Latest / Breaking The Meta / Army Combat Medic Running Against Victoria Spartz Wants to Fix the "Wealth Care System" | IN-5

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Army Combat Medic Running Against Victoria Spartz Wants to Fix the "Wealth Care System" | IN-5 · Breaking The Meta

• Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to Breaking the Meta. My name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Jackson Franklin who is running in Indiana's 5th district. So, and he's running against someone that you may know or you may remember for some very interesting responses on things. Her name is Victoria Spartz, but we're not here to talk about her. We're here to talk about Jackson. Jackson, hello. How are you doing today? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Thank you so much for having me. I'm doing good. Thank you. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So the way I would like to start about start all of this, because especially since we're we're a pretty broad global audience in some cases, could you give us a background on who you are and why you decided to run in the first in the first place? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right, so yeah, I'm an Army combat medic. I've deployed overseas. I'm a paramedic that's worked on the ambulance. you know, I've been very politically involved ever since Bernie Sanders came to this state of Indiana. I've been feeling the burn ever since, since 2016. And, know, I've volunteered on many campaigns before. Very passionate about how, know, might imagine as working on the ambulance, I've seen the worst of this so-called healthcare system. I call it the wealth care system. And, Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jackson Franklin IN-5: I call it the wealth care system. And, I'm very passionate about fixing our healthcare, because I think healthcare is a human right. I don't think that there should be a corporate middleman between you and your doctor. I'm very passionate about fixing our healthcare, expanding our healthcare system. I'm calling for a Medicare for all style system because I think healthcare is a human right. I don't think that there should be a corporate middleman between you and your doctor. And I'm also very passionate about getting money out of politics because most of the issues we are probably going to talk about probably go back to money in politics in one way or another. I'm very passionate about overturning Citizens United, which equated Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jackson Franklin IN-5: you know, giving money to a politician as freedom of speech, which of course makes it to where, you know, if money is freedom of speech, then the wealthiest have the loudest voice in our democracy. And that's not democracy, that's an oligarchy. So we got to fight back against that and have a system that, you know, has treats people over profits. Breaking The Meta: Exactly. Yeah. So for people that don't know much about Indiana or the Fifth District, what are the pain points? What are things that you would want people to know about your district in general? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right, so our district, it's generally seen as the six counties northeast of Indianapolis. So it's like Hamilton County, Madison, Delaware, Tipton, Grant and Howard counties. I mean, ⁓ Indiana is a rough spell state. It's as working class as you can get, know, big sectors of like education, healthcare, and Hamilton County, we've got like some banking and some tech ⁓ areas. But I mean, it's really just middle America. I mean, by all sense of it, like, And yeah, I mean, we're trying to fight, you know, against these data centers all across the multiple places across this district. People are worried about their energy costs going up. People worried about the environment, their jobs ⁓ and many other things. But I mean, of course, as I mentioned, health care is a big one, too. Education, our state policies have destroyed the education sector here in Indiana. And yeah, we're trying to fight back on all fronts, both with my friends running for state office. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: and me running for federal office, we're trying to tackle these solutions and now for that brighter future. Breaking The Meta: And what are the things that as you're going around and talking to people, are the things that you're hearing the most? What are most of the people saying they could use help from you if and when you are in Congress? Jackson Franklin IN-5: People are really worried. I mean, it goes by the news cycle right now. So right now, a lot of people are coming up to me and talking about the war in Iran, the illegal, immoral war in Iran. It was ICE, it's the Constitution, it's women's rights. So many things are under attack right now. It varies person to person, and their personal experience is what they're worried about. But of course, as a soldier in the Indiana Army National Guard, I feel very passionately about getting out of... Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: the Middle East and especially not attacking, putting my brothers, sisters, comrades in uniform, we need to get them out of harm's way. I have friends over there right now that their lives are in danger and all for the sake because our president, Israel has dirt on him in relation to Jeffrey Epstein because he worked for Mossad and now he's just doing whatever they tell him to do, doing their business, but risking our lives. education, I'm very passionate about Having teachers, giving teachers a living wage, stronger unions, many other things. So, it's an ice, of course. I'm actually one of the leading voices around my area at least, calling to abolish ice. Now you know, if it was 1945 Germany looking at the Gestapo, we wouldn't say, oh well, they just need empathy training and body cameras when they terrorize minority groups. No, you'd be calling to abolish a Gestapo and just like how today we need to be calling to abolish ice because they're just Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Mm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Trump's henchmen. It's his private army just terrorizing our communities, killing our friends, our neighbors. So we got to make sure we stand up to them and have justice. We have to be prosecuting them and we should give amnesty to the ⁓ undocumented immigrants that are here. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. What one of the things that I think a lot of people are also frustrated with, they don't often talk about it just because there's so many other loud things going on. But I think it's something that we've been dealing with, especially in politics for a long time, is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to any of our representatives, federal or state. And I think that's also a bipartisan issue. What what is accountability? look like to you? What does being held accountable by your district look like? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Well, I think we should our democracy is very imperfect of course what I'm calling for I mean a Accountability we need to have term limits, you know, if you're just floating on name recognition, you've been in there since 1982 Since a lot before a lot of us were even born People should be voting for a vision for the future, you know an ideology not a personality. So I feel very strongly about Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Having term limits, I feel very strongly about getting money out of politics. So it is the people's voice, because it's hard to have accountability when, ⁓ I know, like, you know, other people will say, like, ⁓ I'm going to raise a million bucks from some super PAC. So I don't really have to listen to the concerns because, like, the, you know, people who are not paying attention as much, they're just going to see that name, like, ⁓ they're our congressperson. I see ads all over. We need to get money out of politics and make it more of like a popularity contest, you know, democracy. as well as, you know, I want to completely ban stock trading for members of Congress. It's a completely unfair system. mean, when you could look, I mean, I'm running as Democrat, but I can act, I have eyes when Nancy Pelosi is a multimillionaire, but the salary of a Congress person is $170,000. I mean, that's the math ain't mathin', right? So making sure we have these measures. Ranked choice voting would go amazing as well that we're not. We're not stuck between the lesser of two evils two party system, having healthy third parties and ⁓ ballot referendums for the people. Like, hey, hold them accountable because we want the policy we want going forward. ⁓ If Congress isn't going to do their jobs, the people should have a path to go around Congress. Legalized cannabis, for instance, that pulls at 87 % here in Indiana. Why can't we do that? Well, it's because E.L.A. Lilly, Big Pharma, has lobbied our state legislator, has lobbied our federal congress as well, we should have that path to get the people's policy, the people's bidding done in these places of power. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, it's interesting that you talked about that because I've interviewed quite a few people that are running for state office in Indiana. For anyone that doesn't know, the way Indiana's Constitution works is the way things like the legalization of cannabis would work is it has to pass two years in a row in the state house in order for something like that to even go for a vote by the people. there's a lot of It's one of those things where you don't realize how most states work when it comes to a lot of different things and how we've got to, there's got to be ways that we can not only streamline but help all Americans instead of just, I don't know, this patchwork system that it feels like sometimes that we live in. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right. The system isn't even broken. It's working exactly as intended. It's rigged to benefit the billionaires, the corporate lobbyists, and all we're saying is we should have a democracy, a constitutional republic where the people are being served, not just the rich and powerful. And as Bernie Sanders, should says we should have a system that represents all of us and not just the top 1%. That's what many of us across the nation, across the state are calling for. Breaking The Meta: So obviously this administration has done a lot of wild things over the last year and a couple months now. Dangerous things, expensive things, just you name it. They've pretty much done it at this point. So this is a two part question, one because I know you are a vet and I'm interested in your perspective on that. But first one I want to go to is a lot of people in this country have been affected by like the tariffs. by the ACA subsidy cuts, by a lot of decisions by this administration, the SNAP benefit changes. Have you noticed that as you go around and interact with people that may have been historically conservative, have you noticed a more openness or at least willingness to engage with you about topics that they may not have two years ago? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Absolutely. Yes, it's every single day. You know, right now we're in primary season. So like, ⁓ like, should we be talking to Republicans? And I'm like, yeah, there's a lot of disaffected Republicans. And you know, I go into the, you know, the lion's den, right? Going to these community circles where like, hey, maybe Democrats haven't been there in years, long times. And I'm talking to people and they're like, hey, I voted for Trump three times, but you know, now they have their eyes. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: At least a little bit more open than before I'll say and they're like, yeah I thought he was gonna, you know, protect the little guy stand up against the elites and drain the swamp, right and They realized they've been lied to not that's all I'm saying when I asked him I'm like, hey, I don't need you to like agree with me on everything I need you to like realize for yourself that you've been lied to and Things like the tariffs wait, you know open their eyes things like ice ⁓ Of course being someone that's in the military currently Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jackson Franklin IN-5: And I can relate to like, gain some sympathies from them because they care about the troops, if anything. They really care about the troops and they voted for Trump ⁓ because he was the pro-peace candidate. And it turned into like, ⁓ I want a piece of Greenland. I want a piece of Mexico, a of Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, all these other places. And they see that these forever wars that we're starting, well either just immoral were killing civilians it for a first-time forget it like legality does not equal morality if they went through the right way uh... if they went through congress that would not make it right like we're committing uh... terrorism by bombings like girls schools and hospitals and you know parks and many other places so people are having their eyes woken up to that uh... and we're trying to tap into that so i've had a lot of republican again unusually high amount of Republicans, I might say. They were like, yeah, I'll vote for you in the primary. Because they see, and this is kind of my message to my fellow Democrats, people running, Trump won in my view last time, because you remember that debate he had with Harris. The question was about the economy, and Harris was like, oh, this is the economy, it's the best it's ever been. Technically true, not the right time to say it, right? Well, Trump said, listen, you are hurting, Breaking The Meta: Mm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: I'm listening to you, which was a lie. But he also said the reason why you're hurting is because of immigrants, trans people, women, all these other, he literally said dangerous minority groups, right? We are gonna win as Democrats when we say that first part of like, hey, you are hurting, I am listening to you, and we'll actually mean it. But it's not trans people, it's not immigrants, it's not women that are hurt causing your pain. There is a dangerous minority group in this country, but it's not the one that Donald Trump tells you about. It's the top 1%. It's the billionaire oligarchs that break down our unions, send our jobs overseas, and bribe our politicians to have a system that just benefits the top 1%. We are going to win when we organize a grassroots coalition and challenge that power. It's as John Lewis said, the power of the people is greater than the people in power. It's time we use that people power and take back, you Congress, take back the state houses across this country, the governorships, and we can actually enact the people's justice and get the policies that we know we all believe in and that we deserved at birth. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. So now as ⁓ a a former military slash now current National Guardsmen, what again, I'm going into two parts because I'm interested first. How do you as a member of the military, how well just what did it feel like? We knew that Trump was lying about Iran. There was no there was no question about that. But we also knew the idea of boots on the ground. was unpopular with the American people, especially his own base. what's going through your head when you saw that two expeditionary groups, one from Japan, one from San Francisco, are heading over there, and now the news of the 82nd Airborne, which for those that don't know, the 82nd Airborne is the people you send in at the start of a ground operation. Like that is their purpose. That is what they train nonstop for. What was going through your head when you hear it? What's going through the head of veterans that you talked to when they were hearing about all of this stuff? Jackson Franklin IN-5: It's devastating like we're all very concerned like us and yet again I'm not speaking on behalf of you know the DOD or DOW sorry Pete Keg's breath you know I'm sorry ⁓ Breaking The Meta: You Jackson Franklin IN-5: But we're like on the ground level, not messaged by the army, right? Like we are very concerned about our friends. Like I have friends in the 82nd. have, my brother-in-law is actually one of those Marines that are over there in that expeditionary force. So, you know, we're very concerned about their safety. We're very concerned about, you know, the cost of human life on for Iran. You know, like the civilians that are over there that, you know, they lost their child. Breaking The Meta: Mm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: that have lost their parents, that have lost their friends, their neighbors. And just the global, I mean, the whole civilized, like all of mankind, like everyone is suffering. ⁓ So yeah, and also distinction like, yeah, everyone in the National Guard is in the military and you know, I'm still currently in the National Guard. Hence why I preface like, ⁓ not endorsed by the DOD. ⁓ But yeah, it's upsetting, it's very concerning. And I'm actually kind of... Breaking The Meta: Correct. Jackson Franklin IN-5: a little ticked off at the Democratic establishment right now, like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, because they blocked resolution by Ro Khanna and Thomas Massey and others to have the War Powers Act, because we knew the attack was coming. It was looming. We had this massive buildup, the largest the Middle East has ever seen as far as Navy, and we all knew the attack was coming. They tried to be like, hey, no attacks on Iran until approved on by Congress. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer Delay didn't even have a vote on it They said they push it under the rug and then Trump attack there was like a week and a half We're like everyone was like you're gonna pass that bill. They didn't even have a vote on it They push they did not want to have it. So it's on them secretly I mean obviously look at they take a pack contributions like a large amount of money from a pack They secretly wanted the war with Iran They just were branding it as ⁓ it's poorly plant like all their criticism is like Process criticism which it's not about the human lives. It's not about my friends and myself in the military They don't actually care. They just it's just hey how we got to be against Trump because we're on the blue team So how can we you know find a criticism? So now they're going on tour saying ⁓ he should have used Congress and even people like you know in my state like in my primary is the only critique they have of this conflict is that it's poorly planned and should have went to Congress. I'm more concerned That the United States is funding a terrorist state of Israel while they commit genocide in Gaza Ethnic cleansing in the West Bank now Lebanon there are people in the Israeli government that said we're gonna do to South Lebanon what we did to Gaza and now they're bombing civilians in Iran That's my criticism. It's based on like a human level like ⁓ my gosh. That's our tax tear I mean mostly the human life secondly, how can we stop it is literally? our money that's going to do it. So we are responsible. Everyone in this nation is responsible for that. And we got to own up to it. And the world is waiting for us to own up to it. So that's kind of our thoughts. We also don't want to die. There's a famous clip of a former Marine in uniform, like no one wants to die for Israel. That is the sentiment on the ground that I'm hearing. Breaking The Meta: So, since World War II, the United States, virtue of having an ocean between us and the war, were able to pretty much become the head of the table in around the world. And it's been that way for the last 80 years. ⁓ This administration in one year has has destroyed that. Whether you're talking through tariffs or what happened in Venezuela or what happened in Greenland or leaving the WHO or the threats that have been made to some of our closest allies. Regardless of what this administration thinks, we are no longer at the head of the table. In some cases, people don't even want us at the table and they're doing everything they can to make sure we are no longer needed at the table. How do you see America's foreign policy going forward? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right. Breaking The Meta: based on the realities of what this administration has done and will do probably for the next two and a half years. Jackson Franklin IN-5: We gotta build back the trust. mean, we've shattered it across the globe, especially, I mean, amongst our allies, but even our more adverse, like, adversary, you know, people like China. You know, like, they don't respect us. We want our enemies, in a sense, to, like, respect our word as well, because that's diplomacy. That's the bridge we can develop on. And it's just strategically, even just in selfish reasons. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: That's what you want. want like, ⁓ I can do my, ⁓ you know, what I set out to do. I could accomplish policy on a worldwide stage. But now we're just throwing away all of our credibility because we're, obviously with the wrong, we're shutting down the, you know, straight of Hormuz. That's 90 % of Japan's oil supply. We're shooting them in the foot, our own friends. And of course, I mean, Taiwan, ⁓ Biden, one of his domestic policies was the CHIPS Act, which would have brought more than 250,000 jobs to America to make these CHIPS for technology. like, really it's just Taiwan that's leading on like the world stage on this. We don't really have that technology here. So Trump, day one, cut out the CHIPS Act, killing 250,000 jobs, then set tariffs on Taiwan for those CHIPS. So we are just gonna, like, it's not like we have Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: you know, home like American business we can buy from and then the same kind of industry, the chip manufacturing also we brought in a bunch of South Korean workers and you might have seen that ICE took up like 100, think, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe like 350 people or more or something like that. Yeah, and then like I think it was like in the Southwest, I believe, and just deported them back to South Korea. We invited them here. Breaking The Meta: It was a good chunk, yeah. Yeah, I was in Georgia. Jackson Franklin IN-5: for chip, like does Trump just hate technology in that sense or hate jobs? Like those are jobs that they could have trained Americans to do, you know, at the very least. But no, they were there trying to teach us and try to get, you know, our technology caught up with the chips. So yeah, we gotta rebuild that trust. It's not gonna be fast. It's way harder to repair the relationships than to destroy it, you know? So yeah. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, and again, obviously you don't have all the answers, how do you see us building back that trust? Because the way I look at it, just in terms of people like our allies, ⁓ in terms of like, let's take the EU. So when the tariffs were put up, the whole statement was, we're going to make deals with these countries. the EU, whether we agree with it or not, made a deal with the United States to get rid of the tariffs. And then when Trump said he wanted to take Greenland and the EU was like, we're not going to support that, he threatened to put tariffs back on them. So the thing that comes to my brain is we could have a Democratic president, ⁓ super majority in the House and the Senate. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right. Breaking The Meta: And every country, if they're smart, will know that four years after that, that could completely change and everything could go back to the way it was. So why create deals with us? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Right. Good. mean, you're exactly correct. Well, we do need to get Trump out of office. think as like short term, you know, once I take, you know, we take back the house and I'm a congressperson, I think the first thing that we should do is impeach Donald Trump, set the record straight, not just American history, but also, you know, world history. We got to be on the right side of this. It's just what's right. We have to have justice. On top of that, we have to, I don't know, abide by the rules, abide by our own agreements. Obama, one of the better things he did in 2015 was the Iran nuclear agreement. And here we are, bombing them, saying that literally stopped them from getting a nuclear weapon. The IAEA said, oh yeah, they're not close to enriching uranium. And then Trump immediately broke out of it. We signed on to the Paris climate agreement, immediately pulled out of it under Trump. So we have to make sure that, I mean, it's as simple as that. We start obeying all the rest of the treaties and signatories that we're ⁓ obliged to. And then we gain back that trust. It's not going to be overnight. It's going to take a long time, but we have to start somewhere and build that trust. think one of the leading things we could do is stop funding Israel, like stop all military aid to Israel because their break, I mean the Geneva Conventions, the whole world is basically signed on to that. So why can't we use our own laws, the Leahy laws, ⁓ to make sure that we're not sending military equipment while they commit genocide and ethnic cleansing across the Middle East. So that's one of the ways we can gain back trust. Also, not us, we were the ones that bombed that girls school. So not, we break it ourselves, but also not enabling others to break those agreements as well. Breaking The Meta: Do you think that would also require us to not only add more restrictions, regulations, whatever you want to call it, on Congress itself to make sure that there is accountability in Congress, but also even a step further, take like the ⁓ International Criminal Court. We helped start it and we're not a part of it. So would putting ourselves under that be something necessary for the world stage purpose. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. like a lot of the, I mean, there's a lot of problems coming from Congress right now. Like they did the big, beautiful bill which cut, you know, 18 million people off their Medicaid, 21 million families access to food stamps and a lot of things. it's, of course, it's got to be mentioned that a lot of this does happen because of the president. He's abusing these powers. He's ignoring the Supreme Court. So I think there needs to be bigger and stronger watchdogs. on, basically that's... like unprecedented in American history on that president. That way a second, like, you know, 10 years, 10, 15 years from now, a second worst Trump doesn't come around. Like right now we have to realize that he is breaking all these precedents. It could be much worse. If we have a conservative Democrat take place in 2028 and, you know, in power in 2029, and they don't tackle the root causes of what led to Trump, Because he didn't just come out of a vacuum, he didn't pop out of thin air like, ⁓ this is just where the Republicans were at. No, there's so many things that like, if you don't have ⁓ an outlet for people to cry out to, we get Trump, you know, we get violence in the streets. We can't, we can't, you know, defeat the Republicans in the future and today by throwing up Diet Republicans. We are going to win as Democrats when we fight like how Democrats are always supposed to. by unapologetically fighting for the working class, not the donor class. So I feel like that is what is needed. We have to take care of the root causes of what led to these problems. And it's not just the one bad man history of things. It's not, we get rid of Trump and everything, then the Republican party will return back to normal. They were never normal. George Bush committed torture and killed a million civilians in Iraq. So I don't appreciate the sentiment of some establishment Democrats who were like, Breaking The Meta: No. Jackson Franklin IN-5: ⁓ the Republican party will swing back to normal. No, they're not. You we gotta make them, you gotta like make new rules on elections to basically get them to where you are right now. The conservative Democratic party is where the Republicans should be, and then basically where I'm at is where the Democrats should be, in my personal opinion. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, I think the way I always put it is I think we need to get back to a point where we can at minimum agree on some fundamentals, a line that we are unwilling to cross. And I think that's where the disconnect is right now. I think there's a whole group of people that aren't on the same ⁓ page about what that line that we won't cross is. So let's do a little bit of future casting real quick. ⁓ March 5th, no, I mean May 5th comes around and you win primary, congratulations. ⁓ November 3rd, I think it's the third, comes around and you win, congratulations, all again. January 2nd comes around and you were sworn in as a representative of the 5th district. What are the first things that you want to do? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Nathas. As I said before, I think the first thing that Congress should do is impeach Donald Trump and his whole administration for committing crimes against the Constitution, committing crimes, international war crimes, killing ⁓ fishermen in the Caribbean, killing civilians overseas. I think we need to basically bring back like second Nuremberg trials for all the ICE agents that have been murdering and terrorizing our people in the streets. That's step one. Like how can we get any, it's hard to go forward when literally like Adolf Hitler is in power, right? So we have to make sure and like before he, I guess for lack of a better expression, use the metaphor, burns the Reichstag and like, know, takes it like people are worried if we're even gonna have a fair election this year. And you know, they already tried to overthrow an election in 2020. So like what we got to make sure we're prepared for 2028. And I think, you know, The buck stops at the top, right? Or, know, it begins at the top. So we got to make sure we're holding people accountable. And then we got to stop the bleeding. We got to undo the big, beautiful bill. Because a lot of those policies go into effect right after the election. And like, just so they could blame the Democrats. So we got to make sure we expand health care access, undo all the cuts they did to, you know, SNAP, Medicaid, the National Weather Service. ⁓ Many many other things sciences and all that We got to build it back stronger than ever and make sure that you know things like the DOE the Department of Education is fully funded They got that ⁓ Defund I abolish ICE of course that is I must now will Donald Trump ever sign that into policy No, that's why we're gonna impeach him. We're gonna empty as far down as we can get it we're gonna I think we should impeach every single Republican, you know him and JD Vance and ⁓ Just, mean, the Senate is the big question, because just the states that are up this year for election, they lean more conservative. ⁓ So we might only have the Senate by plus two seats. So we're not going to get a sweeping 60-plus Senate. ⁓ But we can try to do our best to have Republicans, for what it's worth, come to our side on some issues. We just got to stand strong as Democrats and stand up for what's right. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Jackson Franklin IN-5: impeachment, stop the bleeding, build back healthcare, education, and many other policies, and have a system that works for the people and not just the billionaires. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. For everyone that has heard everything that we've talked about so far, are one or two things that no matter what you would want them to come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Jackson Franklin IN-5: I want them to know that we are unapologetically fighting for the working class people. We are a grassroots campaign. Unlike most other campaigns, I might say, we will never take any corporate PAC money or APAC money. Because you can't serve two masters. You can either serve the billionaire class or you can serve the rest of us. So I am serving the people. ⁓ Victoria Sparks and I have at least one thing in common, and that's that we are fighting for the class we belong to. She is fighting for the ruling class. I am fighting for the working class. And no matter what happens, the movement doesn't stop on election day. And once I'm in Congress, I will continue to fight for these things because I genuinely feel it down. I'm very passionate about these things down in my bones. ⁓ I'm very transparent. I try to be the most transparent out of anyone I know, out of all the politicians or candidates, I'll say. ⁓ You know exactly where stand, because I'll just blurt it out. if you any question, like, we serve you. It's a public service. It's supposed to be selfless service. know, Donald Trump acts like a boss. He tells everybody. Our leaders, our elected officials should be leaders. They should be, you know, they're not above us. They work for us. And that's something I've learned in the Army is like the higher you go, Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Jackson Franklin IN-5: you answer to more people because you have so many people to take care of. There's a saying, the mission, the men, and me, the men being very inclusive, of course. ⁓ We gotta make sure that we are accomplishing our goals, taking care of our people, and that's what you can count on me doing in Congress. Breaking The Meta: I just want to point out, I don't know if you saw in the news this morning, that Trump was given an award by the Republican Party or something now because that man just needs more awards to put somewhere that he can talk about. And it's gold, of course, because why not? Jackson Franklin IN-5: I know my FIFA Peace Prize president will get us out of this forever war, all right? I take those things very seriously. Breaking The Meta: Yeah, yeah. For anyone that wants to learn more about you and support you, whether it's through volunteering or donations, where can they find you? Jackson Franklin IN-5: Please go to JacksonFranklinforCongress.com. You can donate. There's a grassroots campaign, so every little bit helps. ⁓ So please donate what you can. ⁓ You can also sign up to volunteer. There's a volunteer sign up. Sign up for our newsletter, see our events. And we have a very extensive policy platform. I'm very proud of that. You know, some politicians, only have, you know, like their top three policies. We have like more than 20 on there, just because I'm like, hey, as I said, I'm trying to be transparent. I want to be transparent, ⁓ what is their plan for universal broadband and universal daycare, pre-K and all that stuff. So it's out there. So please go to JacksonFranklinforCongress.com. Follow us on social media, any app that you prefer, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Blue Sky, TikTok, all of them, Jackson Franklin for Congress. Type it in and we'll be there and we'll post on the regular. So. Breaking The Meta: There you go. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Yeah, every little bit helps. Bernie Sanders won this state in the primary in 2016, and 10 years after his victory, a grassroots progressive will win it again, but we need your help. Breaking The Meta: Jackson, thank you for spending some time with us, allowing us to get to know you a little bit and what you hope to do for your state of India. And I appreciate it. And for everyone else that is listening, thank you so much for listening this far. We appreciate it. Please hit all those buttons down below. Like, follow, subscribe, share, all of it. It's needed not only to help make it possible for me to do what I'm doing, which is interview amazing people like Jackson, but help these people get visibility and name recognition, which is necessary when they're not taking millions and millions and millions of dollars from PACS. Jackson Franklin IN-5: Thank you so much for having me. Take care. Breaking The Meta: They need people like us to watch their stuff and share it, which increases the chance that people in his district will get to see his face when the time comes to vote. So please do that. Please watch, please share. And for everyone who doesn't know anything about this podcast, just so you know, Breaking the Meta is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo and the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity, get rights, respect, dignity and safety. Jackson, again, thank you for being here and everyone else will see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye guys.