Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Empowering Independent Voters: The Keys to Ending Political Polarization with Lura Forcum

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Right About Now with Ryan AlfordJoin media personality and marketing expert Ryan Alford as he dives into dynamic conversations with top entrepreneurs, marketers, and influencers. "Right About Now" brings you actionable insights on business, marketing, and personal branding, helping you stay ahead in today's fast-paced digital world. Whether it's expLura Forcumng how character and charisma can make millions or unveiling the strategies behind viral success, Ryan delivers a fresh perspective with every episode. Perfect for anyone looking to elevate their business game and unlock their full potential. Resources:Right About Now NewsletterFree Podcast Monetization CourseJoin The NetworkFollow Us On InstagramSubscribe To Our Youtube ChannelVibe Science MediaSUMMARYIn this episode of "Right About Now," host Ryan Alford, along with Lura Forcum, president of the Independence Center and Clemson University professor, explore the evolving concept of the American Dream. They discuss how younger generations prioritize experiences, social connections, and personal fulfillment over traditional markers like homeownership. Lura emphasizes the importance of public policy participation and social connections in human behavior. The conversation also touches on the challenges of political identity in a polarized landscape, advocating for a focus on effective governance and inclusive political dialogue that values diverse perspectives.TAKEAWAYSEvolving concept of the American Dream among younger generationsShift from material wealth to experiences and personal fulfillmentImportance of social connections and relationships in human behaviorRole of public policy in shaping individual aspirations and participationEncouragement of political engagement and participation among citizensChallenges faced by independents in a polarized political landscapeSignificance of split ticket voting and prioritizing effective governanceNeed for empathy and understanding in political discourseImpact of social media on political discussions and polarizationCall for elevating policy discussions above partisan politics If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

Do young people value the idea of the American dream in your mind? Oh, absolutely. I think that's a really interesting question too, and it's something we've seen in our research. Younger generations absolutely have an American dream. It just doesn't look like what older generations had. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month.

Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Right About Now. We're always talking about what's now. We can talk about the future,

we can talk about the past, but we're talking about today. What you need to know, how you get ahead, and look. I think you're gonna recognize a name today because I've been talking about him for a few months. It really matters today. A lot of the stuff that's going on is very partisan and very political. And I like to cut

through the bullshit and ultimately talk about policies that matter. That's why I love the Independence Center. And that's why we brought the president. We're going straight to the top, baby. Straight to the top. We got the doctor of independence, Laurie Forcomb. What's up, Laurie? Hey, Ryan. Good to be here? Good. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's good. It's good. Hey, in person, too. Yeah, you know, I was like, hey, can't pass that up. I know I'm your neighbor. I know. And you're down the road.

I'm down the road in Pendleton. And you're in marketing. You're a professor at Clemson where I went. How did we not know each other? Well, I were the same age, so we were not a professor when you were there. This is true. No, I was a professor after you finished there. But I spent several years teaching marketing there, studying human behavior, psychology.

Yeah. What motivates people? Oh, that's a long... That's a whole separate podcast. I know. You did that though. It did it did not boil down to like one or two things though. Yes. So I would say like the key motivation for everybody is their relationships and feeling connected to other people, the people around them. It's their family, it's their friends, it's neighbors and communities. Like we are inherently social animals. And you can explain so much of human behavior by trying to like, protect those relationships.

People flourish when they're connected to other people and they like we know now that people who are socially isolated just life is really hard for them. They have poor health outcomes, all kinds of things. So we are social creatures Yes, we are and you know, I'm not mr. Academia Discussion another story for another day. I've talked about it on the show But I do like some marketing books is one of my favorite or like the art of persuasion and like those kind of things and because I always say people think with their head and they buy with their heart

Absolutely. I mean, so one of the relationships we have is with ourself, right? You could think of that as almost a social relationship. And people buy things and ideas, right? And relationships, in some senses, when it helps them feel more connected to themselves, like that's their identity, right?

Like that is our relationship with ourselves. So whatever marketers can do to make it seem like their product helps you be more connected to yourself or to the other people in your life, like that's such a motivating factor. I think so. I think it actually ties into the American dream too. Yeah, absolutely. Because it's like when you think about those motivations and yeah, those the history of that and that's what's so fascinating We've been talking about that on the show and I love what the Independence Center is doing

Around this, you know bring the studies the data the stuff We've done the man on the street stuff, which you've probably seen this on my content Yeah, I mean when you hear like, yeah, Laura Forcomb, like what, what's the American dream to you? I have a very geeky American dream. And this is kind of what I have realized as my career has developed. But like, to me, what's really excited, exciting is when people are participating in public policy conversations, which I know is not for everybody, right? But I know it's important to you too.

And I think- PhD here. I think the thing that's really important is people making their voices known about what they need to live their lives the way they want, what they don't need. And that's how we make everybody better off. And I know that politics right now happens in a way that's very

off putting to people, a lot of people are checked out because they don't want to participate in the vitriol and divisiveness that you talked about. And so what I realized was I wanted to take my research expertise and like that background and translate it into like, can we make this better? Can we make it so that people want to participate in politics? It doesn't feel polarizing. It feels like something for everybody. So I look at policy as like, this is how we as different complex individuals sort out our values and what we need and like, figure out how to make our lives better. And so that's my

American dream. We love the man on the street interviews that you guys did because I think what they show is that instead of everybody having the same American dream, people have very unique American dreams. But the thing that matters is you're pursuing what's important to you and that you can get those things through your own effort. I was surprised. You know, we've talked. I mean, it was, they almost felt scripted because of how thoughtful they were and how

they aligned with what we assume to be kind of like the silent majority of people that you know feel this way about the American dream and have diverse feelings. But you know there's also this era of feeling scared to sort of talk about it. Yes. And because no one wants to be polarizing and they're kind of tired of it so they don't want to feed that. Yeah. And it's like it's almost hard to have an opinion and feel like you can have a dialogue.

I think this is a terrible place to be in when it's like, I need to make sure you agree with me before we talk about politics. Exactly. You know, how can we have conversations about how we want elected officials to behave or what kind of laws are right or what kind of programs are right if we need to know that we agree before we can even talk about it. Yeah, exactly. Of course, we're different people. This is a really like diverse country.

It's okay to disagree, right? Like I think we're actually better by the fact that we like and value different things. That makes us stronger. Yeah. I mean, creativity comes from the very fabric of different ideas and thoughts blended together. Yeah, absolutely. Like if you were only exposed to ideas and people you agreed with, like your life would be impoverished. That's right. I mean, and I think about myself growing up, I, the diversity within my own family dynamic is what makes you who you are like and

We get in these I don't know echo chambers. Mm-hmm, and I don't know when that you know, I'm in my 40s But I don't it wasn't always that way even in my growing up I didn't feel like I feel like because I can remember I feel like in my 20s where I'd have Disagreements with people about certain things and it was okay. You know, like, we'd still have beers at night or go out or play a sport. It just, I don't know, when did that flip? I don't know. But I think what's accelerating it, one of the things accelerating it is, you know, algorithms and social media are just showing you the stuff that they can tell that you like. Right.

And so you just get more and more insulated from other points of view. And, you know, sometimes you hear somebody else's point of view and you change your mind, sometimes you hear somebody else's point of view and you're just like, well, that's interesting, but no, thanks. Yeah. Um, but I, you know, I don't think that you are made worse off by hearing what other people think, cause sometimes they agree with you for a different reason. That's right.

And I think we benefit from being connected like this, even if we're not in total agreement. Do young people value the idea of the American dream in your mind? Oh, absolutely. I think that's a really interesting question, too. And it's something we've seen in our research, where younger generations absolutely have an American dream.

It just doesn't look like what older generations had as their American. A shiny house with the white picket fence. Right, it's not a house. On the little house on the prairie. And 2.5 kids or something, right? Whatever that number is. Yeah, and a dog and a cat and maybe some fish.

Yeah, I think sometimes like older generations think like, oh, I can't relate to the kids today. They don't even want the things we used to want. And like they do, it just looks a little bit different, right? Like they're more interested in, younger generations are more interested in experiences rather than material things. And I think that there's actually a lot of research showing that people consuming experiences like really meaningful.

And so I think it's really cool the research you did to the interviews because it shows like this is how different it can look. But it's all still the same overarching thing, which is we know who we are and we're pursuing the things that make our lives rich and meaningful. And then the question for the IC, for the Independent Center is like, okay, well, what kind of policy environments and governing makes that easier for people to accomplish? You know, I've thought a lot about this and it comes back to like some really simple things to me. Security, safety, and the right to do whatever the hell I want when I want.

You know, like within reason. Within the law. As long as it doesn't hurt other people. But it's security, safety, freedom. Yeah. That's the American dream. Yeah. It might be a shiny house,

it might be a rented apartment, but you have security and safety and an assurance that you can make it on your own, right? Or with your family dynamic, whatever that is. Yeah, absolutely. Actually, so some previous research I conducted, what we looked at was, instead of asking people, what's your political party? We asked them those same things that you just named. We asked them questions about, do you have the resources you need? How socially connected are you? Do you feel like you're part of a community?

And we asked them about harm, which is related to your idea of security. We asked them, what is harmful? What hurts other people? What should we do about harm? So we took those and we form them into these segments. And the interesting thing about that is they're not political segments, right? So like, politics is not any one of those needs that you just named. And somehow we put it on top of our lives and made this really destructive kind of argumentative polarizing conversation like so important when really it's not any of those things that you just

talked about. Yeah, yeah, it's the it's definitely grown in perceived importance that doesn't really align with the actual value or interest. Yeah, that's one of the things I've found about living in South Carolina. So I'm not originally from here. I'm a transplant. But one of the things I notice is that, you know, the people around me may have voted really differently than I did, but we can still all get together and run our town in a way that is healthy and makes it a strong community. We don't

have to agree with each other in order to be good neighbors with each other. Still Americans. Yeah, we're all Americans at the end of the day. I think this political rhetoric that the other side is the enemy and has to be obstructed. Like this just pushes people out of politics and I want to bring them into, I want to bring them in. That's what the IC is here to do is bring people into political participation. What do you think, you know, are some of the bigger,

I don't know, meaningful topics that are at the heart of people today that need to be elevated. I think one of the really big things that we hear from our audience is about entrepreneurship, right? And I think that's something your audience is interested in as well. And so, you know, if you're trying to build a business, I think that has aspects of like your relationship and your identity because it's about like,

what are you really good at? And what really excites you at the end of the day? And you can do in a way that nobody else can do. Right. And so we know our audience is interested in entrepreneurship. And then the question is like, what are the policies that make it easier for you to succeed in growing a company or growing a business? And what kind of policies are going to make that hard? So it touches all kinds of things, right? And like really complex areas that you and I are not experts in. Yes.

In finance and like all kinds of complicated stuff, right? Immigration policy. But the overarching question is sort of like, well, what are the things that we could do? And what is the legislation that could be enacted so that people can build their businesses and they prosper? And then they're making life better for all of us because I buy your products, right? I can use the services and things that are being created. I mean, what makes America great is our ingenuity and creativity and small businesses, entrepreneurs starting and then growing them maybe into the next Tesla or maybe the next local coffee

shop. Right. But that's sort of the fabric of America. So if we're not stimulating that, we're in trouble. Right. And if you have policies that make it hard for somebody to open a business, whether it's a coffee shop, a salon, right? If it's just impossible to build things and to offer your services, then that makes everybody worse off. It makes it hard for people to get their American dream. off, it makes it hard for people to get their American dream. I think it's cool to see the extent to which people...

I think this is part of the side hustle, right? That way of looking at work is saying, well, what am I good at and what does the market need? And then the independent center's angle is sort of like, okay, what else would make it so that you can pursue those things? Right? And what are the barriers? Do we really need gatekeepers who are saying like, No, you can't open that business or no, you can't build that. Yeah. Laura, this likes to lead me right into the water. I'm wanting to wait into I love

it. Talk it to Laura Forcomb. She is the president of the independent center. So Laura, I think when you think about politics, the right and the left, I'm going to oversimplify that I want to know like where we where we feel like the independent I know the center Switzerland, but but it's more the policies than not politics, I'm going to lead it with the politics. I know the end center is Switzerland, but it's more the policies than politics. I'm going to lead it with the politics. I think the right less government, less involvement, get out of my ship. The left doesn't necessarily say get in my ship, but we need governance.

We need hardcore. I mean, I'm simplifying, but I think that that's a big difference of the right The independent center being Switzerland and listening to people that policies Do people lean more right or left in that or not even right or left get? Politics over here. They lean more regulation or less regulation You guys here are our audience when we're surveying them, we are absolutely hearing them say like, less gatekeepers, right? Like once regulation is probably the right way to go, they want government that is effective.

And the problem with the polarization right now is that these are two parties that are just entrenched and doing their own thing instead of what's best for the American people. So what we hear from our audience is like, we expect government to be effective, end of story. And, you know, when parties are instead just kind of obstructing and not working with the other side, that is not serving anybody but them. Right? So it's really interesting. Obviously, we do a lot of research on our audience. We do surveying and polling, we do some AI insights work, and we do focus groups and one-on-one interviews. And one of the things that strikes me a lot is that independents are, excuse me, independents are like incredibly thoughtful people who understand that policy is really complex.

And there are trade offs in policy, right? Like you think you're getting one thing, you end up with something else. And so they're just aware that like this is a complicated process and having these two super polarized parties is not going to get you the kind of good high quality policy that would make people's lives better. Yeah, I think we've lost compromise. Mm hmm. In the middle. I know it sounds weak.

And I hate the as a strong opinion guy, it is like, you know, like, I don't know that I always like to, but I like effectiveness. You do, yeah. And it's ineffective not to compromise sometimes. Yeah, somehow compromise means like, give up. Oh, you gave in and you're weak. Yeah. No, it means that there's usually middle ground. Yes. You found common ground.

Like that's, that's actually some strength because it's like, you knew what was important to you. You understood what was important to the other side and you found an area where you could overlap. Exactly. And that's what's missing. I mean, that's totally, it's just, I'm going to have my way. And we've gotten to where like it used to be that, but then it's just now brute force of my way or the highway. Seemingly. Yeah, I mean, some people describe this as politics, where you're saying like, the problem in politics is that my side doesn't have more power. And I think independents are saying, regardless of who has power, we expect you to govern, we expect the government to work, we expect some fiscal

accountability, like, let's be sensible here with our spending. And let's be sensible on the social side, too, like, we can tolerate other people's behavior that doesn't impact us. Yeah. And we see a lot of that we see it in younger generations, especially are more likely to say that they're independent because they they really don't see either side as totally representing who they are yeah, I mean it's it's a Melting pot of you know, I like this. I like that and it's supposed to be that way, right? Yeah, we're forced Seemingly by our social groups into one camp or the other.

Yeah, like it's it's really more like a tribe. Yeah, it is very tribal. It's very tribal. Social media is, you know, you know, the the stomping ground of it all. Yes, absolutely. And the other thing that is, you know, comes from my research and some of the social psychology looking at human dynamics. So there's this work about in-groups and out-groups.

And out-groups over human history were like people you warred with. They were the other guys, the bad guys, right? And the problem, I think, in American politics is that we've gotten to this in-group out-group dynamic where the other side is the out-group. It's okay to take from them. It's okay to harm them. They don't count. They're not us. That's not how I think anybody wants us to be treating fellow Americans, right? Like we can have a politics that is about differing opinions, but at the end of the day, we're still citizens of the same country. Like these are not our enemies. We are not out groups to one another.

Yeah, exactly. It's all one America. Yeah, right to the thing. And I think, I think that's what most people want. And again, we forced into these camps and it's, it's even a struggle for me. Cause you think about guys, you're independent. You're still trying to be wooed to one side of the other typically, especially like when it comes to voting time and it's like, yeah, we have a two party system for the most part. I mean, independence never won the president. Right. And so I don't know where this, you know, how do we break the pattern

that we're in? So I mean, this is absolutely what we are saying to people is that you don't need to vote for a third party to be an independent. You can be an independent and exercise your vote and and vote for the candidates and the policies that you think are more successful. I think what's really unhealthy is when people are dropping out of political participation because they don't feel attached to either party. So they're sort of saying, well, I'm apolitical. And what we want to say to independents is if neither of those parties are for you, that's

fine. But like come in and express your opinion at the ballot box. They swing vote, right? They split ticket. We saw tons of split ticket voting this last election. So somebody at the top is voting for Donald Trump, lower down the ticket. They're voting for Democrats, for governors and senators and representatives. So like that's what an independent does. And that's awesome. We need that kind of political participation because they're saying what matters most is

not my tribe. It's a government that actually works. Yeah. And I've been vocal about where I voted in the last election, but I voted on both sides of the aisle in multiple elections in past elections. I am a true independent, but I think, but then I felt even my own personal experience of getting thrown into one camp or the other because I like a certain policy, being an entrepreneur or the side of things and not because I'm in love with the person, but I like the policies. So even I've felt the, you know, the wave of one side being happy and the wave of another

side just, you know, lumping me in. Right. It's something else. They assume they know everything about you because they know about one policy. One candidate, you know, this time around. Yeah, no, these like blanket kind of assumptions about people, you know, people support the things they support and they value the things they value for all kinds of complicated reasons.

But like when we assume that the other side votes the way they do because they are bigoted or snowflakes or whatever, we're just not understanding each other. We can't govern like that. Yeah. What drives you every day? Like, you know, like what, what, what sets your frame of reference for, you know, why you do it, you do. Oh, that's a great question. So, I mean, like I have three kids, my kids are, I think like parenting them, maybe this has been your experience too, but parenting them has made me

realize like, it doesn't work the way I thought it would work. Like they don't follow orders. Okay, doctor. Maybe you're parenting better than I am. But I'm probably a little less structured. My wife is not though. She's a principal at a middle school. So they get both sides of the aisle because I can set my watch. I know exactly what she's doing right now.

Okay. I parent the way you do. But it's like they have their unique gifts and I want them to be able to flourish as human beings and I want a world where they can flourish. And I feel like they have to trust them to do the things that are important to them and that are who they are. And so I think that applies to like how we think about politics too, actually. It's like we have to trust people to pursue the things that are like deeply who they are, deeply meaningful to them. That makes their lives more meaningful. It makes the world a better place. But it means you

let go of a lot of control, right? Yes. Because I'm not going to dictate what is best for them. I'm going to have to let them choose that find their way, right? And I try, for for my kids, a big part of my energy is like, how do I help you find that and put the things in front of you that will let you express yourself, the version of you you'd like to be? And so I think that's how we should be looking at public policy too. It's like, how do we help people flourish and be abundant and trust them to make choices for themselves instead of saying, well, we're going to tell you what

the answers are and how to live and how to run your life and what's okay and what's not okay. It's hard as hell to take, let control go. Oh, it's really hard. Not because you're, I'm not a can I'm not a controlling person at all Myself yes Very particular but like others or even but with your children though you know because you know what they don't know and you want the best for them and You know, there's the fine line of living vicariously through your children what some people do

I'm thought let's put that over to the side and more like wanting the best for them and knowing what are hard paths and what are easier paths and letting them figure that out while also coaching them. It's funny because I just had the thought like maybe you were a kid like I was. I was a kid that like you could not tell me anything. Yeah, I was close. that you could not tell me anything. Yeah, I was close. Were you kind of like that?

I was, I had, you know, I got along with everyone, but silently you couldn't really tell me much of anything. Yeah, I did not take any feedback or advice. Yeah, I took very little. Right, my oldest kid is like that, it is infuriating. And now I know. It's my payback. Yeah, it is your payback. Yes. But yeah, he's just going to have to figure it out, right? And I need to stop him from

doing things that have permanent consequences. But the rest of it is like, well, you're going to figure this out. Eventually you'll realize your mom knows one or two things. Yeah. That might be it, but. Oh, PhD. You know a few more than one or two things. What success look like for the Independent Center? Oh, that is a great question.

You know, we're really focused on being like bottom up. We're not trying to tell this audience of people what to do. We're concentrating on listening to them through our research and focus groups and polling, all this stuff. And we're trying to help them voice what is important to them and what they need through the political process, right? Like we want them to participate politically and in policy conversations. So we're in a lot of senses like listening to them. So I would say our metric of success is like,

can we get more people engaged in public policy conversations? Can we get more people checked back into politics? Cause you know, where we are so polarized right like we can't get really extreme positions out of politics But we can add in more people who have more nuanced views and I think that's where there's a huge opportunity for us Yeah, I think I

Think about like social media and the pot, you know, I'm working Marketers like oh, yeah, like it's such a great vehicle for exchanging ideas and doing things But what I what I hear you answering that questions and I even think about my own life I feel like it gets in the way sometimes though, of progress, of this type of thinking and thought and independence and not feeling like you're being judged, you know, to get to that point. And I think, I really hope we can get to this place where the policies are just elevated to a point where you can't ignore them anymore and you and you almost go

The politics that you just push it to the side almost like, you know two teams fighting, you know, it matters But this is what matters, you know, like well, you know one of the ways I look at this is that I Think right now What people consider being politically engaged is not really in a way that's helpful to our policy debates. Because when they're when they think they're doing politics, they're like seeing somebody else's behavior and they're being outraged by it. Right.

So like they look at the other side's candidates and they're like, can you believe she said that or can you believe they did that? Right. And like that's just outrage. It actually has more in common with like gossip gossiping than anything else, right? So as long as we're doing that stuff, we think we're doing, we think we're politically engaged, but we're not actually contributing to conversations about policy and solving our challenges. So like, if we want to solve issues around regulation, or immigration, or, you know, entitlements,

right? Like that's going to require us coming together and having conversations about what's important and what matters, right? And sorting out those areas of disagreement. And it's not going to be, we can't do it as long as we think of politics as being outraged by the other side. Yeah. And it's scorekeeping at all. Yeah. It's like, you know, every thing that happens is slanted this way or that way. And how can we, you know, one up the score? Yeah. And that's not doing anything to advance us. Now, even if like it, it's almost like it might accidentally do it, but it's not getting to the core of the issues that we're dealing with.

Yeah. If of how I can paint with a red bus or a blue brush, you know, like how I can, you know, make one candidate look good and one look bad with the exact same story. Yeah. Like, yeah, exactly. I mean, obviously it's entertaining to people. It is.

I think that's what it is. Yeah. It's entertainment. It's. I think that's what it is. Yeah, it's entertainment. It's freaking the real world, but in policy. I mean, it probably should be kind of boring, right? Because a lot of the stuff is incredibly detailed and there are implications. If you look at insurance markets and how you respond to natural disasters, right? That's incredibly complex. I want

experts and we do have incredible experts that can that are really well versed in this, right? And like they can tell you what makes a good policy, what makes bad policy. They're in government, they're in private sector, they're academics, right? Like I, that's who I want talking about public policy and sorting it out, right. With people's input. But as long as we're just focused on like what's being said on Twitter, as though that's politics, like we're not, we're not going to solve these issues. Speaking of issues, as you know, you've gotten into this job and everything you

guys are doing with independent center and looked at data and studies from people Smarter than me a lot smarter and but like Really just surprised you is there like a source of data or a fact or you know thing that? May because again, you're like your strong willed Independent person. Yeah, there you go. You you admitted it Anything your strong willed independent person. Yeah, there you go. You, you, you admitted it. You already owned it. You said, you can tell me anything. So was there, but is there stuff that even surprised you from the data? You know, and I, it's wide open.

It could be on anything, but that's, that was different than maybe you thought. Well, so one thing that's just come out recently, we, we just did some polling here at the start of the Trump administration where we asked independents, Republicans and Democrats, we pulled them all and said, what are you expecting to see? Right? Like that's part of keeping any elected official accountable is like what do voters expect, right? And then later on we'll pull again and say, like, did you get your experience? Yeah. And one of the things you're

sounds like the exactly what it should be. Right. Well, one of the things that that surprised me was that Republicans, independents, everybody is looking for bipartisanship. And that's not what either the parties are selling. Neither one of them are saying, hey, you know what we're're planning to do we're planning to work with the other side. I'm so voters are expecting bipartisanship i think because they know that with small margins you're gonna have to work across the aisles to deal with our problems and i don't think anybody wants one mono party that's like going out there deciding everything, right? Like that's not going to get us good policy.

So what we learned in the survey is that voters are looking for bipartisan behavior and you know, we're going to go check back in a little at the end of the year and figure out is that what we see? Is that is that what voters saw? Are they pleased with what they're getting? And you know, like that's the other thing I want to say about the independent centers work. Like, our feeling is you should let people choose what is right for them and what's best for them to the extent we can. We want to offer people choice at the ballot box. Right. And we think that when

you have more choices, you can get closer to the things that matter to you. Right. And like that's very marketing centric thinking, right? It's like when consumers have more choices, they are better off because they get the product that matches what they want. And so like, why wouldn't we have that in politics too? Yeah. As you close out here, Laura, you know, bring it back to the American dream. And I feel like everything I've been hearing you say, is leading towards educating people on things and policies that can

help them fulfill their American dream. And, you know, I almost feel like you're talking about our kids and I'm always coming up like, if I think those in power, or even maybe the next generation, because we can admit we're kind of, you know, the elected officials we have have already been here, we know what we got. And I'm almost thinking like eight to 12 years, 16 years from now. I don't think the kids and the young people are going to do it the way it's being done right now. Yeah. And I think the kids and the young people are going to do it the way it's being done right now.

Yeah. And I think so. I think the boat's going to have to change or there's going to be, I don't know, a revolution anyway. Yeah. I mean, you know, younger generations, Gen Z millennials are actually like 52% independent. Yeah. That's got to be high compared to 30 years ago, 20 years ago.

Oh, it's way higher. Yeah, yeah, it's way higher and across the board, like, you know, people are now identifying themselves as independents at higher levels than ever. And so I think a shift is coming maybe where people don't want to think in just these dualistic terms of like, I'm this side or that side. They're saying like, No, it's some of both. And so, you know, I think that having people with complex ways of thinking about policy and politics and kind of like you said, looking at this and being

like, this is bullshit. Yeah, right. Like, yeah, that's who I want involved in politics. I think when you when you look at one party and say, like, everything you do is great. That's, that's not reasonable. Right, right? Like some of it is some of it is better than others. Yes, right, but like we can do better Yeah, we can do better. That's what america dream is helping us do They're a proud sponsor and look Whether they were sponsored or not i'd be supporting them because I believe in the American dream and what we're pushing for. Laura, how can everybody keep up with what you're doing, what the independent center is doing and get involved?

All that good stuff. Yeah. Reach out to us. We're at independentcenter.org. We have a weekly newsletter. We publish our surveys. If you have questions about like, what do people think about different policy issues, we have lots of survey work. We publish blog articles about what's going

on in politics from an independent angle. So if you don't want to just hear like, what is the red side or the blue side on this stuff, if you want to hear like, here's, here's what matters for independence, sign up for our newsletter. Come check us out online and reach out to us. Like we're always happy to talk and chat with people get connected. You're very approachable and I appreciate you coming on. Thank you. Thank you for having me. This is great. Of course. And I think that's what we need in America. You'll find that link to Independence Center in our show notes on my bio and instagram And look goes out for the newsletter get the politics out of the way get the policies at the front of the line

That's what we need. That is what is now Go find me ryanisright.com. Go find links to all of the highlight clips from today's show All the good stuff none of the bad stuff all what's now we'll see you next time on right about now None of the bad stuff all what's now. We'll see you next time on right about now This has been right about now with Ryan Alford a radcast network production Visit Ryan is right comm for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities Thanks for listening