Have you ever wondered how veterans continue to shape our political landscape post-service? Join me as I sit down with Pablo Capistrano from the El Paso County Democratic Party Veterans Outreach Committee to unravel the depths of veterans' political activism and the pressing need for their voices in today's democracy. Pablo sheds light on the importance of dispelling myths about party allegiance, particularly the notion that military support is a Republican hallmark, and urges voters to align their ballots with their personal values.
Our conversation doesn't shy away from the tough questions, as we examine the challenges of engaging constructively with conservatives who don't subscribe to extremist ideologies. I share anecdotes from my own life about the delicate art of discussing politics with friends and family who hold different views. These stories highlight the transformative power of empathy in political discourse, hinting at the potential to bridge divides and foster understanding through respectful conversation. Furthermore, we dissect the worrying trends within the Republican Party, drawing parallels with examples of democratic backsliding internationally and underscoring the crucial role of independent and unaffiliated voters in pushing back against these trends.
The episode wraps up with an exploration into the deepening influence of right-wing extremism on local issues, such as school board elections and cannabis legalization movements. Through my discussion with Pablo, we spotlight the significant impact that local community action can have, especially when it comes to protecting the integrity of public education and supporting veterans' needs. If you're looking for a thought-provoking listen that combines personal insights with an impassioned plea for civic engagement, this is the episode for you.
www.EPCCPV.org or info@epccpv.org
Have you ever wondered how veterans continue to shape our political landscape post-service? Join me as I sit down with Pablo Capistrano from the El Paso County Democratic Party Veterans Outreach Committee to unravel the depths of veterans' political activism and the pressing need for their voices in today's democracy. Pablo sheds light on the importance of dispelling myths about party allegiance, particularly the notion that military support is a Republican hallmark, and urges voters to align their ballots with their personal values.
Our conversation doesn't shy away from the tough questions, as we examine the challenges of engaging constructively with conservatives who don't subscribe to extremist ideologies. I share anecdotes from my own life about the delicate art of discussing politics with friends and family who hold different views. These stories highlight the transformative power of empathy in political discourse, hinting at the potential to bridge divides and foster understanding through respectful conversation. Furthermore, we dissect the worrying trends within the Republican Party, drawing parallels with examples of democratic backsliding internationally and underscoring the crucial role of independent and unaffiliated voters in pushing back against these trends.
The episode wraps up with an exploration into the deepening influence of right-wing extremism on local issues, such as school board elections and cannabis legalization movements. Through my discussion with Pablo, we spotlight the significant impact that local community action can have, especially when it comes to protecting the integrity of public education and supporting veterans' needs. If you're looking for a thought-provoking listen that combines personal insights with an impassioned plea for civic engagement, this is the episode for you.
www.EPCCPV.org or info@epccpv.org
And joining me today is Pablo Capistrano. He is with the El Paso County Democratic Party Veterans Outreach Committee. He is a Colorado Springs resident and a 20-year veteran of the US Navy. He moved here after his retirement to work in the defense space industry. Pablo, thanks for joining me today. Thanks for having me this Veterans Outreach Committee that the Democratic Party has. What is the purpose of it and what's your vision for it?
Speaker 2:Well, it's kind of serves two purposes, right? So, first off, the Veterans Outreach Committee is exactly what it sounds like. We're looking to reach out to the veteran and military community. That includes folks who were in the military, folks who were dependents, you know, people who have friends and family that are currently active duty and let them know what the track record is on the Democratic Party when it comes to voting for veterans issues and voting for veterans benefits and voting for a strong national security and a strong military.
Speaker 2:The second thing that we do is we try to keep the Democratic Party here honest, right. We try to make sure that the party and the candidates are knowledgeable and sensitive to issues that affect veterans in the military community most right Things like veteran homelessness, the suicide rate, status of benefits, whether that's through the VA, or whether or not reservists get a full retirement at age 59 and a half or if we can get it to them sooner Things that matter the most to the veteran community In El Paso County. We try to keep front of mind for all the Democratic candidates as well as the party leadership.
Speaker 1:That's an interesting take on it. Just, accountability is a big thing in the military and making sure that our Democrat candidates know the information are accountable so that when they're out there speaking it's critical to get the message out. I think Democrats in general have done a poor job at highlighting how much they support the military, because people when you're out in the public they still think that, oh, republicans, that's your military folks.
Speaker 2:That's been the brand, right, and unfortunately, I think, a lot of that brand. It doesn't bear real truth when you look at the voting records, right, but unfortunately, when folks think of Democrats they think it's the 80s again. I've got Ronald Reagan who wants to build a 300-chip Navy and I've got Walter Mondale who wants to surrender to the Soviets. None of that was true then. None of it's true.
Speaker 1:Now, right With that perception, though, people need to start realizing the Republican voting records, and they need to compare that to their own values, because if their votes don't match up with their values, they need to look elsewhere. For other candidates and Democrats, I always have a lot of good candidates across the board, from local seats to state and federal seats, but this election cycle is going to be crazy. Oh yeah. It's like we never left the 2020 election cycle, like for the last three years, four years, election denials. I get Facebook posts every day. I get calls every day from people that just want to yell at me about a stolen election and stuff like that. It's pretty rough. It is. What are some of the signs and things like that that we've got to look for going into this election cycle and things to be keyed up on?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, from the VETS outreach committee perspective I think President Biden covered a lot of it in his recent speech from Valley Forge and I'm sure folks have seen it in the news as well the Republican Party, as necessary as it is to have a two-party system and a loyal opposition and real, distinct, tangible choices in our elections for now the Republican Party seems to have abandoned democracy as a principle. I'm talking a little bit democracy, right. I'm talking governance by consent, the things our founding fathers fought for, the things that you, me and the listeners of your podcast sworn oath to uphold and defend.
Speaker 2:I think it's not a surprise to anybody that Donald Trump is going to be the nominee Like. He's far and away the most popular guy on that side, which is mind-blowing. I know it's completely mind-blowing. Trust me, as a McCain voter, I told him to get a former McCain voter, I know where you're coming from. He obviously has no respect for the rule of law or constitution, right? His 90 plus felony charges certainly are proof of that. He attempted to engineer a violent overthrow of the government through subverting a free and fair election. But despite all that, like you said, he's like the guaranteed nominee. Like Nikki Haley, ron DeSantis they're not even close.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's scary. In the Republican Party anybody that you know was speaking up because, like Liz Cheney, she wrote that oath in honor book and if you haven't listened to it it's great. She reads it on audible so you actually get to hear some of her tone and stuff like that. I think she's officially not in the Republican. Party anymore right, yeah, she got the boot because she stood up for our constitution.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lisa McCromney, mcc whatever, threw her out because she was disloyal.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, she didn't follow the king and you know she paid the price for it. You know so when they're chasing good people out and I mean even you know Ken Buck in the fourth district here you know him retiring probably because he's sick of the BES.
Speaker 2:And not to say Ken Buck's, my favorite, but I, you know, tip of the hat. This guy, this is apparently a man of principle. He looked, he surveyed the landscape and he saw the company he was in. He said I can be a part of this, yeah, and even during the election.
Speaker 1:He was in charge of our elections here and he repeatedly said like no, like, these are safe. This was a loss.
Speaker 2:Like you know Guys like Ken Buck, guys like Adam Kinzinger right Guys like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney. You have these people of conscience who you know. I personally disagree vehemently on with policy, but that's fine. Let's have that discussion. Let's have that debate, let's have that argument within the construct of a representative of a republic, within a democracy right. What Trump and the current GOP are advocating for right now is the opposite of that. They don't want to have the argument anymore, they just want to do it their way. And if you don't want to do it their way, stand by for death threats and bomb threats. They think political violence is an acceptable outcome, maybe even a desired one, and I gotta be honest, that scares the hell out of me, oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, because we know he's gonna be the nominee. I mean, he lost by seven, eight million votes last time. I don't think he's endeared any more people. I think he was gonna lose bigger this time, but they've already shown us what they're gonna do. They're gonna do and they probably won't wait to another January 6th I mean at the election if things start going bad. I think people are gonna die Like I think there's gonna be a huge emotional reaction when he loses by 15 million votes this time and then it's really rigged, you know, and I think people are gonna have an emotional reaction and go out and there's gonna be a lot of violence and it's terrifying, yeah and I mean, I certainly think there's gonna be an emotional reaction.
Speaker 2:I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna predict or anything like that and the level of violence that could happen, but I do believe it's gonna be not zero. Right? The information environment that Trump supporters live in is not conducive to peaceful resolution. Right, like, if you tune into AM Radio, listen to Ben Shapiro, you know even listen to Joe Rogan and folks like that, they're talking as if A civil war is a given and B. The only thing left to do is prepare. And again, it shouldn't be this way, it doesn't have to be this way. And I think folks have a choice, right, yeah, and that's why we're here with the Outreach Committee. Right, we wanna talk to veterans in the community, especially progressive and liberal ones, and let them know like, hey, you've got a job to do.
Speaker 2:Right, like I'm kinda here with a call to action right that we can tell the people who maybe are a little downhearted, maybe a little bit cynical, maybe people who aren't quite paying attention, that it's not too late, this is not a fayah complete and in fact you, the progressive voter, the liberal voter, the voter, even if you're not progressive and liberal, even if you just believe in the constitutional value of governance by consent, right, you can help us. And we don't have to agree on policy. God knows, I don't agree with Joe Biden on every policy he's ever come out with, but I at least wanna have the argument in a political arena, right.
Speaker 1:And that was one of Liz Cheney's big things. You know, when there was a dispute, you solve it in the court systems, and 60 out of 61 cases got thrown out. That's the end of it, and the one case that won in Pennsylvania wasn't enough to overturn the results. There was a very insignificant number of election for all that happened. But you work it through the court systems how our finding voters attended.
Speaker 2:Yeah, unless you live in the right wing fever swamp. I don't think there's any doubt that the 2020 election was free and it was fair and probably one of the most efficient elections run, given the level of threat and political violence that was out there, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:And I think it was a good job of flexing the year of COVID to be in more mail-ins and a lot more of that stuff too, and certainly mail-in ballots on the military side is how we do business. And for people to sit there and try to either take away our rights to vote or not count our votes for them coming in on the day of the election things like that when they're getting shipped from overseas, them trying to take those away from vets is pretty upsetting when people start bashing mail-in voting because that's the only way I could participate for 20 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and I remember our voting officer sweating every election cycle, having to get our ballots on, having to collect them again. That was a pain for him.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. I'd probably appreciate him a little more. Looking back, we talked about Trump's. You know his right-wing base and again blows my mind that they support some of his had so many indictments and even before he was president he had so many legal proceedings from the 70s and his first divorces with violence and things like that. He's had so much stuff that follows him but he still has a huge following and when we look at his base, they're not all white supremacists and racists and everything like that. Like, I have a lot of friends that still support and will still vote for him, even after all the night, like when he was in the office. I remember waking up every morning because I was still in the military then and looking to see if World War III started. Yeah, you know the level of anxiety that that person just created by being there, because every day was a new line of bullshit.
Speaker 2:I won't say where I was stationed at the time, but suffice it to say I was stationed at a place where I didn't expect I was gonna have to deploy, and for a while there, under Commander-in-Chief Trump, it was looking like I was gonna have to go to Osan. Yeah, that was like a very nerve-tingling time. I don't remember that as well.
Speaker 1:What was that one? The Little Rocket man comments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was Fire and Fury and we thought, oh, ulti, focus Guardian is gonna kick off and that's gonna be for some placement for a defensive of the peninsula.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the people that aren't the white supremacy races and they're just voting because they wanna toe the line, how do?
Speaker 2:you reach those folks? You know that's a great question and it's kind of one that hits close to home for me too. Because I agree, right, the mega crowd, trump's base, is one thing and I'm not saying this is everybody, but I think it is uncontrovertible. Right, it's uncontested that there are strong elements of the white supremacist movement, of not just your casual Sunday morning races who just doesn't like his Vietnamese neighbors that moved in across the street but people who are politically engaged. They're part of that coalition, right, christian nationalists. And I'm not talking people of faith and good intentions who go to church on Sundays, I'm talking about people who want the Christian evangelical church to take over the government and have America govern by the precepts of their particular belief. They are part of that coalition. That is undeniable.
Speaker 2:Also part of that coalition is my father-in-law, right, who I love dearly. He's a great man. He's the best grandpa to my children. He raised a hell of a woman in my wife and couldn't be a nicer guy. Right Accepted me into an immigrant boy who kind of swept his daughter off her feet in Iowa, accepted me with open arms into his family. That's awesome. And also a lot of my friends too, right, because I think if you're in the military, guess what? You've got a lot of conservative friends. Yeah, that's just the way that rolls right.
Speaker 2:So how do we reach these people? And how do we kind of not so much separate the wheat from the chaff, but how do we get to people who can be persuaded, people who can be, who we can talk to, who we can debate, who we can have open, good faith discussion with? And then how do we identify those we can't right People who just believe what they believe and there's nothing we can do about it and we should not waste breath with them? I think that's the first step, right, deciding, excuse me, deciding who we can talk to, deciding who is open for the conversation, right, and then focusing all our efforts there, and not so much concentrating, you know, not so much just getting into a knockdown, drag out, shouting, match in the ready rumor in the TV room just because it makes you feel good, because that doesn't help, right? I like the rule of three. Somebody taught me the rule of threes once.
Speaker 2:It was kind of a campaign outreach trick of hey if you can't give money, hey if you can't volunteer your time, hey if you can't donate, I want you to talk to three of your friends, three of your friends and family, people who maybe haven't been keeping up on the election, maybe you're undecided and then talk to them about the issues, talk to them about what's at stake in this next election and don't lecture people, right? That hasn't worked out too well for me and you know, as a retired naval officer, I loved lecturing people. It doesn't work. Nobody likes it.
Speaker 2:What worked for me? What works for me, is I tell people how it affects me and what I feel and what I think. Like, hey, I voted democratic this last cycle because of the following reasons right, this is how it affected me personally and that way you're humanizing it. Right, because, at the end of the day, I think what most people want, especially those people, everybody, even the Trump supporters, even the diehard maga folks they just wanna be heard, they wanna be seen, they wanna be heard. They want their truth to be acknowledged.
Speaker 2:So do that when you talk to people. Right, be open, acknowledge their truth, meet them where they're at and then let them know. You know, then that's a good time to maybe drop a couple of truth bombs in there and be like oh, by the way, here's how Democrats voted on the PACT Act right. Here's how Democrats have voted on funding the VA and making sure you get disability payments on time and that they are not taxed. Right here's how the Democrats have voted on keeping the government open so that we can maintain our national security posture around the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those conversations are necessary. I think in the last 40, 50 years we've done a disservice to everybody by, you know, we have a cultural norm now that you don't talk politics and don't talk religion, and I think by us being afraid to have those conversations at the dinner table has made us apathetic to the whole process. Sure, you know, because we're not used to having those conversations and we're afraid of offending people because we don't know how to talk to each other. You know, when I have conversations with Republicans, like you said, you can tell pretty quick if they're coming from a place of hate. Yeah, and when they come from a place of hate, I just kind of end it and move on. But you know a lot of my friends, we can sit and have really good conversations and you know they show me some things that I didn't see. I showed them something, you know like these conversations have to happen.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure you've seen it too, right, where you initially square off with somebody, you sense you know the political discussion coming and you start going through your roll of decks of, okay, here are my top three talking points, right, and I'm gonna get them out there. And then they put out their top three talking points. Okay, great, I'm gonna tell you not to do that, because you're gonna do that, right, yeah, I do it too, but when we're doing those things, we're not listening to the other person, we're just waiting for our turn to talk, right, so do it, get it out of the way. And then if, like you said, if this is somebody who is just they're coming from a place of hate, they wanna troll the lip or whatever, right, break contact, right, just get out of there. That's not gonna do anybody any good. But if it's somebody of good faith, right, somebody who wants to discuss the issues in good faith, that's when you open up and you listen, right, okay, what is it? What are your? What is it that you are concerned with? What is it that you are worried about? What are you advocating for? And then make sure you hear them, make sure you see them, and again, it's not, it may be something you disagree with, and that's fine, and they're gonna disagree with you too, but I gotta believe, and I'm sure you're the same way. I gotta believe there's a way to have political discussions while maintaining civil discourse, being respectful, being civil about it, cause at the end of the day, this is the double edged sword of the system we live in.
Speaker 2:You are given great privilege as a voter. Everybody who is a citizen in the United States of America has a piece of governing this country, right, right. So it's not just your right to vote. I see it also, as this is your obligation, to vote right. This is your responsibility, not just to vote, but to vote responsibly, to be knowledgeable about the issues, to have a general idea of where the tax money you're paying goes to and, if you don't like where it goes, to get involved and get it to go somewhere else right. And there's a million different ways you can get involved.
Speaker 2:But, like you know, I'm a naturalized citizen. I'm one of those kids who didn't understand that I wasn't a citizen until I was like 18 or 19 and wanted to join the Navy. And then it was one of those hey, mom and dad, where's my citizenship papers? And they're like, yeah about that. Ooh, right, turns out you only have a green card. You gotta go actually naturalize. So because of that, it was, you know, kind of ingrained early upon me that this is not just a privilege and a right, this is an obligation, this is a duty, and I try to treat my citizenship as a duty, right and part of that duty, for better or for worse. Even if you're not like a politics guy, even if you're not a politics nerd like us, you need to know what's going on and you need to guard against misinformation and disinformation and, as much as possible, you need to see through agendas of this media outlet or that media outlet and distill a certain truth that you can base your voting decisions on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I find it really valuable to jump media sites and, like you know, go to Fox News, go to OAN and like read other things, just so that you can see what they're saying and kind of get a pulse. You know, like reading only, whatever your choice is, reading only one choice, just leads to extremism. You have to open your aperture, you have to look at the whole picture and see what their arguments are, because sometimes it's a lot of noise but there's an intent behind it, sure.
Speaker 2:But I would be aware, obviously, that and not to say that left-wing media bias doesn't exist. But like OAN, fox News, one America I'm sorry, newsmax, things like that they are deliberately coming from one side, right? I mean, it's not even close To me. It's not. Like Fox News is the mirror image of MSNBC, right? No, there are significant differences. No, you know, I try to, actually I try to look at like four news outlets, right, the BBC Actually, like LGZ, yeah.
Speaker 1:LGZ.
Speaker 2:LGZ, france 24. Did they put information out like?
Speaker 1:straight up.
Speaker 2:Obviously NPR, propublica, outlets like that. They do great journalism and because there's not a lot of corporate influence, right especially state-run media organs like the BBC they mostly play it down the line.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we kind of talked about the Republicans out there that we can reach to and talk to, things like that. But then there's the other side. There's that white supremacist side that really kind of drives the MAGA agenda and during his first term, trump was pretty incompetent in getting things done. He would just kind of say things with no real clear direction and hope people got things done. You saw it on his speech on January 6th at the lawn. He didn't specifically say let's go down and let's burn this thing down, but he guided them there. He led them down that path. He's not going to be as incompetent this next time around that. There's things in place right now that the white supremacist movement are trying to institutionalize into the Republican Party Project 2025, agenda 47, things like that. What is for our listeners? What is kind of the gist of? Like a Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation? Right, yeah, from the Heritage Foundation.
Speaker 2:So, you know and this is just my opinion, right I think, like you said, we were saved in 2016 by the Trump administration's incompetence right, that their incompetence greatly outweighed their malice. We were saved by a combination of that and the few institutionalists that decided to still serve in his administration. You know, they had lines that they could not cross, right. The gematises of the world, right, and I think what saved us back then was obviously anybody who serves as president of the United States. They don't do all the chops in the executive branch. They have to have staff, they have to bring people in, right. They have an administration, and, because Donald Trump was such an outlier, a lot of the establishment Republicans, the professional political class, would not participate in that administration, and then, as a war on, it looked like a poison pill. It looked like you don't want to be in a Trump administration. You don't want to be on his legal team, right? The joke is, MAGA stands for make attorneys, get attorneys, right. Most of his lawyers, I think, are in serious political trouble, right, or are going to be this time around, though I think that same political class you know people who maybe don't so much believe in a cause conservative or liberal. They just want to get in power and stay in power. They see an opportunity with Donald Trump. They see how strong his base is and they see that if they sign on and use their expertise in how government works to form government their way, that they have an opportunity to win and to cement their win permanently.
Speaker 2:Going back to our previous conversation, they don't want to have the argument anymore Because, quite frankly, when you look at the few policy positions Republicans have, they're pretty unpopular. Right Forced birth is pretty unpopular. Picking on transgender kids for no reason is pretty unpopular. Right Book bans are horrifically unpopular. So they don't want to have that conversation anymore. They don't want to have the argument anymore. They want to set up a government that on the outside looks like a democracy but in reality, nobody has any chance of getting any Republican out of office. They want to set us up like Hungary, right Like Viktor Orman.
Speaker 2:So that's the danger this time around is they are actually planning to do things like Project 2025. Were they could fire as many as 50,000 federal government professionals. The people who actually run our government right, the people who actually make sure your food gets inspected and that drugs are safe and that GPS satellites run, you know, stay in orbit, and that the atomic clock runs on time. The everyday government professionals, who are tremendously smart, sometimes went to very you know elite universities and could be millionaires, but instead chose to be GS13s and make 120 grand a year in the DC area, which is almost poverty. They're going to fire all those people and they're going to replace them with conservative shills and people who maybe don't know how to run a government, but are certainly politically loyal and will do whatever they want. So, instead of last term or the last election, where Donald Trump institutes a Muslim ban and pretty much every lawyer in the Department of Justice is like you know, that's not a thing. So he's going to replace all those guys with people who got a lot of degrees from God knows where, probably graduated law school, like a month ago yeah, Trump University Exactly and are just ready to toe the line right.
Speaker 2:Agenda 47, you mentioned that that's the closest thing he has to a policy platform, but when you really look at what's in there, it's pretty terrible right? He's looking at basically dismantling the Department of Education and introducing over political indoctrination to our children, the Project 1776 stuff that has worked out so well down in Woodland Park Dismantling regulatory agencies, right, Like the things that force businesses to keep our air clean, to keep our water clean, Agencies that keep our food and drugs safe, like I previously mentioned. And then he's talking about a mass incarceration, roundup and deportation of migrants, refugees and dreamers, without a whole lot of regard to who has a legitimate claim or not, Like he frankly doesn't care, Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his terms, that he was going over you know the vermin and the poison in our blood and things like that. Those are scary comments to be coming from somebody that's looking to run a nation. How can? It's just always because, like, as you dive into the things that he says and does, and like he's clear about it, like he's not hiding this information.
Speaker 2:He's telling us who he is. We should believe him Exactly.
Speaker 1:So. But that's our problem is that not enough people do believe him, or they don't care, and they want that. Yeah, or they don't take it seriously, they think it's a troll, right? Yeah, oh, I'm just joking when I tell Russia to attack the DNC's.
Speaker 2:I was just joking when I took $8 million from the Chinese government while I was president.
Speaker 1:Yeah, before the two billion his kids got from Saudi, exactly, yeah. So with all of these, you know Agenda 47, project 2025, he's got big think tanks and you know people behind them trying to push these narratives in order to establish that. You know white Christian nationalist view. Even you know the new speaker and private settings. He said he wanted us to be a they call it biblical republic, and it blows my mind whenever somebody says something in private and can't say it out loud. Yeah, you know, like that should go a long way. Like that's one of the first things you learn when you're going through. Like leadership training is like ethical decision making. If you can't say it in front of your grandma, probably shouldn't say it. Yeah, you know, but we have people throughout our government that are like this and it's a big problem. What do you think we need to be focusing on now in order to, like, help work through this problem?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, obviously, that you know we come at you with a lot of bad news right Right On the podcast so far, and I don't want to downplay the problem but at the same time I don't want to portray this like there's no solution at all. There's stuff we can do, certainly, right. Some of the stuff we can do and some of the things we're trying to do in the outreach committee is we're trying to reach folks who are not politically engaged. Right, el Paso County itself, there's, you know, x amount of Democrats, y amount of Republicans, registered Republicans. Obviously the registered Republicans outnumber the registered Democrats in the county, but you know who outnumbers both of us is unaffiliated and independent voters, right, and I think a lot of that goes to kind of the independent streak, the apolitical streak that a lot of us pick up while we were in service. So me and the Veterans Outreach Committee we see a lot of unaffiliated, a lot of independents, registered independents, who were also veterans, and that makes sense, right, I think some independents they don't want to get involved in politics just because of the apolitical tradition they grew up in while they were in. Right, like, I'll be honest, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to politics. When I was in and that was my choice I saw my job. I saw our job as, hey, we're instruments of foreign policy, right, we execute the national security. We are the national security establishment. So I don't want to have a whole lot of say. I don't want to have a vote as to whether or not I go to Iraq. That should be somebody else's job.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of folks who went up independent, who were in, they saw firsthand a lot of the race, the bureaucracy, the inefficiency that went on when they were in the Department of Defense or in their particular service and it probably frustrated the hell out of them. And I get it. It frustrates the hell out of me too. It frustrates me to this day as a defense contractor now. But I think sometimes that frustration leads them to throw the baby out with the bathwater, thinking that, oh, because our imperfect system is not functioning the way it should, we should just burn it all down. So to hell with it. Let's just vote in Trump, just for the laughs, and I'm going to watch Roomba. I don't think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2:I think the system works a lot better than you think. It does a lot better than a lot of us realize. It's just we don't know it. And that's the strength of the system is. We live in a country where things just kind of go right. We all get our paychecks on time, traffic lights, work, cops, for the most part can't be bought off. That is a result of good governance.
Speaker 2:And then, finally, I think a lot of our fellow veterans and I know you and I are in this boat too we're really busy. I got to take the kids to Jiu Jitsu and allergy shots and this birthday party, and we're going to go see the Nutcracker because my son is going to be in it. You have these day to day things where, on top of that, you have to worry about politics and you have to watch news that bums you out and you have to pay attention. And it's a lot to ask, right. But we're asking. I'm asking now, right. The Outreach Committee is asking because, like I said before, citizenship is not just a right, it's a duty, it's an obligation. And I think in the veteran community it's especially heartbreaking, because you guys have done your time, you have served your country and you've earned the right to not care, frankly. But I'm calling on you guys and gals to honor your oath and to defend us against all enemies of the Constitution, especially the domestic ones.
Speaker 2:The stakes are too high for us to take a knee this year. So here's some of the things we can do right, obviously voting. What used to be the ceiling is now the floor Vote. If you're in a position to do so, donate. Right, and I'm not talking. You don't need to make like some big $3,000 donation. Even if you donate like 20 bucks a month to your favorite campaign or to vote blue or something like that, that actually works out better, because monthly steady income of a known quantity can be budgeted around. And so just kind of sporadic like I'll give you 50 bucks today and five bucks next month and whatever Better right, whether it's with a campaign for a candidate you believe in or whether it's with us down here in El Paso County Democrats, or if you're interested in veterans issues as well, join progressive vets right.
Speaker 2:Come to lunch at the Black IT, get involved, because unfortunately for us or fortunately for us the Democratic side is going to be a grassroots side, especially in El Paso County. Whether it's the school board elections or whoever's going to run in Doug Lamborn's place in CD5, or any of the House districts. You're facing an uphill battle when it comes to money, because a lot of the corporate interests, a lot of the billionaire interests, a lot of the high money interests are served by the Republican Party. Yep, they're served by divisive and confusing culture, wars right, which sometimes are red herrings. So on the Democratic side, since we're more of a grassroots movement here, you're going to be facing down a lot of money and the way to do that is by volunteering your time, if you can.
Speaker 1:And a quick plug on that. Yeah, the 27th the Democratic Party is hosting a training for campaign volunteers. The location still has to be TBD, but keep an eye on the Democrat blast to get the location and time for that. It's great. It's going to be good training to get this cycle kicked off, so I just want to throw that in there while we're talking about volunteer opportunities.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as the year progresses, if you get a hold of us at the party or if you start joining progressive vets, you're going to see opportunities to go in Canvas right, knock door to door, talk to folks, distribute literature, do phone banking, do text banking. A lot of the volunteer driven stuff is really what makes a difference in a campaign. And then I think you were talking earlier about how you'll get in political conversations. Right, and I know a lot of us don't want to get in political conversations and I get that and I understand that. But in the civilian world, unfortunately, when veterans speak out fortunately, or unfortunately, when veterans speak out people take us seriously. Right, we have a measure of authority, we have a measure of gravitas that maybe somebody who didn't serve has. So when one of our brother or sister veterans who happens to be a Trump supporter speaks up, it sounds authoritative, as if all veterans, all military personnel, support Trump. Right, I'm going to ask you to step in politely, right, if you feel safe, and say, no, that's not the case. Right, and drop a couple truth bombs if you can, just, if for nothing else, to let them know.
Speaker 2:Hey, not every veteran supports Trump. In fact, most of us don't right. You can use your voice, you can use your position of authority, you can use your privilege and you can use your status to help and to be a force for good. And although it seems like it's small potatoes, you never know who's listening Exactly, right? Yeah, there could be like three or four bystanders who take something away from you at the very least of hey. I heard a veteran today who loves Trump and I heard a veteran today who doesn't love Trump. It seems like it's maybe a pretty mixed bag. I better go do my own research. I better go do my own education on who I should vote for.
Speaker 1:It reminded me of one time up in we had a booth up in Cripple Creek during donkey days and a guy came up to me and started to kind of yell at me about what a progressive veteran is and what a disgrace I was. And that had to feel good.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I just told him like, hey, we're out here and we have a right to be heard too, and so he kind of went off and his wife actually came back a little bit while later and put money in the donation jar. Oh wow, yeah, and she's like I don't support Trump either, oh my gosh. And she put the money in it and walked it like when he was away from. But it's just like that If you stand up and say something, odds are percentage wise, like you're going to hear somebody that wants to hear what you have to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and look as a do's paying member of the international brotherhood of introverts. Right, I get it. I don't like putting myself out there as well, but this year is not the year to be shy, right? And then the final thing we can do, right? If you've done all those things and I know this one's near and dear to your heart is run for something right. Don't just don't be the guy who yells at the news every night. Don't be the person who just sits in their barca lounger and yells at the news every night and shakes their fists at their TV. Get off your ass and do something Right. If you feel like you've got more in you than volunteering, if you feel like you have an issue, if you feel like you want to advocate for somebody or represent those and be a voice for people who are not heard, run for an office. Don't let any of the Republicans in Colorado run unopposed. Don't let anybody in El Paso County run unopposed.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you right now, aside from the CD5, the US House seat right which, by the way, that seems like that's going to get spicy here. Yeah, we'll get excited, you know? If you didn't know. State House 14,. State House 20,. State House 21,. State House 22, state House 56, state Senate, district 10, cu Regent for CD5, all of these are open seats. You know we need candidates and if you can be a candidate, come see us at the party and if you're the right fit or even if you're not, we'll find a right fit for you we will find a way to use your contributed time and effort.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when people I was talking with someone yesterday who was thinking about kind of stepping back. We can't train passion, right? No, the people that are passionate about it, we need them here and if you have a passion for it, come and we will take advantage of that passion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, those are the best candidates right Like I don't want somebody walking and be like well, I need a job. Right, yeah, okay, if you need a job, monstercom is on the internet.
Speaker 1:Go check that out. Right, we got pizza hut right down the road here. But if you feel strongly, about any of these issues.
Speaker 2:if you want to help us defend democracy and you think you have a voice, come and run for an office, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, like you said, there's so many local state positions that are still up for grabs. You can find them and then you know when we start talking with school board here after this election cycle to you know the next school board elections coming up.
Speaker 2:You know those are huge billets and that's the first line, and yeah again, right like when we, when I retired and we moved out here for the job, I did not plan on getting involved in politics. The thing that got me involved is we were up in district 20. And you know this is during the COVID crisis. We had no kidding militia folks like, with matching t-shirts and stuff, show up to our school board meetings and it was scary, and it was. It was. It was a real wake up call for me of the amount of money and the amount of effort and the amount of influence that these folks on the right want to exert in relatively, you know, small elections, like for the first time ever, six figures was spent on a school board election, which is unheard of. And then this last round of elections, I think they'd numped about a half a million dollars into this one, which is insane.
Speaker 1:Yeah for a local race like that, and it goes back to what you were saying before. You know they want to indoctrinate kids earlier and so if they get there, they get rid of the books they don't agree with. It just gives them a path to indoctrinate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not just marginalized communities too right. It's not just LGBTQ folks, it's not just minority kids. It's hey. If your kid has special needs, if your kid is developmentally delayed, a lot of the services for that, for special education, they're going to get cut as well. School counselors are going to get cut. They're trying to do it now in district 20. I mean, these are we've put people in charge, or people have been put in charge who don't believe in public education. So guess what they're going to do to public education? They're going to cut it. The stakes are too high. We got to get it out there. We got to get involved.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Let's give a little blank here. So do you have anything else you want to throw in there? No, thank you, I'm going to cut all this out right here, okay. Okay, do you have anything else you want to cover or anything like that? Okay, was that good for you? Yeah, absolutely. So what I'll do is I'll just do a little close and then you can say thank you and stuff like that. Cool, all right. Well, pablo, thanks for joining me here today. Very informative. You gave me a lot of stuff to think about here, and all of us a lot to think about. If you guys are interested in being involved, like Pablo's called you to be involved for, you can reach out through our website. Send me an email at info at eppccpvcom, check out the website at eppccpvcom and you can drop us a line on there too. But, pablo, thank you for joining us today. I really appreciate you coming out and doing this for me.
Speaker 2:Hey, thanks again for having me, Adam. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Right on. And once again that was Pablo Capistrano with the Democratic Party Veteran Outreach Committee. Really appreciate him taking time out of his schedule to do the podcast with me today. One thing I did notice as I was doing my read, listen and editing is that I screwed up on the email address and the website address. It's actually info at eppccpvorg and eppccpvorg for the website, so notcomorg. Apologies for that.
Speaker 1:One last thing I want to talk to you guys about before we cut it here is our larger sponsor, native Roots, also has a call to action for us. They are looking the cannabis industry is looking to legalize recreational cannabis here in Colorado Springs. I'm a huge proponent of this. There's multiple ways to think about it. You know, from the libertarian side of me, I don't think the government should be telling me I can't do something like that. That's on par or safer than liquor and alcohol. I don't think the government should be involved in that personally. And then you look at the tax money that we're letting walk out of our city to go to other places. You know that could be going to fund the training academy for the police and other things to help you know better our communities. And then, on the veteran side.
Speaker 1:Recreational cannabis can help people with PTSD. It is easy to get a medical marijuana card here in Colorado Springs. It's not difficult at all, it's a couple hundred dollars. So you know that kind of that kind of hurts you there, but it's not that hard. The hard part is asking for help, and then that's where something like this could help veterans out, because instead of having to raise their hand and say that they're struggling mentally or physically, their studies that show it helps on both sides. They don't have to raise their hand. They can experiment, try it you know we are adults now Use it for a little while to see how they feel with it and then, if they want to continue treatment, they can use it to bridge a gap and get their medical card and hopefully get some. You know psychotherapy or you know, see a psychiatrist and things like that, our psychologist. It's just another tool for us folks and that's what's important is we can't turn our back on these tools that can help the communities out and, like I said, from struggling people that have PTSD to just being able to fund infrastructure projects around town with it, it makes sense.
Speaker 1:So if you are interested in helping with that drive, let me know we're going to be getting some petitions going. I do need some people living in Colorado Springs veterans. If you're interested in being the petitioner that you know submits the paperwork for and stuff like that. There will be media appearances and some training to go along with that. So if you're interested in that, or if you know somebody who might be interested in that, again use Pablo's rule of three Talk to folks, talk to me, reach out and let's try to do something good for our community. With that said, I will wrap up the all things military and veteran podcast for this week. Thank you for joining me. I hope you got something out of it. If you have ideas for the show, please reach out. We can. We have a lot of leeway here to talk to folks here, so let's give you a platform. Get your ideas out there. If you need me for anything, reach out at info at e-p-c-c-b-v dot org and I'll help where I can. All right, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.