Voting with your Heart with Katy Stoll + John Olds

I know everything there is to know. Obviously I'm joking, um, but I really did have a good time and a very educational time doing the last episode, and I'm just so happy to be back having in another episode to talk about politics. And this one's going to be actually really really important to me. I originally in this election, and you'll know if you follow me on Twitter, I was originally a massive supporter. Met the guy, enjoyed it, donated to his cause, and uh, and that person is

Mayor Pete Pete Bout. I thought that when I scanned all of the presidential candidates, I I liked him a lot. I had the opportunity to meet him. I actually sang for him, which was super fun. So from that day I had always supported him. I knew it was an uphill battle supporting somebody not only who was young, UM, but was also gay and was not really was kind of the odd one out in the group of the big rat race that is becoming the president. UM. But I supported him and I liked him, and I knew

that he wasn't perfect. There were some things that I wasn't super happy with, but I loved that in the debates he talked about it and he said that he had messed up and he wanted to do something about it, and there was just something about him that made me feel like he was probably the most understanding of where we needed to go as a country. None of that matters because he didn't he dropped out. Uh. He he did not make the cut and uh and ended up

ultimately um pulling out of the race. And that was kind of shitty because I didn't really know where to go, you know, I didn't know who to support after that. UM. I knew that I knew there were a lot of definitely knows, you know, like there were there were a few people that I was like, man, this would really be cool, and then there was a few people there were definitely some candidates I was like, no way. I

ended up gravitating towards Elizabeth Warren. Again, I didn't love some of the policies she had, but it was something that actually, uh, we talked about in the last episode, which was that you're never going to find the perfect candidate, And there was something that always resonated in my head, and it was something even then that resonated in my head that's like, look, I don't think she was the perfect candidate, but compared to everything else, I thought that

she had the um. You know, she was the big the best match for where I stood again doesn't matter because she didn't make the cut. And now we're here and we're here with Um. Realistically, two people who have

the chance to become the president. And it's really hard because as much as I don't love Biden as the president, as the head of our country, as the as the leader of our country, the the commander in chief, there's no way in hell that I would ever vote for somebody who you know, openly doesn't denounce racism and doesn't denounce racial injustice and obviously doesn't support so many things that in the past I've talked about that I support, from the lgbt Q plus community to global warming and

climate change. But there's also no way that I'm going to throw my vote away, because if there's anything we learned from the last election is that every vote counts. Including if there's anything that we learned from the last episode on our podcast, is that every vote counts, and we're going to continue to understand that as we go forward with these political episodes. I actually had another conversation, but or we get into it, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine that that made me

think about humanity. I guess I was having a conversation with a friend and this friend doesn't have the same beliefs as I do, and we stand differently on a few things, um including who we plan to vote for this election. And instead of deciding to be mad and hate this friend and called and say this friends, you know this, that and the other, I decided to try something. And that thing that I tried was I asked him.

I said, let's take away the candidates. Let's take away the parties, Let's take away the name calling and slander, let's take away the fats, even, let's take away everything, and let's just say, what does this country look like in an ideal sense and other than two or three things.

We actually had the exact same thoughts. But I think the thing that's interesting is that as disappointed as I am in the Democratic candidate, as disappointed as I may be in our own country, in our own government, in many ways, if we strip it all down, are we really that far off? Are we really that different? So that got me thinking, when you don't support what your party is doing, what do you do? No? Welcome back, everybody.

This is Alex Iono here, this is my podcast. It's called Let's get into It and really, uh, nothing is off limits. And we proved that last week when we started talking about politics. You know me, I grew up in a family that said don't talk about politics and public but I got to follow my heart and that's actually what this whole episode is about, is voting with

your heart. I have two amazing guests here. I have one is an actress, producer and the co host of the podcast Some More News and Worst Year Ever, the one and only Katie Stall. How are you, Katie? I'm good. I'm good. Alex Sorr, I'm I'm doing really really well. I'm also excited. We have the co founder of gen z go Op and the co host of the gen Z go Op podcast, the One and only John Olds. John, how are you, brother, Well, I'm really really excited about

this topic. Again, I want to restate that this is by no means a debate. It's really three people who come from different walks of life with one cohesive idea, which is you have to get out and vote. You have to utilize your right to vote. Um And so we're gonna have some great topics. First, John and I are going to talk about what gen Z would do to the political right, and then Katie and I are

going to talk about Bye Bye Bernie. And then lastly, all three of us are gonna talk about why we should be voting anyways, which leads me to my first question that I have for both of you. Usually I asked my guests and what are you doing to improve yourself this week? But because we've been having these election lead up episodes, the question has changed and it has

become why do you vote? It's a loaded question. I've answered it a bunch of different times, but this one specifically, I vote because with the news of Brianna Taylor case and and the outcome of that, with none of the police officers being charged for the murder itself and one in one of the police officers only being charged with

endangerment of the neighbors. It really sparked a fire under me and inspired me even more that I have to get out there and if I want to make a change, the best way that we can make a change as a citizen in the United States is to vote. That being said, John, do you have an answer for us? Yeah? So I like your first question, what are you doing to improve yourself? This week I went back on the keto diet. No um, so that you would be surprised

that's actually been an answer. Really, Keto is fine anyway. So why do I vote? The simplest answer is, there are so many candidates out there, um And we talked so much about the presidential race and maybe senate races, but there are so many different leaders. There are so many like service oriented people, and I think we do

them a disservice when we don't vote. When we don't, you know, engage with them and and get involved on the local level, because that's where ultimately so much of the change is needed that will actually affect our lives. So that's why I vote. H I love that Katie what do you have to add to that? Actually, my answer is is very much in line with John's. I

vote because it's the first step in taking control. And if you're feeling powerless, if you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're feeling like this is not right, that you want to see some actual changes in your life, the very first step is showing up and doing this and voting for the candidates that you think reflect what you want to see. And I agree with what he's saying about the local level. It's I think we'll get into this later on when we talk about the election more, but it's about so

much more than the presidential election. The vast majority of improvements you're going to see in your life are happening at the local level. You want to talk about how your city is handling climate change, that's star with your city council representatives, and it's so easy to overlook that. It's so easy for that to get lost in the shuffle.

I mean, partly because they don't have as much attention and funding, so you know, they slipped through the cracks and we show up and we don't know who we're voting for. But if we can get engaged on that level, you can start to see tangible differences being made in your community. I love both of your answers because I think it plays perfectly into today's episode, which is Voting with your Heart. Katie will talk with you in just a bit, but John, it's time for us to go

one on one. I want to start off. We did a little bit of research off of your podcast and the gen Z go Op um. You've said before you feel politically homeless, and I think that that's a great place for us to start. I just would love to hear more about you and why it is you feel that way and why it is that in turn helped

you start something like gen z go Op. So when when we started gen z go Op, we basically realized that there were two things going on at once and we needed a way to kind of harness them together. So the first is that Republican Party is sort of gone off its moorings from where it used to be the party of John McCain, the party met Romney, and it's no longer that's the party Donald Trump. And this concurrently,

gen Z was disaffected by both major parties. You know, most gen Z people when they registered to vote they register is unenrolled. They don't choose the Republican or Democrat. And we said to ourselves, you know, there are a lot of issues that are important to gen Z, whether it's racial justice, whether it's income inequality, whether it's climate change, and there's only one party that's talking about them. So we said, you know what, we need to change the

course of our party. At the same time, harness the apathy and the disaffectiveness of the gen Z voters and kind of bring them into a party that they can be proud to be a part of. I mean, I think that that's so incredible getting gen Z, you know, on this show, and I can't say it enough. Go vote. Go if you're listening to this podcast right now and you're not registered, vote, Literally pause this podcast and go and register. Register while you're listening to the podcast. That's cool.

This election, the Pew Research Centers told us twenty four million teams will be voting for the first time, making them ten of eligible voters. On top of the basics, right on top of like you mentioned climate change and racial justice. Why do you think it's important for gen Z to be paying attention to politics so much so that you you started a gen z g OP, so this answer should start with a little bit of context. I come from Massachusetts, which is a very dark blue state,

and I'm a Republican in Massachusetts. So part of what we have done to help Republicans get elected in Massachusetts is instead of using the word conservative, using the word competence. You know, Republicans need to be about results, not necessarily

about partisan ideology. We've talked on a couple of episodes on our podcast about the deficit for example, and why America being in such bling debt is actually super important for young people because it might not affect them up front, but it's going to affect them down the road if certain entitlement programs aren't there. So we need to get

our for example, are spending under control. But what I was talking about earlier about results and Republicans being about the party of results, like that's where we need to be. The environment is not a partisan issue, but if you have one group that might have a plan for it, but it might not be politically tenable. But then you have the Republicans that have hypothetically they could have a plan that actually gets results to lower emissions and clean

the water and clean the air. That's what we need to be about. So gen Zars, I actually think they do care about a lot of things. They care about the issues that I mentioned earlier. I don't think there's a sense of apathy there, but there's a lack of results coming from our leaders on those issues, and Republicans need to be the ones to provide those results. I love that. There's a lot that I in my re search of of you and gen z Gop. You know, even in an article in Newsweek, you and some of

the co founders are actually wearing masks. Why do you think it's important for you as as the people of the party, especially the young people of the party, to stick with science and speak out about it, even though the party doesn't typically stand behind those things. So number one, to your point about masks, I mean, I know that's become a partisan thing, but it's honestly the least you can do. Like, I mean, for God's sakes, Like I

can't believe we're still talking about this. It's just so ridiculous, Like come on, Like, no one likes to wear the mask. It's obviously an inconvenience, but I'd rather have things be open and wearing a mask than not wear a mask and have everything to be closed. But okay, climate change

and environmental issues. You know, everyone talks about it like it's some sort of liberal dog whistle that you must be some sort of quasi communist if you care about the environment, which is just such an absurd logical leap, right. You know, when I think of cleaning up the environment, I think it actually really runs quite in line with

what I would consider traditional Republican and conservative ideals. You know, think about what's gonna reduce emissions At the end of the day, it's going to be the use of cleaner energies, and whether we like it or not, we will get to that renewable energy future faster if those energy sources are competitive, if they're cheap, and if they're efficient, and that's going to be driven by the market. That's going

to be driven by the free market. So I don't understand why Republicans are so averse to this issue, because solar, wind, nuclear, hydropower, geothermal energy, all of those are huge job creators, and we need to equip our workforce to actually get those jobs and bolster those sectors. But that's all the free market that's all capitalism, that's creating jobs. Those are all things the Republicans up until apparently the environment gets involved,

they love. And we need to really focus on that because the next generation of engineers, the next generation of workers in the energy sector, they're going to be focused on renewables. So we need to be making sure that the American energy sector is a part of the twenty one century and has a skilled workforce that's ready to go. I think the other thing that's interesting is that you know the current lawmakers right now, they're not going to see the worst effects of the climate change if we

continue on the path that we're on. Uh, it's more people of our age group. And again I'm going to come back to this gen Z group, who are going to really have to be dealing with it. What do you think we can do right now to make our voices heard? What do you think we can do to get that voice in their heads saying, Hey, you guys might not have to deal with it, but we are and we want to make some real change. Yeah. So number one, you should go to gen Z GOP dot

organs to be a part of our organization. We're trying to create this plat form and there are a number of organizations just like it on the right and on the left where it's so incredibly important that you get involved with these organizations. And you know, this is something that I've spent the better part of my summer working on. But other people, you know, go to like a meeting a week, or spend a couple hours on a Friday afternoon before you go out with your friends, or go

on your Zoom happy hour or whatever it is. There are so many ways to get involved. Uh, and it's not really that hard. The second thing I'll say, and I have to give credit to my friends on the left for doing this. They've created a lot of organizations to actually get people to run for office. It doesn't

have to be the Senate or the House. It could be a state legislative seat, it could be a city council seat, it could be a selectment race, and and those races, as we mentioned earlier, are so important and it's a way for us to have our voices be heard directly. You know, if you have a message that

you believe in, like you should stick your neck out. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that for three years basically since I was so frustrated with what was going on in my party, and I said to myself, well, I could just scream into the void on Twitter or Instagram, or I can vent to my my buddies about how terrible things in the Republican Party are. But at the

end of the day, I wasn't doing anything. So that's why we started gen z GOP because we wanted to stake our claim in this on this So you, you and your organization, you guys have actually been really really opening open about like you just were, about the shortcomings of the current president and your party. Um, and you've gotten involved with down ballot campaigning. I'm not gonna lie. I don't know what that is, and I think a

lot of my listeners don't know what that is. And so I would love for you to tell us a little bit more about that. In the importance of down ballet campaigning, Well, I personally have gotten involved. I think we should make that distinction. So, for example, part of being home during the quarantine and in the COVID crisis, you know, I go to school at George Washington University. I'm now back in Boston on a whim, you know,

locked in my house. In April, I sent a Facebook message to my state rep who I had kind of known but not super well, and ultimately we got connected and he goes, do you want to manage my reelection campaign? He's my state legislator, and I'm sure i'd be honored. And for the last six months, five months, I guess,

I've been running my state representatives reelection campaign. And he's a Republican in Massachusetts running for re election in a district that's pretty competitive, and he is kind of an example that there are Republicans out there that are talking about issues that matter to young people. He's got a great environmental record cleaning up the river, making sure that the water treatment plants upriver aren't dumping raw sewage into

the river. Yes, that's a real thing that happens. So what I'm trying to say is to circle back to your point about down ballot campaigning. There are so many races that never make the news that are competitive, and it might be in your backyard, and it's so important. You know, I got lucky. I happened to be politically connected, and I had certain privilege in that in that regard

that I got to manage a campaign. But these campaigns are looking for volunteers to go door to door, to make phone calls, to write letters to the editor, and that's down ballot campaigning. That's really cool. I mean, I really like again, and I said it in my earlier episodes. I didn't grow up super politically educated, and so a

lot of these things are really new to me. And so getting to use this podcast not only as a platform for us to spread information about this election and about voting, but also I get to just like learn new things, which is which is really really cool. So it seems right now that that the right is at a turning point and you have Trump supporters and you have Republicans, and that's kind of like increasingly becoming two different things. What does that say to you? How do

you feel about that concept? I wish I had a better answer for you, because we're trying to figure out ourselves. No matter what win or lose, the Republican Party is going to have to figure out where it's going to go after November three, and that's the point of our organization. We're trying to get our party to change its course a little bit, to be a party that's going to be competitive in the twenty one century because we're increasingly

becoming the party of old white men. And I know that might sound rich coming from me, who is a straight white guy, but it's important for us to be a part of that debate for where we're going because you better believe this, the Republican Party has and I'm not saying this as an oxymoron, there's an intellectual Trumpism that's like waiting in the wings. You see it with Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, you see Josh Holly of Missouri. These are kind of more populous Republicans. They don't really

even call themselves conservatives. They call themselves market skeptic conservatives, and they're very socially conservative. And I think that. You know, as a young person, I say, I know what people in my high school and my university want to hear from their leaders, and it's definitely not that. So we need to be involved with this debate for where the party goes because we're loose, We're gonna have that debate. Well, John, I really appreciate all of your your your candor throughout

the whole situation. Uh. I love what you're doing with getting gen z involved and staying educated and fighting for causes that in reality we're going to have to deal with as the young people as this ten percent of eligible voters. What would you tell somebody who just thinks that they're too young to get involved? I mean, you and I are both. I'm right on the cusp of being gen z um, but I'm I'm a millennial, but

I too feel like, man, I'm too young. Like you mentioned this is it feels like we aren't being represented as clearly as we could be. So sometimes it feels like it's not our play. So what would you tell to somebody who feels like that it feels like we're too young to get involved in politics? Well, you're not.

Sometimes that's kind of that, you know, like part of something that I don't know if this is a gen z characteristic or just certain people that they construct these barriers for themselves, like, oh, I can't do this because X, And there's literally no justification for that reason other than like they've mentally put it up in their head. And I think that sometimes it really is just that simple.

I got involved in politics because I had a place Matt at my table when I was five, and it had all the president's faces on it, and I memorized them, and I just kind of caught the bug. And I remember going to my library when I was a kid and there was this wall of books just about current events in politics. I don't know why they had it, but it was some sort of section in the library. I remember getting them, taking out a couple of books

at a time. I'd skim them, I'd read parts of them, return them, rinse and repeat, and you just kind of catch the bug. And then I went to school in Washington got involved that way. Politics yearns for normal people. I think what turns off a lot of people is that some of the activists that you might hear the loudest voices in the room, like when you drill down to it, politics is all they have. Part of what we're trying to do with gen z GOP. We're people

that have interests other than politics. And I think that people don't recognize that it's okay to like sports, or to like hiking, or you can be artistic and also be into politics. They're not mutually exclusive. A lot of people can do politics as a hobby. A couple hours a week. You make phone calls for your local legislator, you write a letter to the editor. These are things that don't take a long time. But you also don't have to be yelling and screaming and trying to make

a headline every every five seconds. Well, thank you so much, John for coming on here and and talking to me about this and educating me more about politics. I really appreciate. We're gonna take a break and when we come back, I'll be talking with Katie about some real, real fun and sad moments of the Democratic Party. We'll be back. Al Right, we are back. This is let's get into it. And uh and we're here with Katie Stole and we're talking.

I don't know, I don't know why. I think it's so funny, Katherine that you've made this segment by by Bernie and I want you to put this in the show. I have to give a shout out to Catherine for coming up with a funny asked name for this segment. Um, Katie. At first, I want to talk about your podcast. You you celebrated one year since the launch of your political

podcast called Worst Year Ever, So congratulations. Um. Also, do we have you to blame for everything that's actually made this year worse, like are you and are you predicting? I had no idea how much weight, uh, the universe puts into my words and my time. No. Actually, Robert, my co host, Robert Evans, was the one that originally pitched the title. We all fussed with it and landed on that. But I think that the blame if anything

goes with him. Yeah, you guys started, you guys started working, You started worst year ever and the world said, hold my beer, Like that's really just what that's like? What that's what happened? Well, Katie, I'm so happy that you're here. And while this section isn't all about Bernie, even though

Catherine made the title by by Bernie Um. He stands for the ideals that a lot of more progressive voters wanted for this election and the drastic countermeasures that a lot of people that support him think that we need. Just to give people an idea, so that as we dissect this this segment, where do you fall in that

spectrum of of progressivism, of your progressive ism? I would call myself very progressive, maybe not as much so as my co hosts perhaps or other people you know that I but that mostly comes down to I do believe in working that we have to work within this system. I'm not someone that's like you, voting third party is going to be effective. I understand that the desire to say, like, no, I don't support either of these candidates because nothing ever changes,

and I want to make a stand. But I understand that, but I don't think that that's our way forward. I was a big Bernie supporter. I was also a big Warrant supporter. Slightly less progressive, but I saw her as somebody that could work with people across the board, you know, to some degree. But I loved her and I loved Bernie both because they both represented the things that I want to see happening in this country and within our party.

I want to talk about that specifically, because as we all know, neither of them are the democratic of them are the candidate. So before we get I still want to talk more about your beliefs and how it flows. But I think this would be an interesting time for us to start unwrapping how you felt when you realized that Biden was going to be the candidate, and if Kamala made any of that a consolation or made it made it feel any better. Um um, how did I feel?

You know, it was the first hard blow was when it was clear that Warren wasn't going to get any traction and I voted for Bernie. I did, but that was prior to us a Super Tuesday. They were both my candidates, and I was going back and forth between them. But I really responded to Warren, and it felt like a real deep grief being misunderstood by the world. I eat out that there's there's lots of questions about whether

a woman is a viable candidate in our country. In in I was happy that Bernie was still in the race, so there was some consolation for that I could pivot all of my energy to supporting him. It was depressing.

It was a really hard a couple of weeks during those primaries, and it was hard also because it coincided with the beginning of the pandemic, so it was really difficult for me to wrap my mind around, Okay, we're gonna support Joe Biden went to me, the answer to a global pandemic is the person that is promoting Medicare for all, that wants to do something about income and equality, who is consistently saying the things that need to be said and showing up in the ways we need our

leaders to show up. And so that was a really difficult period for me. But it's not the alternative. You know, a lot of people point to saying, um, Joe Biden is the most progressive Democratic candidate we've ever had, and in many ways that's true. In many ways that's not true because the country keeps growing and we keep in generally becoming more progressive. So what is your benchmark here?

But at a very basic level, I also could understand, after I gave myself just a little bit of space from it, I can understand why, in this specific moment, uh, he seemed like the safe choice for a lot of people. And I know intellectually that just because I leave something with my whole being doesn't mean that I'm going to make you believe everything with your whole being. And that is part of the beauty and flaws of this system

is that we have to work together. As much as I might think the other guy's wrong, we have to we have to work together. So I really came back to that, and as things have progressed right now, I keep coming back to that and thinking, yeah, perhaps this is the way that it needs to be right now.

But you know, especially the way our media works and twists things and and obvius skates things, that the person that we have known the longest and appeals to the broad swath of the voting populace might be a better bet for us. The thing that that makes me nervous

right now that everybody seems so disillusioned. The other night I saw Bernie put out a really great response to I believe it was the Brianna Taylor situation with the rulings that came into, you know, the charges that are not being brought, and I thought, what, I still wish that that was the person that I was voting for.

I'm worried that the ground game isn't mobilizing enough, that people are feeling just so disaffected right now, and that we're going to have a repeat of That's the thing that's interesting is I feel like I feel like we spent the last four years constantly talking about how and why Republicans have been disillusioned again and again and again with Trump. Why do you think that now we're here and a lot of Democrats feel disillusioned by the lesson

effective choices that the left is made well. I think on a basic level, Biden isn't inspiring to people in a this role way. He's not going up there saying, um, suggesting a bold response to all of the problems, you know, And I think that for a lot of people it's just um, they just feel a little deflated right now, you know, and exhausted just across the board, exhausted by

the onslaught. You said also that you referred to Biden as the safe choice, and I think that that's a very kind I think it's a very kind thing to say, honestly, Like I think he is that, you know, he's that safe choice. He doesn't want to He's trying to ruffle as little feathers as he can to try and come in as the anti problem. We got so many problems though, you know. We have climate change on the brink of being irreversible. We have racism that's costing lives, a growing

death toll because of coronavirus. Do you think that a candidate like that, who doesn't want to ruffle feathers, do you think that they can actually do enough in time to make a big difference. I'm like, what's what's the I'm still trying to still trying to be optimistic about the honest one or the hopeful one. I mean, I think, I think, I don't. I don't think. I don't think that UM coming in with a milk toast compromise solution

is the answer to our problems. I think a milktoast compromise platform probably appeals to more people in order to do the the first step of getting Donald Trump out of office. So I see the argument for that. Also, we just can't do public compearences right now because of the coronavirus. But there is also something to be said about, Okay, well, then there's not as many gaffs, and that is not a position that we want to be in. We do

not want to be thinking that about our candidate. But but but but but but but I do think that it's better than nothing. I do think that it gets us closer to where we want to be. I do think that we put pressure and we continue to be as engaged as we are now and say no, your climate, this isn't good enough, This response to the last unions isn't good enough. I don't know how much power, how

much traction, that actually gives us. I don't know how much tangible change that we see from that, but I do know that we continue to normalize our opinions during that time. We continue to point out what's wrong, why

things aren't working, and then we get more power. More of us get involved on a local level, more of us start doing things, not just because Trump is in office, but because we care about them, and we see that it's vital, and things start to change and we chip away at it, and then hopefully the next administration is someone that can do a broader, more comprehensive approach to things. This is not the best answer, it's not my ideal situation, but we got to work with what we got. That's

kind of how I see it. That's the thing that's That's the thing that's interesting to me is, you know, I just had a conversation with John Olds, and now we're having our conversation. And while the parties are completely in different places, right, both parties I think are at a bit of a turning point. You know, a lot of people don't think somebody who is down the center

like Biden will do enough. Whereas there you know, there are a group of Republicans who are at a turning point, saying that we've strayed so far away from the Republican Party. What are you making out of these these splits? Are you thinking that there could be, you know, party splits. Do you think that it's just an uprising of the new generation of Democrats and Republicans? What do you take

from all that? Yeah? I think it. I think there's like ideological wars happening in each party, and ideally we end up in a place where we have not a two parties system. The vast majority of people that I know do not cleanly fit in to their party's ideology,

and it is a shifting of the old guard. There are people, you know, John had mentioned in his section the Republican Party is the party of old white men, a lot of old white men, and the Democratic Party as well, and that's changing because Democrats more closely aligned with the values of progressivism. Um, but it's not good enough for a lot of us. So I don't know what the future holds in terms of if we can

break free of the two parties system. It will take a long time, involves a lot of different tricky things. But I do see more and more that the progressive faction within the Democratic Party is growing and and and it comes back to also, yes, young people getting involved and saying I'm going to get involved, and people in general, but young people especially and for Trump, for Republicans, I just called them all Trump. Um, I don't know what

happens there. You know. I am thrilled to see people like John you know, representing a different kind of Republican youth. But there's a lot of people that have drank the kool aid, so to speak, and they're all in, and they're really dug in. And I'm not sure how those things reconcile because of as of right now, the people in power are allowing this this new ideology to take the reins. So I'm not really sure how that looks. I do know that Joe Biden more closely resembles a

classic Republican than Donald Trump does. I want to care about moving the needle on the issues that are important. I want to start normalizing medicare for all. I want to normalize the conversation around policing and and racism, systemic racism, you know, anyway I can ramble about I literally was about to say I need you to say that one louder for the people in the back, because I know personally there are that there are some people who need to hear that one right there, that Biden bodies and

bodies a Republican more than Donald Trump does. That's insane. Uh, You've been such an amazing guest. I love having guests on who have their own podcasts because it just makes my job so easy. Thank you so much for coming on. I have one last question. I think that this one is very very important because I know a lot of people. I a lot of my friends even who were so excited about Elizabeth Warren, specifically for my friends. I had a lot of friends who are very Warren meaning um.

And then you know yourself, like you mentioned, you loved Warren, you loved Bernie, you got Biden. You know, I feel like you you went to the you went to the vending machine and you put in C seven and instead of getting your Snickers bar, you ended up getting milk duds. And that's where we are. No hates anybody who likes milk duds. They just they get stuck in your teeth. It's a little they do. They can pull out your feelings, but they're delicious. They are delicious. Back to my question,

kids don't have feelings. My question is back to my question, um for voters who were excited just like you about Warren, about Sanders, what should they do when Biden is their only choice? They should vote for him. It's tough. I I understand if you're I I intellectually I get it if you're like, I'm not voting for somebody a lesser of two evils, or a lot of people don't see him as a lesser of two evils looking at his track record, And I get that. That's hard. That's a

hard thing to reconcile. And I hate to say it's better than nothing. But if you believe, if you believe so firmly in all of these these issues that drove you to support them in the first place, you have we have to make peace with the fact that we're not going to be getting any closer to any of that with another four years of Trump. In fact, we're going to regress. We're gonna be even more dug in, We're gonna be even more we're gonna be even farther

away from the truth from addressing climate change. It's not too late. We can do stuff, but it's got to happen immediately. So if you believe in all of these things, not voting isn't the answer. It's voting and not giving up once your vote is cast. It's not going back to Obama era politics where we just assume the guy's got things on lock and has things under control. As much as as as good of a president as Vamba was,

lots of shady stuff happened under him as well. You know a lot of people don't know that kids started being detained under him. It was different. The policy expanded under Trump and has become far less humane, but the original things started then, for example, drone strikes. And I understand that there's a lot of pressures on a president that I do not I can't conceptualize. But I'm just saying we didn't know that because we weren't paying attention, and that era has to be gone. We do not

survive as a species. And I do not mean to be alarmist, but we don't survive or as a country. By going back to that, as as appealing as at night sound, there will be balance, but we need people to triage the current wound and then continue to do rehabilitation and not just check out, is I guess is my my pitch to everybody. I think accountability at this point is the only way that we can continue progressing. And that I wanted to just say that popped into

my head right now real quick. If you're not pumped about Biden, there are lots of people you can get pumped about. We've mentioned local downballot races. If you're in Los Angeles, for example, Nititia Rahman, an amazing progressive candidate and on a city council level, can do actual change that you see in your life. In the next several years. You can see those things actually happening if we get some people like that elected. And there are people all

over the country that are running. And so if you need something to get fired up about, another reason to go to the polls on election day, it's to go to the polls and supported them and then also vote for Joe Biden while you're there, and while you're there, while you're there to take on the old mark for Mr Biden. Katie, thank you so much for your views, really with you and John, and I'm so excited for this next segment because I know that something rate we're

gonna be talking about some great stuff. But I'm really grateful that both of you guys came on, especially you and your story. You know, when you're at this lesser of two evil situation, where do you stand? Where should you stand? How should you act? So thank you for giving some clarity on that. We're gonna be taking a quick break. When we come back. We're having our big round table talking about why you should vote and why you should vote with your heart. Don't go anywhere. Al Right,

we are back. This is let's get into it. I got Katie Stolen, John Olds here with me, and we're talking about why it's so important to vote, not only vote, but vote with your heart. But before we get into the heart part, we've spent the last two segments talking about why each party has disappointed huge swaths of their supporters. But all of that being said, it's still incredibly vital to vote, and as we learned in our last episode,

every vote does count. We've all heard the never ending list of excuses why people refuse to vote, whether it's we're confined to a two party system and it doesn't work, so why should we vote. I don't like my candidates, so many people vote mine doesn't make a difference. Even people, especially in California, talking about, oh, well, we already know who's going to get elected, you know, out here, so

it's not that important to vote. What would you say to somebody who's still, even with everything that's happened in our country for the last four years, still is saying they don't want to vote, they don't plan on voting. I would say that nothing changes until you take that initiative for yourself, and that it can be easy to feel like it doesn't matter. You mentioned California, but as you know, John and I both have spoken about it's

about way more than just the presidential election. It's about all of the other candidates that need us to show up, and we talk about being disaffected, and nothing ever changes. You know why, because people don't vote. The vast majority of citizens do not vote. They are tired of the status quo. They're tired of the system. We don't have. We don't have election day a holiday, so a lot of people have to choose between making a livelihood or showing up to do their civic duty, you know, childcare,

they're all sorts of different things. But that changes when we show up in numbers, and also just this whole idea that your vote doesn't matter. You can look at so many elections, especially like midterm races. Let's say where these races are called with a matter of like a hundred votes, it literally is imperative that you show up and exercise You're right, it can make all the difference. And and I mentioned control. Well, I don't know about you, guys,

but I feel just so overwhelmed and inundated. And the one thing that's a through line is that I get to show up and officially say I stand for this, and that means something. I know a lot of your listeners are younger, and you know, you talked about why young people might not want to get involved, and I get it. When you're younger, you don't quite have the

same perspective. That's not a dis It's like you've got a whole bunch of other amazing qualities, but sometimes you don't realize the importance of a single action, you know. And I know so many people in my peer group I'm a little bit older than you, just a little bit, who have deep regrets for not getting involved sooner, when they had the energy, when they had more time at their disposal. Uh, you know, less bogged down by family obligations and crazy work days. So this is the time

to show up and learn these lessons. It's a great answer, John, Do you have anything that you want to add to that? So do you ever remember I don't know if they do this or where you live, but your energy bill and they kind of audit your energy use and they compare it to the energy uses of like your five neighbors, and you either get a smiley face or a frowny face, or like, oh, you know you're showering for too long,

use less heat. I'm of the opinion that if we did that for voting, we would get far more people to turn out because think of it this way. If I know my neighbors are voicing their opinions and I either agree with them or disagree with them, no matter what I would say, well damn I should probably voice my opinion too. So that's number one. As Katie mentioned, there are barriers to voting and that that's a separate discussion. But I think saying I don't want to vote and

I can't vote are very different things. So do the people who say I don't want to vote? There are quantifiable results from your apathy. You know, there are so many candidates out there right now on both sides of the aisle that one person wants to divide, one person wants to bring people together, one person wants to get results, and the person wants to disagreement to the void. And I think that by not voting, we don't choose the person that wants to get results. We're in a time

of crisis. This is a pandemic and an economic crisis, and you're gonna stay home when we're choosing the people who are going to deal with that. Like, that's a problem. Yeah, And I think. You know, my nephew is eighteen and I'm having a hard time convincing him to vote. You know, he's pretty dug in in the fact that it doesn't make a difference, that it doesn't even matter which party you know who it is, that they're all politicians. And

I get that. I get that feeling. But the first step is still to show up and vote and to move the needle in the direction that you want. The second step is to get involved. As you mentioned earlier, John, you can get involved. You can show up to your city council, you can run for city council. You would be surprised at how much easier it is to gain entry to this private club. And you know what happens. Then you get to actually enact change. We don't get

to move on past this point through apathy. We get to move forward by by stay ending up and doing something, physically doing something. And that is not possible for everybody. Not everybody can run for office. But you can be involved. You can support the people, You can pay attention and you can see who reflects your values. You can do mutual aid, you can get involved in different grassroots organizations, and all of that is about being politically active, and

all of that is about changing your future. And your future is the most important one because you're going to be here the longest. You know, we're still here, but like you're gonna have to carry the torch. I at this point, if you're listening to this podcast, you haven't been convinced to vote yet. I don't know what else we can say it we got to We got two people just ripping you up, so please again. I mean, I I know that we all learn our lessons in

the time that we learned them. But one thing that I hope this intense time of social economic upheaval can can show you is that the impossible is absolutely possible, and it is happening. It doesn't go away by ignoring it. So so now that we've hopefully convinced everybody listening this to vote or to register to vote, UM, I want to talk about the part about voting with your heart. UM. I think it's important to note that an enthusiastic vote

counts just as much as an unenthusiastic vote. And so I have a question for both of you guys who, throughout this podcast we've seen have shown frustrations with your own parties. Should you vote with your party even if you can't stomach the candidate that you're saddled with? Do you think that there's a better alternative? What are your thoughts here, John, Well, that's pretty subjective, Like I don't know.

I I feel like you can dislike a candidate and still vote for them, but it depends on the level of dislike that in distaste that you have for that candidate. I don't know. I don't vote the party I like to, you know, think about who I'm going to vote for. I mean, full disclosure. I've I've actually voted for one Democrat in my life. I'm not going to say who, but I voted for one scary but I didn't like the Republican running and so I cast my ball for

the other person. That aside, you gotta evaluate the candidates on their merits, and you know, sometimes you might have a personal disagreement. I also, this is going to be a terrible answer because I'm in a tough spot. No, not if you if you feel like you're in a

tough spot, you gotta do with it. I think you gotta evaluate the person on their merits, and if the personal distaste for that person outweighs how much you like their policies, and you know it's a gut feeling, you know that you just can't do it, that you can't stomach a vote for that person, then you gotta either leave it blank or vote for the other guy, or I don't know, it depends. Yeah, that's ticky. I think that the question, it absolutely is very subjective. It depends

on the situation, but it's it's for me. There's like a hierarchy of stuff like, Okay, what are their policies, what are they promoting them? On a personal level, what's at stake if I choose not to vote, So what's the other option, the alternative what happens if I don't support this person and the other guy wins? And all of that has to inform like, I can't sit here and tell you absolutely should only vote for Democrats versus Republicans, because I don't think that that is that's not sincere

and honest. It's it's pretending that Democrats are infallible or that our guy. It's it's very hyperpartisan. However, right now things are hyperpartisan. I look at that, and look, Hillary Clinton not an ideal candidate in any capacity. I get that. I was befuddled, And this is no, I don't need to know how you voted John In or your family

or anything like that. But I was very confused on a personal level for people that I know and love that are conservative who didn't seem to care that he has a long track record of very valid sexual assault claims. And it hurt me in my core that political differences aside that my my childhood best friend who has little girls, that that didn't bother them. And that's a perfect example of the kind of thing that you should sit down

and really consider, like what are your values here? But then there's also the whole thing of like like, look at the other side, what's at stake? And it's a really, really tough position to be in, and it is definitely a burden that we have to carry. But again it all comes back to if you don't like the options, we start getting involved now so that in the future we have better options. But the answer in the moment

isn't to just say burn the whole system down. I think, um, I want to change the tone a little bit because I want to end on a very positive note, because I really do think I'm gonna lie when I when we first started talking about having a Republican and a Democrat and me on a podcast, I got a little nervous that we would end up it would end up in a fiery debate. But what I love the most is that the both of you would have found such

great common ground. And I think that there are some some areas in which Democrats and Republicans at at their heart, Like you both have said, it's a there's a difference between what the party says and does from the top and how you kind of act and feel with your heart. How can we continue to build on that? How can

we continue to build on finding common ground? I personally think that that's the only way that we can start kind of joining together is by not doing us versus them type of situation, but really seeking to understand each other.

Granted the very clear things like racial justice and gender equality and all of the equality bits we need to all agree on specifically, But outside of that, how do you guys both feel, and this is the last question before we close out, how do you guys both feel we can continue building on that common ground and really start searching for a little bit more of a better relationship. I'd say, well, so I can kind of give you an answer. Well, first of all, I don't bite believe

the big bad Republican is here. It goes back to my comment that I made earlier. And I don't mean to be like off color or inarticulate about this, but when normal people talk about politics, it is like de

facto civil See, here's the problem. Our political system rewards people that throw rocks and yell and scream, and if you want to get anything done, you have to go to the people that have the power to make the change or you try to become the people with the power, and people in power do not respond to yelling and screaming. People want to have a dialogue. People like if you were to talk to your neighbor about a political issue, you probably wouldn't scream and yell at them and speak

and say ound bites. You probably ask questions, why do you think that if we talk about politics like normal people. Yeah, you know, I have a slightly different the yelling and the showing up in the voice of your opinion. I think that there is definitely, um, a time and a place for that when when things are intense. You know, I believe in the power of protests. I think that a lot of stuff is getting skewed right now and

it's a bit out of control everything. We don't need to get into that about the efficacy of protests right now, but I believe in them deeply. But I do subscribe to that myself. And it's hard right now when everybody is just so amped up to the you know, they're at full throttle one. We're we're so busy saying our opinion that we're not listening. Um. When I've done I've done a lot of campaigning for people or you know, volunteering, showing up, knocking on doorsteps, and it comes down to that.

It comes down to saying like okay, well, uh, how about this specific issue and having a general conversation, and that's how you find common ground. Um. I said this on a break to John, but I really respect hearing him talk about where where he's coming from and what he's doing because you know, so much of my exposure to you know, young uh Republicans has been a bit of more of the Trumpett brand where it's it's it's you know, there is a faction of people that are

manipulating truth to serve their own narratives. And right now we have a disagreement across the board about what truth is and and we're all so dug in. But if we can come together and have actual conversations, like you were saying, you start to see the through lines. You see where we agree and you see where we disagree, and we can learn from each other. You know, I'm not always right about everything, But there's a lot of

stuff that's trial and error. A lot of stuff is us saying like we haven't tried this, let's try this. You know, we've tried this system. We haven't and there might be mistakes that are made. But if we've come together and we act actually learn how to listen to each other and learn from each other, that's a vastly different political landscape, if I may. Um. So, I just want to be clear. When I talk about yelling and screaming, I mean it in a sense that anger is not

a bad emotion. In fact, some of the most just and productive things that we can do in the world are born out of anger, right, So I'm not saying that necessarily. What I'm saying is that yelling for, you know, to be self aggrandizing to yourself rather than a cause that you believe in. Like, there are a lot of people grifting, yeah, you know, profiting off of me. We've got them on the left and the right. Oh, believe me, I'm well aware. And and and it's such a problem.

So that's the kind of yelling and rancor that I'm against. I'm not necessarily, not necessarily against. And I didn't think that you said that, but that was just where my mind went, and just in case, and but he was thinking that, Like I'm I'm an advocate of protests, but I also think that there is a respectful way to

have a conversation. And sometimes sometimes that's hard, especially when people aren't coming to the to this stage with a good faith argument, when they're not actually listening to the words you're saying, or they're drawing on the facts, and we are all both sides have people that are guilty of it, and I try to bring that to my work. But and this is what we're trying to talk about

that you mentioned. We don't have a common set of facts, Like we're squabbling over what is the truth, Like, Okay, you have climate change, we have X amount of emissions, it is a measurable thing. We're going to say that that's not real. I can I can say I think that we should have market based climate solutions, and that I think nuclear energy is a good thing, and that the regulatory environment shouldn't be so complex for people. And

you might disagree with that. If we're discussing what is real, having that common set of facts is something that we're trying to bring to the table that you know, we can disagree about things, but we at least have to be talking in the same universe. So I would literally listen, I could listen to you guys talk back and forth because it is, like you said, very very calm. It's a regular conversation with your neighbors. Unfortunately, we're running out

of time. Um and before we end, I want to give you guys, because both of you have such strong voices and so I want you both to do some shameless promo. John, I want you to to promo everything you can places that people can find you and listen to you more if if they if they're really feeling the gen z go op vibes. Yeah, the gen z Gop podcast we do three episodes a month. You can find us on Twitter at gen z gop pod or gen z gop org the pod. The pot account is

just for our podcast. For on Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Podcast. You can go to gen z gop dot org and sign up to you either become a member or you can submit a resume to become a part of our team. We're looking for new and excited voices to come to our movement. And then also I'll plug my own personal Twitter for some hot take, current events and Boston sports. It's at John olds m A love it. I love it well, John, Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you for sharing your voice in your opinion and and I really appreciate it. All Right, Katie, where can everybody find you? Oh? You can find me in a variety of places. I'm also on Twitter at Katie Stole.

I co host Worst Year Ever, which is a podcast with I Heart Radio as well with Robert Evans from Behind the Bastards and Cody Johnston that was originally supposed to be all election related, but you know, things have changed since we launched that podcast, and so you know we're we're talking about ah a lot, a wide a wide range of topics. Oh, we keep been interesting. We

could get interesting guests. Uh. You also can check out my other podcast, Even More News, that I co host with Cody Johnston that is a companion to our YouTube channel Some More News, Uh, and it's a lot of deep dives looks at honestly all the stuff that you would expect us to be covering, and we do. Our videos range from twenty minutes to an hour. Some of them are long, but you know you've got time to kill right now. Nice. Well, you guys know you can

always find me at alex Iono on all platforms. That's the best part about having a weird last name, it's a I O n Oh. Please make sure you rate and subscribe to this podcast. That is how we grow and I thank you so much for coming through today. We'll talk to you guys next week and until then, peace. We really want you to get the help you need, so if you need help, please seek independent advice from

a competent healthcare or meant a health professional. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do not represent the opinions of iHeartMedia or its employees. This podcast should not be used as medical advice, mental health advice, counseling, or therapy. Listening to the podcast does not established doctor patient relationship with hosts or guests of ALEXIONO,

Let's Get Into It or I Heeartmedia. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on this podcast. Who if That's a Doozy