we're ramping up our f our fundraising a bit more, but you come to realize so many of these campaigns, it's an industry, right? So you're you have campaigns spending tens of thousands of dollars each month just for staffing and just to pay for companies to be consultants and just All these things where it's such wasted ⁓ funding. We've we've raised under $20,000 and we've been able to reach so many voters as opposed to our opponent who's raised two million dollars and has done not a lot to actually engage with our with our people. So if you change that paradigm of saying, well, how do we use this money to actually benefit our communities and benefit our people and and talk with them directly rather than just the top-down approach of, you know, I'm just gonna sit at home and send videos out and do all these things. ⁓ you can completely change our system. So one thing I'm super excited for is when we're successful with this campaign to turn around and say, hello, you know, you don't need millions of dollars to be going to these industries that are, you know, just feeding themselves essentially to win elections. And that's something I think you'll see across the board with this this election cycle. Is that so many grassroots candidates, obviously, you know, we need to be realistic too, right? It does take a decent amount of money to run these types of campaigns, but we can do it in a way that actually benefits your voters, but benefits your communities, and makes the people of these of our communities feel seen and heard ⁓ rather than just the industries that were built that were built into. ⁓ And unfortunately, you see that too in a lot of ⁓ organizations that do they do incredible work and they're helping a lot of really good candidates. But they'll always have a threshold of of money that you have to be bringing in to even consider you ⁓ as a candidate, for example, with things like endorsements or things like that, ⁓ where they won't even look at candidates that have hasn't haven't raised 150,000 plus dollars and that you know, just for an example. when you have so many brilliant minds that could be enacting so much change that don't necessarily aren't able to pick up the phone and call 10 different people to get. speaker-0: Easy. speaker-1: twenty thousand dollars or fourteen thousand dollars. and that they kind of are in a way perpetuating this system, although they do very good work. ⁓ it's just self-feeding the this idea that you have to have a bunch of money to run, you have to be either independently wealthy or have access to millionaires and things like that. ⁓ I had one I was talking to one candidate, ⁓ Who was saying that they sh she sh was straight up told that don't even bother unless you know personally ⁓ a few millionaires. And you know, that's just inherently gets in the system we're in where you have such an elite class of people, the the richest among us controlling everything is because they have the money to spend it, rather than normal people like us that are actually, you know, have these ideas that would actually benefit our communities. ⁓ and we just initially get shut out. So we've been ⁓ It's unfortunate, but it's the reality we're in. So we're gonna be doing we're fighting every single day, trying to ⁓ get the word out as in as organically as possible. ⁓ and like I keep saying, making sure that we're actually talking with voters, hearing their concerns, working with them directly, rather than just saying that we know best, vote for me. speaker-0: Yeah. Let's ⁓ let's dig into your childhood a little bit. Yeah. What was it like growing up in that area? speaker-1: Yeah, so I I loved it. I have ⁓ so a little more context. My dad was initially born in Texas, his whole family's from Mexico, ⁓ came to California when he was young, or ⁓ one actually, one year old, and ⁓ he was in Santa Ana, Anaheim area. ⁓ his family would actually, some of them would come down to pick crops in the area and like Irvine, for example, before it was completely developed to help their families make ends meet. ⁓ speaker-0: They grew oranges down there, didn't they? speaker-1: Yep, oranges, bunch of other stuff too. But that was one of the main things. Hence the name, Orange County. yeah. And then yeah, my my dad would tell me stories of driving down the streets and it would just be endless rows of orange groves and things like that. Yeah. ⁓ and now it's completely developed up. But speaker-0: You can still see some of them out in ⁓ Riverside. Orange orchards out there. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And they have like little small farms still, like in in spots around here, but they're very, very small and more of like a like fun activity for people to go visit. But yeah, ⁓ But with that being said, I was ⁓ then born and raised in ⁓ Orange County. ⁓ had the opportunity to go through the public education system here, which was ⁓ in certain areas it's it's amazing, right? ⁓ so that's one of the things that we want to make sure that it's amazing across the speaker-0: Were you a ma were you on the amazing side of the fence? How look at how different, like speaker-1: Yes, exactly. You know, we exactly that that's the one of the perfect examples. I had the opportunity to go to law school. ⁓ now I have the opportunity to be running for office, all these things with because I was given those opportunities as a kid. ⁓ you know, there's nothing special about me. You know, there's so many genius, brilliant minds that just don't have those opportunities. ⁓ so you know, that's that's one thing we obviously want to be focused on. But speaker-0: specialty. What's your what's your ⁓ law specialty? speaker-1: Yeah, so I went to ⁓ undergrad at UC Berkeley, and that's where I started at their policy institute. ⁓ so that was when I was trying to work with federally elected officials to say, hey, not just me, but the organization we were part of, ⁓ working with federally elected officials to say, hey, we need to be passing these policies to actually benefit the working class. And they would always come back with the same stupid excuses, the same nonsense, or just completely ignore us. ⁓ and that's type the type of work I've been doing for the last decade, really, actually. Trying engage with these campaigns and say, hey, like, hello, we need to be doing things differently. ⁓ and it really started when Trump won the first time. We were like, Okay, what the hell happened? Yeah. Realizing that okay, clearly the the two party system had been completely screwing over working class Americans for so long. They saw this as an alternative. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ speaker-1: And we were trying to we've been ringing the bells for the last ten years to for Democrats to say, hey, we have to be doing things so much differently. We have to actually be helping the working class, helping people, empowering our young people, all of these great things. And it would be the same s excuses over and over again. ⁓ so that's why ultimately it got to the point where they're like, Okay, if I mean if we're if they're not gonna do it, then we have to be the ones to do it. ⁓ so then I went to law school in Washington at American University ⁓ and was exposed to a lot of stuff there. ⁓ you know, obviously being in DC, you're kind of in the heart of everything. ⁓ and seeing the inner workings of a lot of things, realizing, okay, this is a system that is inherently built to benefit the rich and keep working class people, specifically people of color, ⁓ in systems of oppression and poverty. And realizing that again, you know, no one's gonna come and save us, that we gotta be the people to actually just do it ourselves. ⁓ And then I started working in municipal and state law when I finished law school. I did a little stint at the San Diego City Attorney's Office and then was at a private firm. Sorry, ⁓ in Orange County, working with different states and municipalities. And then when I started my campaign, I took a little break from that just to get everything set up. and now I'm actually in consumer protection law. So speaker-0: Nice. speaker-1: And then with everything going on with ⁓ immigration and ICE, I've been doing a lot of pro bono immigration work as well. ⁓ working with different organizations to make sure that people who are either before they get stuck into the system that they have the proper resources and information and then once people are taken and detained, that they we we do everything we can to make sure that they get the proper legal representation. Unfortunately, it's such an uphill battle because the entire system has just been skewed to Assume that people are guilty and assume that they're deportable and assume that they are have no rights or nor due process protection. And that's one of the big reasons, for example, why I'm challenging the current incumbent. He voted for ⁓ the Lake and Riley Act, two other major pieces of legislation that completely stripped due process protections ⁓ from immigrant communities while running on being pro-immigration, rather pro-immigrant. ⁓ And that's just one example of kind of the the the silly voting that's gone on. and if we keep electing those same types of people, it's just gonna be the same nonsense, like I keep saying. but yeah, that's ⁓ essentially the the quick version of my background. speaker-0: Yeah. Let me ask you this. I have I have a compound question. If ice, if I was walking my dogs and ice were to jump out of the car and start to manhandle me, can I defend myself? And then if I do go to court, would you come help me? speaker-1: So question number one. ⁓ the the main thing is and this is a huge problem, right? Is that these are masked individuals, no identification. The I you know, we're just supposed to assume because you have a a bulletproof vest on that you are law enforcement, right? That's an speaker-0: You look like to me, you look like someone who's trick-or-treating. speaker-1: Exactly. Literally. And the think you know, you know, you're a big dude, right? Like think of how women feel in these situations where they're exactly walking through the streets in complete terror that someone just because of the way you look can pull you over and it and physically attack you and all these things. So with that being said, obviously we don't want violence in any regard, but if you do not know who these individuals are and they attack you, you have every right to defend yourself, you know. ⁓ and on the next question, yes. Yeah. speaker-0: Ice heard that ice? ⁓ speaker-1: That's And just you know, if imagine an undercover police officer would have come up to you without any identification and just start grabbing you, you know, right? Like it would just be as if anyone else did that in the streets. That's not how law enforcement is supposed to operate. ⁓ and again, this this notion that just because you're in a bulletproof vest ⁓ automatically makes everyone ⁓ know that you know you cannot be touched and all these things ⁓ is crazy. and we're living in the consequences of that, right? Where you've seen Dozens of people die in ICE custody. We saw Renee Gold just get shot in the face, which got a lot of national attention because she was a white woman, which needs to be called, you know, that obviously it was a horrific thing, but there's also so many other people that have died in ICE custody that will necessarily get that same attention. and it's it's insane that we're we've gone to this point. speaker-0: And how crazy is it? How crazy is it that they defended their actions by saying it's no big deal? She was a poet and a lesbian. speaker-1: Exactly. As if that's just execute her in the street. It's insane. Without and one of the biggest things is that this was before any information was actually determined, right? Like this is just them going out and saying, No, no, we have JD Vance they have absolute immunity to do whatever they want to the people of our country. What the what is you know, it's just speaker-0: He's such a bum. He is such a bum. speaker-1: that's a that's a generous term. ⁓ it's it's infuriating and every American rightfully so is is you know you could you know you can tell that people are deeply upset by what's happening. and this is an issue you know that has we've seen the villainization and demonization of our immigrant communities because that's such an easy way to win an election and that's why Trump was successful. You know, one of the the playbooks if you want to win an election easily you always get a scapegoat. ⁓ he used immigrants, which is always an easy one to go for. ⁓ and you've seen 70% of people, so it's almost 80%, I think, now, ⁓ that are in ICE custody have never committed any crime ever. These are people that some of them have been here for 20, 30 years, that are important, vital parts of our communities, that are raising families, contributing to our economy, that are loving, caring, kind, good-hearted people. And they're treated with just with. As animals. They're treated with complete ⁓ disdain and this assumption that they're these evil criminals that deserve to be killed, they deserve to be deported, they deserve to be treated in these inhumane ways. And children, you have children that are held in these federal detention centers for way too long, then that's that's legally allowed in conditions that no child should ever be exposed to. It's completely traumatizing and just the complete lack of humanity. And they're like, these are are children and what the fuck are we doing? speaker-0: And let me let me jump in by saying this is the behavior that black and brown people have been telling you for the the 53 years that I have been around. Every year, everyone has been telling you this is what they have been doing. Pay attention. And before, because again, I was in the 70s, 70s, we didn't have cell phones. 80s, we didn't have cell phones, none of that stuff. We're telling you. speaker-1: Bingo. speaker-0: We're getting jacked up. We're getting jacked up. And people don't believe us. Right? People just don't believe us. And then, and now everybody has a camera. So now we can show you that all of this stuff has been happening. And let me remind you, it has been happening. ⁓ And now you guys are gonna be like, nah, it's okay. They're lesbians and and you know left left wing nut jobs. speaker-1: This whole time. Right. It's it's just beyond insanity. And like you said to your point, these are systems that have been occurring for a while and that people of our country have been suffering through for a long time. And people don't realize that or recognize that are willing to call that out. You know, for example, you have these for-profit detention centers that make hundreds of thousands of dollars off of individuals being there. And that's a reflection of our milit our prison industrial complex that makes these are for-profit prisons. That make millions of dollars of keeping people ⁓ in these systems that is simply to make a profit, right? It is is just pure evil. ⁓ and that's you know, criminal justice is a whole nother category of things I'd love to delve into, but it's just a an example of the fact that these are corporations that are making money off of people suffering is insanity. It's you know, you there's no fact that you're speaker-0: And the fact that they feel like they need to feed off of their own countrymen. You do do you have no scruples? Do you have no respect for what the fuck we're trying to do here as a country? speaker-1: Yes. Like Exactly. Exactly. And this, yeah, this weird notion that, ⁓ well, you know, anyone even associated with the the notion of crime is suddenly, you know, the worst person ever that deserves all these horrific treatments and things like that is, you know, insane. When so many of these people have nothing to do with that ev at all. And just this this weird mindset that I think so many people on the right just have this assumption that, okay, well, you know, if you're in if you've ever even committed the the smallest crime that you're somehow the worst person in the world, depend deserving of you know the harshest punishments. And then in on the immigration side that anyone here that is, you know, potentially illegal or undocumented is suddenly, you know, these evil, violent criminals and these this this weird mindset is is so dangerous and it's a it's a reflection of what we're living through right now where you have just complete inhumanity. You know, like you said, these are one mo Most importantly, they're human beings. And two, these are Americans. So many of these people are Americans. And reg you know, regardless if they're Americans or not, these are human beings that are deserving of dignity, respect, ⁓ and that that notion that, you know, just because they have this idea that, ⁓ you know, anyone who's an i an illegal immigrant is evil and you know, gonna there's a crazy rapist murderer, you know, is just because they have that mindset it justifies this treatment is insane. It's it's so yeah infuriating. speaker-0: What this one this one is more for those folks, you know, the the the right leading folks that think that Berkeley is a hippie factory. What was it like being at UC Berkeley and being in in that area too? speaker-1: Yeah, no, it was amazing. It there were so many bright minds working to benefit the people. It was so refreshing to see ⁓ like I was saying, you know, there was there's so many people on working on specific policies that are very straightforward, simple things that would make such a difference in our country. And when we would bring these ideas and these policies to the federally elected officials that could actually do something about it, they would always have the same excuses, the same nonsense over and over again as to why they couldn't do it. ⁓ but being there, you would you are you're surrounded by people that were constantly wanting to do something to improve their communities. it was it was very refreshing and needed. ⁓ and then to see, you know, and that's the power of education. When you bring especially young people together and give them a space to have these discussions and talk about these issues, you can come up with brilliant ideas that can improve our country in such drastic ways. ⁓ The key is just translating that from the education system to the actual policies, right? ⁓ so that's vitally important. And and super quick, I want to touch back on ⁓ the issue of immigration because you know it's like I was saying, you know, it's important to talk about, but it's also important to talk about how we're actually going to fix those issues. Yeah. So starting with ⁓ one of our policies is that people that have been here for a while, and you know, in some cases that have r relatively recently been here, give them And that have not committed crimes and are good contributing members of our society, loving people. That s the vast majority, the vast, vast, vast majority of immigrants that are in this country are, they deserve pathways to citizenship so that they're not stuck in these cycles of fear where you know, you know, I have personal family members that have are undocumented that live in fear of going outside because they the system that we've built, right, to keep them. And these are people that You know, in my mind, they're Americans, you know, just because they might not have the paperwork in every other facet of it, they are Americans. They love our country. They l they want to do everything they can to contribute and they love their families and all of these amazing things that make Americans who we are. ⁓ but it's just this the political systems that prevent them from doing and now they're living their lives in constant fear, ⁓ having to, you know, sneak around all of these all of these things. ⁓ while simultaneously, you know, we have to have a secure border. We cannot have illegal immigration occurring. We have to violent criminals, yes, need to be deported. You can't come here illegally and then kill Americans or rape people, you know. But realizing that is a small fraction of the people that are coming here. And that purpose here rather. So making that very clearly well known that we need pathways of citizenship for people that are here. and illegal immigration. We cannot be having people come into the country illegally. And on top of all of this, addressing the root causes of why this massive migration is occurring, we as an imperial nation have decimated South and Central America and extracted all of their wealth from their people. Exactly about this. And it's such an important issue is that we the United States has objectively ⁓ through our policies over the last 50 years, even beyond that, prior to that. speaker-0: Again for the people in the back. speaker-1: Have been working to extract wealth and power from South and Central America to concentrate it in not not the hands of Americans, the hands of American corporations and billionaires and millionaires. ⁓ so we're not even speaker-0: Well is a perfect example. We see we're seeing it unfold as we speak. So imagine that, but everywhere. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. No, that that's such a good point. ⁓ and if we keep those policies in place, we'll just be stuck in these cycles, you know, and then you add on top of that the issues with global warming where you have so many people being displaced through environmental issues. you add that on, you know, gang issues, gang violence that are the results of the systems that we have played a part. in effectuating, you know, I'm you know, I'm not gonna say it's 100% the Americ, you know, the United States government's fault, but they've played a massive part in allowing these systems to occur. you know, whether that be through re regime change that we've seen in basically across the entire South and Central America, or you've seen massive corporations coming in, dominating these countries, ⁓ making their people work for essentially slave wages, and rather than actually empowering that. And to that point, we could have a system. Imagine if all of South and Central America were prosperous, thrivingly, thriving economic countries, which they come they could be. They all have the potential to be, and how beneficial that would be for our country as well, where we can all work together to perpetuate our wealth ⁓ while making sure the people of those countries are the ones that are benefiting from that, rather than just the the leaders that are making, you know, that get billions of dollars or the massive corporations that just are there to extract wealth. Imagine that, right? Like if we had that those resources and those people can you know doing those things in the in South and Central America, we would be living in a completely different world. But you have the greed and the it's evil, it's objective. speaker-0: And the need for control. speaker-1: Yes, exactly. And this weird understanding of which is a very old way of thinking of global politics in the mindset of, you know, everything's us versus them. That if we don't do this and if we don't take for ourselves and they're gonna do it back to us, you know, that that's a mindset that has infected American foreign policy for so long. And we're living in the consequences of that. You know, people don't like to realize that or talk about it, but it is the reality that we're living in and the greed, the corruption you see at that at the the federal level that translates into foreign policy. and then people turn around and say, Well, why are all these people coming to the United States? It's okay, well, we played a part in making that happen. ⁓ and these are people, so many of them are fleeing for their lives. They want to protect their children. They want to give their children a better opportunity. These are not evil people that you know we have to be fearful of. W with that being said, though, we cannot be having illegal immigration, but we have to also be addressing the issues that are causing that to occur. And realizing the role that the United States plays in it to allow those people of those countries to truly thrive. speaker-0: Yeah. I was sold on the wall when I realized that both sides of the argument were voting for the wall. Yeah. If the Republicans were in charge, they wanted to build the wall and the Democrats threw their hands up and played, you know, clutch their pearls. But then when the Democrats are in charge, you know, it flips. They're like, ⁓ no, we need a wall. You know what I mean? So for me, so for me, all right, fine. Let's build this wall. Finish it so everybody can shut up. speaker-1: See the wall was the the wall real ⁓ I can talk about it after you finish, but okay. speaker-0: But my one more sentence. Yep. After we finish the wall, hopefully that'll give us the time to fix the process to be able to give these people this path to citizenship. We've been inundated. Right. I get it. So now that we're once we finished the wall and and Orange Face decided to, you know, he got illegal immigration down to zero percent, whatever the hell it was. ⁓ then we need to take a look at ⁓ optimizing the process that it takes. speaker-1: Exactly. So really real quick point on the wall. Ninety-eight percent of all illegal eagle illegal immigration, illegal smuggling came through ports of entry. So the idea that people we which are you know e which are airports, which are ports, which are even like normal in the immigration centers, like when you drive through and you see the big Mexico and you see all those cars in line, like those are points of entry. speaker-0: Which are both. Is it is it ever little little fishing boats? Is it have we ever speaker-1: Right, no, exactly. That that's just another insane thing, you know, blowing up people without fifty forty twenty-five percent. They there was a one in five chance that the those people were just innocent farmers, and okay, yeah, we're just gonna kill them on site. But back to the ⁓ the wall argument that the physical wall barrier in the desert would only affect essentially two percent. Of illegal immigration things. That was just a selling point that Trump was just fixated on with this notion that, okay, yeah, like a lot of people's simplistic minds of thinking, okay, yeah, a physical wall at the in the desert is gonna completely stop illegal immigration. Where you had Democrats on the other side saying, let's reinvigorate our current points of entry, give them modern technology to make sure that they can prevent these things from happening, ⁓ which would have been the completely logical thing to do. ⁓ but then you just obviously had Trump with the the whole wall thing. ⁓ so just a point on that as well. ⁓ and then like you said, fixing our immigration system is comp it's completely screwed up where you one you have complete backlog, you don't have enough ⁓ immigration judges to be able to make these decisions. So you have people waiting around for months, if not years, to go even through that process. ⁓ and then the resources and things to give to the people that are here. And ensuring that they can get quickly processed through these systems ⁓ is just not there. And that's that's kind of the the core of of the issue of what we need to be talking about. And then like we said, making sure that we do stop illegal immigration from occurring and deal with the people that are here and address the root causes of all of these issues. speaker-0: Yeah. And and and we need to let me remind people, I am a product of Chicago Public Schools and a product of people who have left their homes to come find a better place because of political unrest and all that stuff. And people like me, for the most part, all we ever ask is for a fair chance. speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: And it's crazy. And I I walk around and I talk to some people with not have a little bit of money. And I remind them I'm from the Chicago inner cities. I have been pulled out of police or I've been pulled out of my car by police. I I can't even tell you. I have lost the number of times I got pulled over because I turned into the wrong neighborhood. ⁓ it's that thing after thing after thing, and Let me throw this in there. Never spent that I haven't gone to I went to jail once to go pick out ⁓ to go get a friend out of jail. Never never been in jail. None of that stuff. So people are telling you refugees and the kids of refugees ain't worth a damn and all that stuff. Middle finger to you. speaker-1: Exactly. They're human beings and everyone deserves dignity and respect ⁓ regardless, you know, of what it is. ⁓ and to your point, you know, we have a system that purposefully keeps poor people in systems of poverty through, you know, multiple factors, including over enforcement in areas like you said, you know, where you turn into the wrong neighborhood and boom, you're getting pulled over for something. Where if you look at actual statistics on crime, you see that. It's the same rates essentially across the board. It's just where those areas are being policed. And you add in the fact that that over policing, over incarceration, all of those issues perpetuate systems of poverty. ⁓ we used to have a system that would obviously objectively, ⁓ through slavery, through Jim Crow, based off people's races, objectively suppress them and oppress them. We've then switched to a system of oppressing and ⁓ suppressing people based on their income, which there's a Obviously a correlation between the two because so many people of color were so systematically oppressed and kept down, those are disproportionately in a lot of instances, you know, the people that are being over policed now because they're in these low-income communities, and it and it's just a a never-ending cycle that we've just basically translated from racism to classism ⁓ to justify these same exact systems that keep people oppressed. ⁓ speaker-0: And why would black and brown people want to be a part of that system? And you wonder why we say, nah fuck all this. speaker-1: Exactly. That is one. Exactly. From day one, our our country was not built it was built for white men, right? That was what the intention of the founding fathers were. and obviously slowly over time we've we've we've expanded what that means. ⁓ but that's something that people don't often realize is that the entire system ⁓ was structured in that way. And we can be doing everything in our power to prevent that from occurring and giving everyone regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of where you grew up or what neighborhood you were raised in, that you have access to the same exact opportunities, the same ⁓ resources that anyone else would. ⁓ That's the that's the the goal that we all have to be actively fighting for while acknowledging the past. You know, we can't, you know, it's one thing to just constantly harp on the past and say how horrible the country was and all these things, but the key is using that knowledge and using that understanding. Right. To create a better future for all of us and not just exactly, exactly. And acknowledging the suffering that so many people have been going through for so so long. Like you said earlier, so many people just get dismissed or brushed off that you know, ⁓ you know, it's not that bad or th like this and that, without understanding that these are lived realities that people live with every single day. speaker-0: informed decision speaker-1: That their ancestors have lived with, that their ancestors have suffered through, ⁓ and acknowledging that and calling that out. And then we using that understanding and that knowledge to shape our policies is so important. Making sure that those voices are included in the decision-making process is so vitally important rather than just saying, ⁓ no, we know what's best for you. Listen to us. speaker-0: Yeah. But you don't understand where I'm coming from. So how am I gonna how am I gonna trust you? You don't you don't know what it is to to miss a meal. You don't know what it is to see your mom struggling, your mom crying because the money doesn't quite fucking reach. You know, you don't know what it's like to go from high school, jump on the public bus to go work at Kmart right after high school. You don't have time to do your homework. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. Right. You know I mean? Exactly. speaker-0: So then for me, for me, my out was right after high school, I was 16 years old. I was 16 years old when a recruiter came to me and said he he gave me the pitch and it was easy. It was easy. He said, Are you tired of being poor? That was all I needed. I said, you know what? Yes, I am. So I took the ASVAB test at 16. And then I joined the army, or I I signed the papers to to be in the army on my 17th birthday. And then I did all the things. And you know, I went to Germany and I did all the things. I was at the beginning part of ⁓ I was part of Desert Storm and and I believe. speaker-1: Believe it or not. speaker-0: Beginning part of Desert Shield. And then ⁓ and then I came home, I went to school, blah blah blah. Did I, you know, fill in the blank. ⁓ and then just what was it last week? I was watching YouTube and Megan Kelly was commenting on Trump saying that we're gonna go into Venezuela and we're gonna put boots on the ground to you know, all that stuff, and then he's threatening Greenland, and you know, this. Megan Kelly's old knucklehead ass, she said, ⁓ well, what about my kids? And I thought, fuck you, bitch. speaker-1: Yeah, literally. Like where where where have you been for the last ⁓ twenty, forty years, you know, that speaker-0: It's okay, yeah. It's okay that people like me and and and Darker go, but we don't want your kids out there. speaker-1: Exactly. Yeah, or Trump with his bone spurs. You know, my dad was drafted into Vietnam. It's insane. But you know, my dad being, you know, a a Mexican American, very low income, there's you have no ability to do those types of things where, you know, if you're a rich white man that you can be able to sign paperwork and say, you know, okay, no, ⁓ my doctor said I can go, you know, type of that type of nonsense. And then those are the people that are voting to send. speaker-0: It's speaker-1: our pe our men and women into combat, into war, that they know that their children are are not going to be the victims of that. And they know that they're not going to have to suffer through that. But they are very happy of just sending everyone else's kids ⁓ for these systems of greed. You know, in in my opinion, we haven't basically fought a just war since World War Two. All of these are manufactured intentionally to perpetuate American, you know, corporations and and the military industrial complex. Nearly every single conflict we see across the globe ⁓ is some way related to the greed of our military industrial complex. And our men and women, like you s like you just said, like yourself, are the ones that are put through those systems that are meant to, you know, that end up whether some people are killed where some people have you know, horrific traumatic experiences and all of these things. And these are our Americ these are Americans, these are our children that we're putting into these systems, all based off of lies and greed. ⁓ and that's a another thing that you're never going to hear federally elected officials talk about is the military industrial complex and the grip that it has on our country and the fact that our veterans are the ones that suffer for it because they're the pawns that are used to, you know, make those systems a reality. ⁓ And the the the ones that are the f on the front line are the poorest among us because like you said, you know, they don't necessarily have other opportunities to make that happen or to and like you said, with the recruiter coming and saying, Hey, you you know, you want a different life, then then sign up. and that's just an insane reality. speaker-0: Yeah. And it's I have to go to the VA for my healthcare. And it's heartbreaking to see all of the veterans, you know, they're limping. They're there for mental health. They're there for, you know what mean? And and there's a generation that I have that my heart breaks for. I got to choose. speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: There's a generation that didn't get to. And you and you see these guys and you talk to these guys and ⁓ people, these people, and and you're just like, We're we're leaving these folks out here. They they literally gave their life, they sacrificed to go out and protect this country that then is going to turn back around and treat them. just a little bit better than how they treat the people from the inner city. speaker-1: Exactly. No, it's it's beyond. And you know, my my dad is a perfect example of that. He was drafted into Vietnam and when he came back he had people screaming at him that he was a baby killer, all of these horrific things. And then going through the VA system. speaker-0: dad thank you for her service by the way I don't want to forget to say that speaker-1: And likewise to you, it is so important and needed, and and thank you. ⁓ and my brother ⁓ served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was a long military career. And if ⁓ basically my entire family is all military-based. So we've seen it firsthand. You know, we see the systems that then they come back to where my dad had to work for years. It took nearly a decade and a half to get his disability rating. constant appointments at the doctors. He's now at a hundred percent disability, but that was such a process to go through. And I'm sure you have the same exact types of stories where it's these processes that are because we don't give the the proper resources and funding to our veterans. And it's a simple fix. You know, like we keep saying, there's so many resources that we could be using on people like yourself and our veterans that literally gave everything to ensure that we can live the lives that we are living. ⁓ and we turn around and treat them like you were saying in these in these awful ways. ⁓ whether that be ranging from mental health it problems, which is such a major issue that no one really addresses in in a real substantial way, ⁓ the amount of trauma and things that go into that that are then reflected in so many different ways in people's lives. And then obviously on top of that, the physical problems, ⁓ and and just ensuring that people have the dignity and respect and and actually get the things that they've earned, ⁓ Is is so important and needed. So one of our major policy platforms is focused on veterans and veterans' affairs specifically, streamlining those processes, ensuring that proper resources are provided, and ensuring that regardless of where veterans are, that they can have access to those services. A lot of the times it's difficult for, you know, an elderly veteran or even a young veteran to be able to travel an hour to their VA hospital or wherever it may be. And ensuring that they have access to maybe, you know, clinics in the area or ⁓ telecom telehealth or even mobile things that where they can actually be reached where they are to be provided those services. And that's not just in the physical sense, but also in the mental health capacity, ⁓ really building that out and then addressing homelessness among our veterans. The fact that someone's like we keep saying, the someone that sacrificed their entire life to serve our country would come home and be forced to live on the streets is pure evil and cannot be allowed to stand. And we have to that's another thing that a lot of people don't talk about is the homelessness issue in the our veteran communities. And that has to be addressed and called out by providing those resources, providing them homes. ⁓ And that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg of things. But yeah, I could I could not agree more. speaker-0: I had a conversation with Karen Ortiz. She was a ⁓ was it administrative judge in New York. She's a yeah, I love talking to her. She's so passionate about being a good person. speaker-1: Sharon's incredible, yeah. Yep. It is yeah, I could not agree more. She's the best. speaker-0: She she explained it better than anyone else. She put the words together better than anyone else. She said going in the military is a hard reset. They convince you that even if you don't see battle, like those guys are superheroes to me. I never saw battle. long story, but Even just going through basic training and even AIT, they break you down and they make you think about the they they take it all away. They convince you no one cares, they convince you all of this stuff doesn't matter, blah, blah, blah. You have one job, and that's to do what ICE agents wish that they could do, you sissies. That being said, the hard reset. So when you come home, you don't quite Fit into society the way that you used to. And you don't quite fit into corporate America the way that other people that didn't serve. So you start to struggle and you're trying to figure it out and you're trying to get help. But when you go to the VA and you say, Hey, I'm I'm really struggling right now. I don't see that it's worth it. And they say, We're gonna set you up with a mental health appointment. In five months, because of budgetary constraints. Yep. It's not fair. It's not fair. And then you have fat fucks like Trump who they duck and they dodge responsibility. And then they turn around and call proper soldiers losers and all that stuff. speaker-1: It's evil. Exactly. speaker-0: And the fact that there's people in this country that will co-sign to his bullshit instead of taking a look at the people who actually, if you're gonna pull yourself up by the bootstraps and you know all that dumb stuff they they always talk about, the people that actually do that get demonized. And then you got this fat bitch over here that's that's just bad mouthing people. speaker-1: Bingo and treats it like a game, like these are just pawns to be thrown around. ⁓ it's I I yeah, I could not agree more. It's just pure insanity. And again, like we keep saying, if we just keep doing the same things over and over again and keep electing the same politicians, it's gonna be this over and over and over again. You know, have you have you ever heard really a federal elected official in any capacity call out our military industrial complex and call out what it's doing to our veterans and and the people like Trump that do those types of things. Like you're never going to hear that because they're beholden to so much of that money. And they think that there's this this weird mindset that if you know if we spend billions and billions of now trillions of dollars ⁓ to to our defense that that's patriotic and that's what's matters is that we give Boeing and Raytheon and Lockheed Martin another trillion dollars. That's patriotism. speaker-0: How crazy is it? How crazy is it that everyone is is bad mouthing what happened in in ⁓ Minnesota with these ⁓ you know the scams, the the supposed, I don't know how real it is, but the scams with the daycare scams. Right. Right. But then you're talking about ⁓ a department of the government that has failed every audit. speaker-1: You spend ten they spend ten thousand dollars for a bolt, for fifty thousand dollars for a soap dispenser. It's it's just built in to extra to take money from the government and put it in the hands of corporations at the expense of our people. These are American citizens that are suffering for it. It's it's just infuriating. And you're never gonna hear anyone at the federal level even talk about this. It's just beyond. It's so in it boils my blood every time I think about it because the most patriotic, caring people like yourself that were willing to put their life on the line, ⁓ and so many people that do that, they those are the Americans that we need to be supporting, not giving all of this money to to rape the onalocky market and to then send them abroad. That we need to be supporting the people that speaker-0: Those countries are then gonna go to another country to find qualified help and those countries have invested in education. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah, what a concept, right? ⁓ you know, it's it's mind boggling. Literally, it's just beyond. speaker-0: It makes sense. Ha ha speaker-1: And so, you know, again, it's it comes down to policy, policy, policy. Like what are we gonna actually do to fix these solutions? One of which with in regards to the military industrial complex is c one, calling it out and making people well aware of what's happening, that we are funneling trillions of dollars from working class people to the hands of private corporations under this guise of national security. You know, obviously we have to be realistic, we need a strong military, but that doesn't mean wasting trillions of dollars. Sending our people abroad for conflicts that are in a lot of cases manufactured or that do not benefit the United States or humanity at all. ⁓ you know, if we want to talk about Israel and Gaza, what's occurring, the you know, the money that we're funneling to support and allow a genocide to occur, you know, that's just one example of the the atrocities that a lot of foreign aid from the United States can can perpetuate, ⁓ which are all cycles feeding into the military-industrial complex. speaker-0: Explain how APAC and Israel. It it just seems like what they say we do. Is it just me? speaker-1: What do you mean by what they say, what we do? speaker-0: Like whatever whatever they say. They say, Hey, ⁓ there's a bunctor over here. We need you to light it up. speaker-1: Exactly. No, it's so that's yeah, that's I'm glad you brought that up. So so APAC is just one organization that funnels so much money into campaigns to buy out these politicians so that they then do the bidding of those organizations. ⁓ regardless of the interest of the United States in a lot of a lot of the times, you know. The current situation in Gaza and Israel is a perfect example of that. We just agreed our Congress during all this chaos in the last week. last night I believe or might have been two days ago voted to give an additional three point three billion dollars in military assistance and all these things to Israel. The vast majority of that is offensive weaponry, which is used ⁓ you know, a lot of it is used to maximize ⁓ collateral damage so that they can do what they're doing in in Gaza and commit a genocide, ⁓ under the the Ben the Netanyahu administration. ⁓ but it all comes down to the money and that's again kind of the The root of all evil that I keep going back to is that our politicians are so beholden on that money so that they can win elections that they don't care what the consequences are. They don't care what that would mean in the long run, as long as they're exactly. It's it's just it's just beyond insanity. And people are finally waking up and realizing, hey, there's there's an issue here. one of the things that we we are pushing for is ⁓ to ensure that. speaker-0: That much money. speaker-1: at at the bare minimum that APAC and other affiliate organizations are at least registered ⁓ as foreign lobbyist groups because that is clearly what they're doing. ⁓ One thing we are also pushing for is a banning of dual citizenship for federally elected officials. That's kind of a that would require a constitutional amendment. So that's a a bigger process, but I think it's important to be calling out that we have so many cit of elected officials at the federal level that are dual citizenships with another country. That then vote to send billions of dollars to that other country. Like imagine if that and I I'm not conflating the two, but imagine if that was like a Russian citizen or a Chinese citizen that then was getting our Congress to send billions of dollars of our taxpayers to a foreign country, people would have a lot of qualms with that. ⁓ so that's just kind of one of the things that we wanna be making sure that people are made well aware of. ⁓ and I also wanna make it very clear that I know Speaking of you, you I know this is not needed, but just want to make it clear to the audience and everything that there's a massive difference between the Netanyahu administration and the people of Israel and Jewish people that I represent. speaker-0: The same way there's a big difference between Trump and us. speaker-1: Bingo. And they use they use that tactic of saying any any criticism of the Nanyahoo administration or the Israeli government is, you know, anti-Semitic and all of these things, and it which is nonsense. It's complete absurdity. ⁓ so we need to be call that out and say that we can have these nuanced discussions without jumping to these, you know, these ridiculous conclusions. and ⁓ most importantly, ensuring that the people of these countries are g have the ability to do what they need ⁓ for their own country, specifically the people in Palestine, you know, that they have the self-determination to choose what happens with their country. You know, right now obviously it's it in Gaza specifically has been just completely decimated. The people have been massacred at a scale that, you know, is in the the infrastructure in itself is completely decimated. I think over nearly a hundred percent of all infrastructure has been completely destroyed. ⁓ and ensuring that in the long run that those people have the ability to determine what actually happens with their future. And if we keep electing the same people, then that's not gonna be the case point blank. That's just clearly not gonna be what's happening. ⁓ if we choose to just keep electing the same people, but if we choose to elect people that are willing to call that out and say that, hey, no, we have to be doing things drastically different, and that's just one example of foreign policy that needs to be drastically different, but a a very clear example of you know the most extreme. ⁓ version of it. And ensuring that the people of those countries have self-determination, that they are the ones that determine what happens. Not a foreign country, not massive corporations, not the leader of one other country, that those people have the ability to choose their destiny and their future ⁓ is so important and needs to be continuously called out and said. ⁓ And again, it's not going to happen if you keep electing these same types of politicians. speaker-0: Yeah. You can't you can't give someone the job that's getting money from the thing that is that you're against. It's it's ridiculous. It doesn't people are like, ⁓ the government doesn't ever change. Yeah, because we keep doing the same dumb things. speaker-1: And we keep collecting the same types of people. speaker-0: It's it's wild. speaker-1: But with that being said, I always like to leave on like a positive note because there's obviously so many dark things that are occurring and objectively evils that are occurring in the world. So it's it's easy to kind of get bogged down and say and lose hope and all those things. But I would hope and I want to make the point that there is a brighter future ahead if we're willing to make it happen, that we have to wake up here and now and demand that these changes occur. Otherwise, it'll just be the same stuff over and over again. And if we're not willing to one have the political will to actually make those things occur, then it nothing's gonna happen, right? Nothing's gonna change. But if we do, to think of the potential that we could have, you know, not just as the United States, but as the as a world population, to think of the things that we'd be able to accomplish once we the people actually take back power, empower all of our citizens across the board, give them all the opportunities ⁓ that they're deserving of to truly thrive and get ahead, is speaker-0: Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Is so inspiring to me. Like that is that's what gives me hope. That's what keeps me going. Is that idea of the potential and the things that we can be doing ⁓ for our children, for our children's children, you know, all of these things ⁓ is that's it. That's you know, that's the key is to keep having that hope and keep knowing that when we work together as one people, we can accomplish these things. It's it's gonna be a big uphill battle, it's gonna be a tough struggle, but we can and we will. speaker-0: Yeah. And and we know that we can, but we've done because we've done it in the past. That's why it's easy. That's why it's easy for a tyrant to come in and say, hey, we're gonna make America great again. Because we've done it in the past. It just so happens that we've done it, but you guys are following a person that is taking advantage of a situation, which is what crooks do. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. speaker-0: They see that you need something and they hey here's some snake oil. It's gonna be wonderful. It's gonna make all your problems disappear. speaker-1: Exactly. No, that's that's it to a T. And it's so easy to s for people to succumb to that when they are stuck in these systems, right? Like that's that's the that's the thing, is that Trump isn't the cause of all of these issues. He's a symptom that occurred because of what's what was happening over the last thirty years, where you saw the working class of our country completely left behind. exactly. speaker-0: Both parts. speaker-1: Exactly. And that's something that Democrats refuse to acknowledge. They they, you know, this idea that ⁓ we're at least we're not as bad as the Republicans, you know, that's their whole their mindset. It's a no, we have to be fundamentally improving people's lives and not through some, you know, government oversight, government dictating everything where you have a s you can build a simplistic system in place where the government provides essential services to the people that need them and everything else is allowed to be run in a f in a fair manner through capitalist markets and all those things, while ensuring that it's well regulated so that the people of our country are the ones that actually benefit rather than these massive corporations and monopolies that just extract wealth and power. is is doable. It is completely doable. It's come it can be easily done if we have the political will to actually make it happen. speaker-0: Yeah, I I always tell people if you want to see how the government can run and how it can be ⁓ successful, a micro version of that would be the NFL. Right? The NFL, like imagine imagine if the if if Amer if the United States government was like the gym room. and the the tape room you know you're getting your athletes ready for for for the game right you go to the film room you're educating yourself you go to the gym you're strengthening yourself and then when it's game time we got you ready the United States has all of their citizens ready to go so whether you're a plumber a businessman a a ⁓ a congressman A secretary of whatever you want to be. We got you set up. Go make a go show us, you know, under our banner, go be the best person that you can possibly be. speaker-1: Yeah. Because it's an us, it's a we, it's not ⁓ it's not me and you, it's a we, right? Exactly. Exactly. speaker-0: ⁓ 100%. 100%. Like I understand Republicans that have a bunch of money right now. I get it because the world was small when when your family got that money. Yep. And we know for a fact that there's a lot of you that's you've had money for a long time. And you can't tell me that everybody with money is smarter than than people with no money. You cannot tell me that at all. speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: So you got your handouts. But when it comes to improving how we do business as a country, now all of a sudden your your hands don't reach your pockets. Right. speaker-1: That's the thing, you know, we're not speaker-0: Take advantage of all everything that we have available. speaker-1: Exactly. And and you know, no one's asking for handouts. That's the thing that Republicans always like to say, you know, ⁓ well, everyone's just gonna be getting free money and that's not blah blah blah. It's like no, people just want opportunities and fairness. That's all we're asking for. It is a simple ask that we have the same education systems for everyone, regardless of what where where you grew up. That if you if your family's struggling to feed themselves or shelter themselves, that they have access to those resources, health care, you know, universal health care, we haven't had a be able touch on that, but having access that every single human being, regardless of who you are, regardless of your citizenship status, regardless of your income, shouldn't be dying in our country, right? Because they can't afford health care is, you know, that's just one example, big example, but a an ⁓ important example. And to your point, you know, that we our people just want the the resources and the abilities to live their lives successfully with dignity and When if they want to be, you know, a CEO, that they have the opportunity to grow and be that. If they want to be a single mother that that owns a home, that gets their children educated, you know, that they can be that, that they can choose what they want and have that ability to live their lives at the way to their fullest potential, to their fullest happiness. That's the goal, right? And it's a simple ask. Like people love to conflate it with that that's a, you know, an impossible reality, that's a daydream. It's no, that is we've we've seen. In the past, certain people, I want to make a key point of that, that this is not a dream that's been available to everyone of every skin color, of every income, you know, any, but there has been instances where it has we can recreate that for everyone to profit on, regardless of the color of the skin, regardless of, you know, your sexual orientation, your religious background, your ⁓ income level, all of those things that every single American has the opportunity to live their lives to their full potential is all we're asking for. speaker-0: Yeah. That's not that tough. Treat us the way you want to be treated. Are you religious at all? speaker-1: Exactly. No, ⁓ not like not prescribed to like a certain, you know, religious ⁓ church or particular organization, but I have a very strong faith and understanding of kind of the the world around me, if that makes sense. No. speaker-0: I that's how I that's how I live. when it comes to religion, I always reference the t-shirt that I saw once that said with so many religions, there's a lot of you going to hell. You can't even you can't even get you can't even get the word right. God's word. You can't even get that right. Everyone is interpreting this stuff however they want. speaker-1: Yeah. Right. Exactly. speaker-0: Okay, so if that's the case, I I don't want rules. speaker-1: Right. Exactly. No, and that's that's I think a big issue is that so many people subscribe to the man-made institutions that have come out of religion that you know is can be this the cause of a lot, a lot of issues. and losing the the real true purpose of that. you know, there's yeah, there's so many examples of that, but it's it's super important to talk about and simultaneously using that understanding of humanity and care and love and compassion as the grounding principle to make the decisions that we make. That you know it's not just a me, you know, it's not just a you. It is all of us working together that we have to lead with compassion and love and empathy. That is has to be all every single moment of our lives the forefront of our decision making, that and service to others, that we are can use our power, use our privilege to help other people around us. is the most important thing. ⁓ I think a lot of the times unfortunately a lot of the institutionalization of religion dilutes that message. but speaker-0: And then unfortunately a lot of that stuff turns into like a get rich quick scheme. And you're just like, what are you doing, dude? Contrary to what it's supposed to. speaker-1: That's yeah, that's just just complete manipulation. And the poor people that fall victim to that is just so and so infuriating that so many people are just they they use their those people use other people's good intentions and caringness and wanting to do good to manipulate them and ex extract their wealth and power is so disgusting to see. speaker-0: That's I I again I'm a lot like you. I when I was a kid, ⁓ my family was very religious through ⁓ through either, you know, ⁓ champlas were used to get me ready for to go to church. speaker-1: My dad was in the exact same boat. It's getting his hand off the bed 'cause the demon would come and pull him in. speaker-0: Like I said. But like I tell people, no, I'm not religious, but I do let the word influence me, be better person. What good is memorizing the Bible if you're a complete ass and then you get to heaven and Jesus is like, if you don't get your dumb ass out of here? speaker-1: Yeah. Exactly. Right. No, I mean, yeah, if you boil down to the essential teachings of Jesus Christ of love, compassion, empathy, that is everything, right? Service to others, that is, that is everything. But then you have all the manipulation and the the the changing of that to create man-made institutions and structures of power. is sad to see. But with that being said, you know, that core belief system like you have ⁓ is so important and needed that it's everything is in service of others, everything is compassion, everything is love. should always be the guiding force in everything we do. And it's easy to lose sight of that at times. Obviously that you know, life is rough. Life is can be tough. and but keeping that core understanding is so important. speaker-0: Is there anything else you feel like you wanna talk about or anything you wanna get off your chest? Anything you wanna before we wrap up? Anything you wanna? speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ I guess one kind of final leaving note is that like I was saying earlier, there's a lot of dark times and you hear a lot of dark news, and it's easy to kind of fall victim to this mindset that things are hopeless and that one individual can't make change. But I want everyone listening to this to know that you as an individual are so vitally important and needed, and your opinions matter, your thoughts matter, your uniqueness that makes you who you are is so needed in this world. And you often will hear that. distractions of you know you're not good enough or you're you know you're too young or you you can't do that. That's that's silly. Those are all just lies and distractions that you drastic you as an individual can literally change the course of human history. And not a lot of people say that or acknowledge that, but that is true. And it doesn't have to be you know massive grand gestures. It can be the simplest things in your life that contribute to living a good happy healthy loving life. ⁓ whether that be, you know, taking care of your mother or, you know, doing the simplest things ⁓ are so important and needed. So I just want people to acknowledge that that you are vitally important and needed. and your opinions matter and that your life matters and you can do great, incredible things in the world. speaker-0: Man, I can't wait to see you on C SPAN. speaker-1: Let's do that. Let's get there. We gotta win this election first. So with that too, ⁓ if anyone wants to learn more about our campaign, you can go to huntermoranda twenty twenty six dot com. We are a grassroots campaign and we do rely on a lot of support from people. So even a single dollar goes so much ⁓ and helps so much in our campaign. So we are always obviously looking for Donations, but we also love to get feedback from voters. We love engaging with voters, hearing their concerns, talking with them. So always feel free to reach out to us on our website. We have a contact form and we'll we'll follow up with you to get your insights on things. ⁓ whether that be policy discussions or your opinions on this or something that you think that we should be talking about, ⁓ we want to hear from you. You know, this is our government and we are the people. You know, the the the the concept of the people is not some nebulous vague thing. It is literally us. That is us. And we deserve. The country was supposed to be for us, and we need to reclaim that power for ourselves. And I know we can do it, it's just a matter of making it happen. speaker-0: Do you want to tell people about your ⁓ your event in March, the common grounds event? Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, no, thanks. Good, great reminder. So we will be having a pretty large scale event ⁓ on March 7th weekend. ⁓ we're in the process of planning all this, all the specifics, but half of it is gonna be in LA and the other half will be in Orange County in our district. The plan is to bring in a lot of different celebrities and influencers and people in the you know, voters and anyone that wants to engage in these conversations and really fight for our democracy to make these structural changes that we keep talking about. You know, it's one thing for us to be sitting here having these conversations, which are super important, but it's another thing to actually get the people that we need into those positions of power to enact these changes. And it takes things like showing up at events, it takes things like voting, donating, whatever it is that you can do, do it. But March seventh, ⁓ there'll be a lot more information coming out. So follow us on our social medias. ⁓ I know Carlos, you're gonna probably have a lot of to say about that. the both the event in Chicago and then the event ⁓ coming up in LA. So ⁓ keep an eye out. speaker-0: Yeah. Again, Hunter Miranda. Thank you so much. 47th California's 47th district. We're coming for you, baby. speaker-1: Thank you so much. No, this was such a pleasure. I really appreciate it. And all the work you do is so important and needed. So thank you so much. speaker-0: I am of service. We need way more we need way more humans, way more good humans in Congress. We need a a lot more humanity, a lot more clear-eyed humanity. You keep doing what you're doing. speaker-1: Exactly. Appreciate it. And likewise, again, so important and needed. speaker-0: Thank you. And with that everybody, we're out. speaker-1: Bye bye. Coconut trust.