Episode 232- A Genuine Alternative to Biden and Trump. A Conversation with Dean Phillips

Welcome to a captivating episode of the Common Bridge, where we sit down with the three-term congressman and Democratic presidential candidate, Dean Phillips. Prepare to be inspired as Phillips shares the story of his unique journey - from growing up fatherless due to the Vietnam war to becoming a successful entrepreneur. His resolve to bridge the partisan divide in America's political landscape fuels his desire to run for president. You'll hear about his daughter's inspiring battle with cancer and her advocacy for healthcare reform and paid family leave.

Get ready to unpack the essence of effective leadership and innovative housing solutions with our former vice chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus. Here's a leader who passionately believes that the key to solving our nation's issues lies in effective collaboration. Listen to how his versatile professional journey - from a CEO to involvement in healthcare and education - has equipped him for the presidency. Be prepared to learn about the importance of empathy, listening, and a diverse, bipartisan cabinet in leadership.

We then shift gears to dissect pressing issues like healthcare reform and firearm control. Hear us evaluate the prospect of a single-payer healthcare system and a capitated model for health outcomes. Tune in for our guest gun owner's perspective on the NRA, firearm safety, and the importance of dialogue in finding solutions. Our talk on gun violence and the Second Amendment will underscore the need for respectful discussions to resolve this issue. Get ready to delve into these thoughtful discussions as we strive to bridge divides and build a better America.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to this episode of season 5 of the Common Bridge, where policy and current events are discussed in a fiercely nonpartisan manner. The host, richard Helpe, is a philanthropist, entrepreneur and political analyst who has reached over four million listeners, viewers and readers around the world. With our surging growth in audience and subscriptions, the Common Bridge continues to expand its reach. The show is available on the Substack website and the Substack app Simply search for the Common Bridge. You can also find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. The Common Bridge draws guests and audiences from across the political spectrum, and we invite you to become a free or paid subscriber on your favorite medium.

Speaker 2: 0:40

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Speaker 3: 1:18

Hello, welcome to the Common Bridge. The Common Bridge is about building bridges from one side of the partisan divide to the other. We've all been frustrated by people in Washington and state capitals not doing that, and we've seen a media ecosystem pandering to those extremes. It's put us in a bad place as a country. Take someone with some courage to come forward and try to break that. We welcome to the Common Bridge today. Three-term congressman from the state of Minnesota and announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for the president of the United States, Mr Dean Phillips. Dean, welcome to the Common Bridge. It's really an honor to have you with us today. Great to be on your bridge Rich.

Speaker 3: 2:00

Congressman, before we get into your bio, recent polls have shown that over 70% of Americans do not want Joe Biden reelected and do not want to see Donald Trump return to the White House. Two major parties are taking it in that direction. The Republicans, kind of like the deer in the headlights, are hoping that somehow the primary voting is going to be different than the polling, that they'll have someone else at the top of the ticket besides Donald Trump. Democrats, they seem to be honing their party practices that put Hillary Clinton and then Joe Biden at the top of the ticket in the past two presidential elections, shutting down competition and open dialogue. You're the guy here that might be able to break through that. Not very many people know who you are, so do you mind giving us a little sketch? Where'd you grow up? What were some of your experiences? What led you to this point today?

Speaker 4: 2:52

I appreciate that. Well, my life started with losing my father in Vietnam. My dad already grew up very poor in St Paul, minnesota. I lost his father, my grandfather Victor, when he was just a little boy. My grandmother, ruth, had to work at a department store to try to make ends meet barely, and my dad had to earn an ROTC scholarship to attend university at the University of Minnesota. Graduated law school was sent to Vietnam to serve our country just before I was born, in 1968. And he was killed in July of 1969, just three days after the US landed on the moon. And I have to tell you, rich, I think, having just been to Vietnam and actually gone to the very site where he took his last breath, I thought of him looking up at the moon and seeing America at our very, very best, and looking down at his boots in Vietnam and recognizing he was seeing America at its very worst. And that is really the choice that we have to make today which America are we going to be, the one that looks up to the moon and the heavens or one that unfortunately continues down this path of what I consider to be ultimately existential and destruction.

Speaker 4: 3:57

And I was very lucky, though. My mom was 24 and widowed. I was six months old. We lived with my great grandparents for the first three years of my life and then I got lucky. My dad, eddie Phillips, adopted me, married my mother, didi, brought me into an extraordinary family and I'm fortunate. Most kids who've lost their fathers or mothers in war don't have the blessings that I had, and I've lived on both sides of advantage. I feel it's an incumbency, if you will, on people like me to share that good fortune with others. This family was amazing. My grandmother became Dear Abby, my aunt was Anne Landers, so I got a lot of advice growing up.

Speaker 4: 4:33

Our family had some businesses which I eventually entered, graduated from Brown University, started my career at a startup business, learning what this is like by the way, I'm a presidential campaign from scratch Joined our family business, a distilling business called Phillips. We created Belvidur Vodka. My father and I and our colleagues built it into the first luxury vodka in America and the world sold it to LVMH. Applied the same template, if you will, to the ice cream category. I love taking on two big brands, which, by the way, I'm doing right now with Democrats and Republicans. We built Tlenti into one of the best-selling premium ice creams in America sold that to Unilever.

Speaker 4: 5:12

And, like so many on the evening of the election in 2016, I watched with my family. I had no idea that our country and our futures would change so dramatically that night and I awoke the next morning to the sound of my 16-year-old daughter crying in her bedroom. Pia had just overcome Hodgkin's lymphoma. She noticed when she was in Children's Hospital in Minneapolis that so many kids in rooms next to her did not have health care or did they have parents who were able to come to see their kids during the workday because they didn't have paid family leave. And she actually started an organization with her dear friend Abby to help these kids a very much big part of my life story. And she's also a gay woman. I did not know that when she was 16, but she was crying that day because she was afraid and I saw fear in her eyes.

Speaker 4: 6:01

My daughter, daniela, was a freshman in college and I sat at the breakfast table and promised them that I would do something because, thank goodness, we live in a country in which you can. So I gave up my career in business. I ran for Congress People. Then Rich told me that you're out of your mind. You're going to lose, you're going to torpedo your career, because I was running in a district that had not elected a Democrat since 1958 and running against an incumbent who had won by 14 points, and people thought I was nuts, and that's exactly why I did it. That's exactly why I'm doing it again right now.

Speaker 4: 6:35

I won by 12 points, I used invitation, not confrontation, and I think, by the way, that is a theme of my campaign. That's how we actually repair and restore this entire country and its relationships, and I can tell you a lot of stories about what I saw when I got to Congress, which is appalling, because the systematic separation between Democrats and Republicans literally starts at the very top and it begins on day one. You know, rich, we were put on separate buses, going to separate events. I could tell very quickly how both parties wanted to ensure that we did not build strong relationships, that our entire free time would be occupied by fundraising and that they would provide us with as little information and education as possible, so that none of us would present a challenge to the power structure. That's all you need to know about Washington right now is the perverse incentives that drive the behavior, and I can talk a lot more about that, but that's where I started.

Speaker 4: 7:35

And right now I'm running for president because two things. We cannot hand the keys back to Donald Trump. In my estimation, he's destructive, he's dangerous. I've seen it firsthand and the fact of the matter is you referenced 70-some percent of the country doesn't want Joe Biden or Donald Trump. And I am running because we have an existential threat to the country, and it starts with affordability, and no one is listening, no one has propositions to solve it. When 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, 40 percent cannot afford a $400 emergency repair. We've got big problems and 32 percent of our wealth held in the hands of just 1 percent. That's all you need to know. We've got a lot of other challenges and I would love to talk about them, but at the end of the day, affordability, affordability, affordability, health care, education and, frankly, housing. Those are the three categories and I'd love to talk about those, but that's what I'm doing, and I'm the second most bipartisan member of the Congress. Former vice chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus. The only way to fix this is by working together.

Speaker 3: 8:36

Well, you are the perfect guest for the common road, because this is what we have set out to do. It's a platform to say where do we agree? Compromise is not a dirty word. You're not going to get everything you want, but can we make things better than they are today? Look, I've been a chief executive. You've been a chief executive and you know that you have to satisfy your constituencies. You've got to satisfy your customer. Your customer has a choice. You've got to continue to satisfy the customer. You have to build a great workforce in order to satisfy the customer. Of course, you've got to watch your pennies and dollars or you don't get to play again.

Speaker 3: 9:12

In listening to you, I hear the voice of a chief executive and it had to be terribly difficult to go in, to be one of 435 after being the one. Well, we used to show it at the apex of the pyramid. Now we saw the CEO kind of as a center with everybody rotating around. But out of the 330 million Americans we have, why are you qualified to be the president of the United States? What are the qualifications? If I was an executive committee, I'd search for a CEO of an enterprise and I said let me see the resumes. You came in. What would you tell us? Why should you be the president of the United States?

Speaker 4: 9:50

Well, I think the best leaders combine both personal experience with professional experience and you package that together and you get good leaders. And, starting with my personal experience, I've lived on both sides of advantage. I've experienced extraordinary success, tragic loss and very human. The fact of the matter is, every leader, I believe, should lead with courage and courage. The root, of course, is la Cour, the heart, and I think we've lost sight of the fact that personal experience, empathy, understanding should be the key attributes of any great leader and if you can't listen and you can't empathize, you cannot lead. That's my personal life experience. I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm a son and I'm a very proud American.

Speaker 4: 10:34

As it relates to professional experience, the truth is I would bring the broadest experience to the White House of any recent president. I've led businesses, I've built them, most of them successful, not all. I was the board chair of the largest health system in Minnesota, so the delivery of care is something I understand very intimately and why the system is so broken. I was a regent at a university in Minnesota, st John's. I understand why our higher education system is struggling and I've been the nonprofit board chair of a charitable foundation, so I've worked in the philanthropic sector, the nonprofit sector and, of course, the business sector. And when I contemplate what I think is most needed today in terms of affordability, healthcare, education and housing these are all market challenges and that's where my for-profit leadership actually comes in quite handy.

Speaker 4: 11:27

And then the last three terms in Congress. I've learned a lot. And when you reference how hard it is to go from a CEO to one of 535, of course it's difficult, but the analogy is I started my life as a salesperson. I learned to listen. That's how you sell, and in Congress that's exactly what I've had to do again. And the beautiful part of my life experience and my professional experience is that I've been a listener. I did that in my past life. I've been doing it in Congress, and that's the only way you can ascend to leadership is first by being a salesperson. That's, in my estimation, how the best leaders are formed by listening, understanding and then leading. So I would bring that experience to the White House.

Speaker 4: 12:06

You know, unlike Joe Biden, who has served only in public office for 50 years, I would bring nonprofit and for-profit leadership to the White House, unlike Donald Trump, who has only essentially run his own business and started his life quite substantially higher than most in this country do. That's not a lot of life experience. Not to mention his philanthropy was shut down by the state of New York for unethical behavior. So I would bring something different to the White House. But most of all, what I would bring and this is probably the most important point is something that hasn't been done, essentially, I believe, since Abraham Lincoln. And when he recognized that the entire future of the country was at stake, what did he do? He didn't surround himself with people who all agreed and who were all on the same team. He created a team of rivals, and that's exactly what I intended to do in the White House, because that's exactly how every successful enterprise nonprofit and for-profit succeeds.

Speaker 4: 13:01

Surround yourself with great thinkers If you need it, if you wanted yes, people. You don't need them all. I want great ideas. I don't care about your politics, I care about your principles, and that's why I would have a bipartisan cabinet of the best and brightest. I would have a youth cabinet, because so many of the issues we're facing today, I believe, can only be addressed by young people being at the table and sharing perspective about the issues that they will be facing in the 22nd century. So Rich. That's how I see leadership. That's why I'm qualified. I would bring a broader experience than any recent presidential candidate in my lifetime to the White House.

Speaker 3: 13:35

If you go to the Lincoln Library and Lincoln Museum in Springfield and look at some of the press reports at the time, you think that our politics are nasty today. They attacked Mr Lincoln. He was not applauded, but people that served in the Lincoln administration weren't doxxed, harassed, run out of restaurants and there was not an extreme that thought they could defeat him, save for the Confederacy, which, of course, was the ultimate extreme. And look, the way I look at Donald Trump is that he didn't have any operations bones. He's a salesman, he's the deal guy. You have to have engineers and accountants and lawyers cleaning up behind a guy like that. I'm sure you had your rain makers, I had my rain makers and you always had to have people to fulfill the promises, and I understand Trump's appeal will get into that.

Speaker 3: 14:23

But let's talk about some of the big items right now. So we had Greg Colburn on talking about housing, and I've got a quote from you that you think that the rent vouchers are a band aid. The solution is production. We've got to build more units. Professor Colburn, who also has a private equity background before he went to have a PhD and then now teaching at the University of Washington, says we need both of them, yeah. So what's between us and getting a reasonable housing policy in the United States of America?

Speaker 4: 14:54

What's between us and getting a reasonable housing policy is great thinkers sitting down together, identifying the problem and ideating the solution and right now, there, that those conversations are happening in silos if they're happening at all. So let's get down to it. First, you gotta set the objective. We need to build seven million housing units. In the United States of America we have about a six and a half million unit deficiency and in America we can do that. What's standing in the way? Some say capital. I think that's actually the easiest access.

Speaker 4: 15:24

The real issue is zoning and local regulatory issues that prevent a lot of high density housing from being constructed. So many cases the same communities that are desperate to end the homelessness crisis, to reduce the cost of housing. When those opportunities present themselves, many of them say not in my backyard. So it's time for a national conversation and to be courageous. If we want to solve the problem. It can't be done with a magic wand. It can't be done by the president alone or the congress. We need the participation of states and municipalities. I changed the zoning issues of the zoning laws right now. I think that's a big part of it. Would I like to see the creation of a federal housing bank to support private sector construction. Yeah, I think there's a way to amplify and make the construction more expedient. We also need developers at the table, we need Finance years at the table and we need local authorities at the table to identify how to fix the system and to get to it. And when I say all hands on deck approach, I think it how a massive seven million unit production Offensive is what the country needs. And, by the way, it solves other problems great paying jobs, mostly union jobs. It helps us manufacturing. It is a. It is a perfect intersection, what the country needs to identify solutions.

Speaker 4: 16:45

And, by the way, I don't have all the answers. The whole point of my leadership style is to populate tables with the best thinkers. I don't care about politics, I care about the solution makers and that's how I would lead. So that's how I would look at it. By the way, rent vouchers In a way that's to me analogous a little bit as to how our current education system works, because as long as you can provide, as long as you provide capital To people that doesn't put any downward pressure on pricing or doesn't create any more competition, typically it only subsidizes ultimately the providers, and that means landlords and the current Colleges and university. So I'm I. That's why I say one is a short term issue. The market will take care of itself if we have enough housing. Frankly, if we have just a little bit more than we need, housing will be affordable, everybody will have one and we won't be like china that might have up to a hundred million empty housing units right now. We just need to have enough for everybody.

Speaker 3: 17:44

Indeed, and the argument about neighborhood integrity. We've got vast swaths of land available in the urban core that could be rezoned. Would be very attractive if you can solve the public safety and the education and I hope that you will visit us in Detroit, detroit, students, amazing things I can say on that subject.

Speaker 4: 18:03

I'm coming soon. I would love nothing more than to do that tour with you, to be exposed to it, and I'm just one. If I could take this one step further, I think it's a grand time right now to plan new communities. We have we have millions of acres of open land. Right now, let's demonstrate to the world how we build twenty first century cities, and we can do so. With you know a broad array of socioeconomics and communities. We can redesign cities like dan butener, the blue zones guru, who knows how to build cities that force people to walk and be healthier and create more community. If we are willing to I d eight, innovate and dream a little bit bigger. We can't. We want to solve the crisis. We will position the country for successes that we can't even imagine right now. So I'd love to do that when I'm in Detroit.

Speaker 3: 18:52

Well, I will. As a minnesotan, I know you must love hockey, so I'll take you to the red wings and I'll introduce you to our cuisine.

Speaker 4: 18:59

A coney dog, if nothing else I cannot wait and I miss my minnesotan north stars right now, as you will know.

Speaker 3: 19:06

You got the wild there. They're still out there. So healthcare largest sector of the largest economy in the history of the world. We're doing amazing things every day with the People, with the technology, innovations.

Speaker 3: 19:21

If you're sick or injured, the place you want to be united states of america, in your home state, one of the preeminent clinical research facilities, the mail clinic, other great health systems in the state of minnesota but we don't have a financing system. We have financing methods. I've had seven or eight guests on this show and if you count me in that number, well, as experts in healthcare, whether you're coming from a public health perspective or you're coming from an absolute free market, we all kind of end up in the same place. Employer sponsored healthcare is seen it today, it makes no sense anymore. The way people move. Employers made it again to not declare somebody Employees. They don't have to provide healthcare. If you get so sick you can't work, you lose your healthcare, which is insane and you get so old that you retire. Well, now you're out of the risk pool. So in a thirty seconds or less, what would the shape of a new healthcare financing system look like?

Speaker 4: 20:20

Well, let's start with the incentive structure. Right now, we have a completely misaligned system. In fact, we don't have healthcare in America rich. We have sick care. That's where it starts. We reward procedures. We do not reward or provide incentives to invest in health. It's just the truth.

Speaker 4: 20:37

So how do we fit? And, by the way, we spend $10,000 per capita, which is double any developed nation. In the entire world. Outcomes are mid-pack and we pay three, four, five times more for the same pharmaceuticals, the same medicines and drugs, than our friends in Canada, mexico, england, australia, germany, france, you name it. And that's why we pay more than double anywhere else. And we have an 18 percent it's consuming 18 percent of our GDP. And the fact of the matter is that too many Americans have no coverage. They use the emergency department as their access to care the most expensive. We have people taking on medical debt who are surprised they think they had a health coverage, and then we have people going bankrupt and I'm sick of it. And, having been the board chair of a large health system, I understand the delivery of care. And the sad truth is, I understand that the real problem is the payment of care.

Speaker 3: 21:27

What you've identified as problems. And look, Canada has an illusion of care. You know their system would not work absent the United States because, like every centralized system in the world, the way they manage cost is getting lined and you're going to have delayed care, delayed care and worse outcomes. We spend more money and there's more capacity, so can we spend more efficiently? Yes, Can our system actually become a system? And my proof statement that we don't have a system is this During the biggest public health crisis of our lifetime, the COVID pandemic, had we not had special legislation, almost every health system in America would have gone bankrupt.

Speaker 4: 22:09

That's all you need to know. That's why my proposition is this I want to see the maintenance of the non-profit and private provision of care. I do not think government should ever be involved in a product or service delivery for the most part, but I believe the payment system is what's fundamentally broken, and that's why I do believe we need a single payer system, a national health insurance program that manages this, if you will, for everybody. Now, by the way, just like education, I believe we need a much stronger public education system in America. It should be well resourced, first and foremost, but I do believe in choice, and if you want to amplify that or put your child in a private school, parochial school, charter school this is America I think you should have those choices. But just as we do the same in education, I believe we should do the same thing in healthcare. Everybody should have coverage, everybody, and I believe that would lead to a healthier America. By the way, we should move from fee for service to a capitated model so that it provides an incentive for the health systems to actually invest in keeping people healthy. And if you look at this as like a membership model, if you knew that every American was a four. Let's say it was $5,000 per patient and you could apply that $5,000 to any system that works for you. Now that system has an incentive to keep you healthy because they want to earn a little bit of profit, and the best way to earn a little bit of profit is to keep you out of the hospital. But are they required to take care of you when you are sick? Of course they are, but I think that's the kind of system we should move to.

Speaker 4: 23:37

We will never have a purely single payer model. We will be a multi payer model. Medicare is one of the largest single payer systems in the world. The VA is one of the largest public delivery systems in the world. I simply believe the payment system is what is entirely broken and that's the only way to put downward pressure on pricing, increase efficiency and, by the way, the administrative costs alone of this current system, rich, would fundamentally and materially reduce the cost of care in America. And that's a truth, and I represent United Health Group, largest health insurer in the world. A lot of my constituents work for them. They're really good people, they've done some really good things, but they're also taking $21 billion in net income $21 billion in net income off of the table, returning it to shareholders, frankly at the expense of stakeholders, and it's all legal. It's perfectly legal.

Speaker 3: 24:32

The big health insurers and big pharma are the two lobbying groups and in the Phillips administration, if you're looking for a healthcare advisor, consider my hand raised.

Speaker 4: 24:41

Let's talk about it, Rich, and let me tell you two more quick things on this subject. Also, as it relates to pharma, I believe we should absolutely have a law in place that you cannot sell any pharmaceutical in America for a price that is higher than it is sold in Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Australia or the UK.

Speaker 3: 24:59

Period Plain and simple If you think everybody eligible for Part D. If you try to nationalize the drug price like that, the result would be not lower prices, it would be lobbyists saying you know, we're going to put Lipitor in the formulary and they'll lobby for a higher price, whereas a private insurer can say we're not putting Lipitor in, we're going to use Crestor if you don't get under our price point. So let's not get completely bogged down in healthcare and I'd be happy to have you back. We can do healthcare.

Speaker 4: 25:28

Start to finish, I'm the only member of Congress right now, Rich, the only one who takes no PAC money, no special interest money, no lobbyist money, no money from fellow members of the US Congress and doesn't have a leadership PAC, which is essentially a slush fund, which means it's hard for me to find people to go to dinner with. That are my colleagues in Washington, because they're so busy raising money. That's why we have a problem. The biggest, most well-organized, well-financed enterprises, they're the ones that have it. They have a chokehold.

Speaker 3: 25:58

Our throwback to the old model. We used to say, hey, you've been successful at business, or you were a great academic, or you were a military person, Will you be our leader? And now we have a class that comes out so you can't be bought or controlled because you've already been a successful person elsewhere and came to serve. And that's where we're out of whack is that we have people that are there not to serve, but they go in. They don't have much net worth, they come out and they're worth millions. And the really sad thing is we used to say that something was wrong. And you've got few examples now, other than Jimmy Carter, harry Truman, who clearly were there to serve, and their lifestyles didn't change. I guess Reagan's didn't either, but he was pretty wealthy.

Speaker 4: 26:44

Too many people not there to serve. They're there to self preserve.

Speaker 3: 26:48

Right, have you spoken much about firearms and firearm control. Anything that you've got there that you'd like to offer.

Speaker 4: 26:54

Sure, let me start by saying I'm a owner of firearms and I grew up shooting. As a young guy, the NRA taught me how to care for a firearm and how to treat it safely and how to. I learned how to take target practice and I remember it fondly. I wish the NRA was as invested in that right now as they used to be when I was a kid. You know, I understand the Second Amendment. I understand how the Supreme Court has interpreted it. I also understand that through our history, we have put some controls, if you will. We banned automatic weapons in the 1930s. We put more regulation around firearms in the 1960s after political violence, as you well know.

Speaker 4: 27:38

I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe that those who safely care for their firearms should be able to do so and not be at risk of the government taking them away. That's the truth. The other truth is we are suffering from an epidemic of gun violence, suicides, crime and mass murders of which every one of us is afraid, whether you own a firearm or you don't. You do not want your kids shot in school, in a grocery store, at a concert or in a movie theater. That's true, and I'm really sick and tired of Democrats and Republicans frankly ignoring the real truth.

Speaker 4: 28:12

And how do we reduce it? So here's my answer. First and foremost, if you look at the violence project based in Minnesota, james Densley and Jillian Peterson doing outstanding research on how we can actually reduce the incidence of violence, they've done the actual interviews with the survivors who have created these mass murders and what they've determined is two things we need to reduce suicide in America, which means we need a mental and emotional healthcare system, which we do not have. We need to reduce suicides. If we did, we would, by definition, by definition reduce a disproportionate amount of the gun violence in America. That's a starting point. The other is red flag loss. They've determined that about 80-some percent of those who commit these crimes, especially the mass murders, they signal either implicitly or explicitly through social media or to friends that they intend to do this. The guy the former, the veteran who killed so many innocent people in Maine recently, in Lewiston Maine, he was screaming, screaming about his intentions, and Maine did not have a law that allowed authorities to at least temporarily remove his firearms while he was assessed and received care. Had they been able to do so and they did so we would reduce this overnight. So red flag laws and suicide prevention are great ways to start.

Speaker 4: 29:31

Now we get to the issue that I don't like to lead with the notion of gun control. I like to lead with the notion of gun violence prevention because that invites gun owners to the table to sit with those who are opposed to gun ownership. The truth of the matter is, I think we're out of our damn minds to allow 18-year-old young men who can't even buy a beer yet for three years to buy semi-automatic weapons, buy high-capacity magazines and be able to carry around essentially weapons of war that we allocate to our military. It is just stupid, stupid, and that is, by the way, most gun owners feel the same way.

Speaker 3: 30:04

Look, that's irrefutable. And you mentioned the NRA. We had Ryan Busey who wrote a book called Gun Fight. I highly recommend it and listen to the two episodes we did with him. We've covered mental health a lot, and two-thirds of the gun deaths in the United States are by firearm. You know it's obviously would they occur if the firearm wasn't as helpful? I am not opposed to red flag laws as long as there's a way to get out of it, and I've come forward with a platform called graduated licensing. You know everything else we do when you get your first driver's license, you don't get to drive a semi. You don't get to fly an airbus. When you get your first pilot's license, we have common sense ways to not infringe on the Second Amendment and keep the firearms out of the hands of people that shouldn't have them. And that's one of the issues I have with the red flag laws that the person that shouldn't have it's already got it If I could say a couple more things on this too.

Speaker 4: 31:01

you know, there are some countries when it comes to semi-automatic weapons, you know, no, I don't think the government should take things away from people. I think that would only cause, frankly, more problems in some ways. But there are some countries I think Switzerland is one in which you keep your firearms at a safe facility, a hunt club or a gun club or a range where you can use it for your target practice, for your sports, whatever it is you might do. There are some ways that we can, I think, accommodate both the desire to use these firearms and the safety that's required of them. And then, lastly, you know, as a constitutionalist, from that perspective, reading the text as it's written, if anybody thinks that there are founders would tolerate what is going on right now in this country, I think you're out of your minds. I really believe you're out of your minds.

Speaker 3: 31:47

It's to repel tyranny, exactly Either in or out. And look, people have guns for personal protection. You know, los Angeles, which has had a lot of crime lately, has had two fairly highly publicized incidents where people finally had to shoot. There are I know there are personally areas in the country that never have a home breaking in because there's generally gonna be some kind of armed resistance. But there's the technologies that are available today. Do not make it difficult to keep a firearm secured and available in the unlikely event you'll need it.

Speaker 4: 32:24

And, by the way, rich, I love this conversation because these are the ones the country needs to have respectfully, thoughtfully and, most importantly, from a position of solving the problem, and that's why we gotta do it more often.

Speaker 3: 32:36

That's what this program is about, and as the president, you'd have these domestic issues to deal with and the foreign policy, the international relationships that we have to have with the world's a hotbed of risk right now. I know that as things break out, do I want the ego-driven Donald Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk? No, Do I want the clearly failing Joe Biden sitting behind the Resolute Desk? No, and particularly when you look at his depth chart, I don't think anybody believes Kamala Harris is qualified to be the president of the United States. But now, as you go to run ballot, access for the primaries and the voting blocks you'll appeal to. So I'm gonna, in case this is one answer, I'm gonna ask this all at once that how can people vote for you? What states are you going to be on the ballot?

Speaker 3: 33:29

I know Florida's locked you out and the Democratic National Committee has decided there's gonna give all the delegates to Joe Biden that there's blocks out there looking for an answer and let's talk about a big one. If you can get on the ballot, you're gonna need a lot of people from a lot of places. How would you appeal to a Trump voter?

Speaker 4: 33:50

I'll tell you, because I'll do so through invitation and anybody who's listening watching right now who might favor Donald Trump. Let me first tell you I understand. I understand. I understand the frustration, I understand the anger, I understand the fear and I understand. In Donald Trump you found somebody who said I'm going to break it all apart, and my only proposition to all of you is that I respect that perspective and I actually agree with a lot of the underlying foundational issues that are so broken right now. The only thing I'm offering that's quite different than him is I intend to fix those same issues in a way that doesn't destroy the whole country in the process, and I think what you just mentioned about you mentioned ballot access, rich. You know it is true, both parties are, I think, destroying this country right now, and I used to think it was only the right that was doing it. I have discovered in the last month, as a candidate for president, that my own party is not speaking the truth. They're suppressing voters, they're suppressing candidates and they're suppressing debate, which I believe are the lifeblood of democracy, and I would argue that every Trump voter most, and, frankly, every Biden voter, wants to have debate, wants to have the freedom to make a choice in our elections and believes that we should have more candidates and more competition, not less. Those are American values, I think, shared by the overwhelming majority of the country. So I do have animus towards Donald Trump because I've seen the danger that he presented to our country in a number of ways, but I do not have animus towards those who voted for him. As long as you care about your fellow American, if you're a true patriot, that means you look out for each other, not to mean diminish and divide the country just the opposite. And that's why my appeal is to everybody and that's why I would build a coalition that I think would be unique in recent American history A thoughtful, independent, thoughtful conservatives, libertarians, democrats, progressives and conservatives who place principle over politics. Liz Cheney, the most conservative member of the Republican conference for many years I did an ad for her in her last election because I saw principle on display. Pete Meyer, anthony Gonzalez, some of my dear Republican colleagues who lost their jobs or even resigned or retired, I'm sorry because of threats to their own lives. Those are the principle conservatives I love working with and I think it's time to elevate principled progressives and conservatives back to positions of power and my appeal is to everybody of decency, of reason, of common sense, of common cause. I do not tell you. I have all the answers, I have perspectives, I have life experience, professional experience, but this is a campaign of invitation and courage. I want you to join, I want to share, I want your ideas, I want to hear your dreams, your challenges and I want your participation. And I'll close with this Both parties do not want you to vote in the primaries.

Speaker 4: 36:50

They want to coronate a candidate and only have you come out and vote in the general election when they've already done the coronation. And that's why we only have about 14, 15% of Americans who vote in primary elections. So the good news is, in America, we still have that choice, whether you're in Michigan, new Hampshire. Sadly, in Florida, you won't have that choice because the Democratic Party of Florida decided we do not need an election and I cannot believe I just said those words In the United States of America in 2023, the Democratic Party of Florida decided that you do not have a chance to opine to select a candidate, that you want to be on the presidential ballot.

Speaker 4: 37:29

It's just the truth. You can't paint it any other way. New Hampshire the president disenfranchised all New Hampshire Democratic and independent voters because he said your delegates will not be seated at the convention in Chicago next year. It's appalling. We have problems on the far right. On the far left, the people controlling the levers of our politics have got to be addressed head on, and the way to fix it is go vote in the primaries. I will be on the ballot in about 45 states and let me tell you it is the most difficult part of this entire campaign. Millions of dollars, thousands of hours of labor, legal counsel, because the barriers to entry have been designed to prevent you from having a choice. It's as simple as that.

Speaker 3: 38:15

I find this refreshing on two fronts. First of all, hallelujah that a leading Democrat has said I bear no animus toward the voters of Donald Trump and I understand where they're coming from Absolutely, and that, to me, was a big pivot in 2016 in prepared remarks. Those voters are deplorable in September of 2022. The infamous speech in Philadelphia that Joe Biden gave and I actually wrote a column after this I says what's next? Purges and the other place that calling out what we've now know about the Democrats.

Speaker 3: 38:55

Under Joe Biden, it's clear he's been at the center of a pay for play scheme that we have congressional hearings on right now that are demonstrating a twisted way to get to censorship and shut down dissenting voices, and you literally have Democratic representatives saying well, we only shut down 35% of the speech. So I guess the First Amendment's not absolute anymore. It's only 65%. Good People don't want that, but they don't have the courage to speak up about the rot that's inside the Democratic Party and I look at that. The Democratic Party has just proven that they're corrupt and they're willing to follow anybody. And I think the Republicans my view they're like a deer in the headlights. They want Donald Trump to go away. They want it magically to happen, and it's not.

Speaker 4: 39:44

Yeah Well, rich, I think I need to say this it's really important that we cannot make blanket statements any longer about all Republicans, all Democrats. I've seen it firsthand. There are some really good Republicans with whom I work. There are some really good Democrats with whom I work. Everybody deserves their day in court. You are innocent until proven guilty.

Speaker 4: 40:03

Let's not use our screens, whether they're in our hands or on our walls, to make our determinations about the truth. Let's go investigate, let's use a little critical thinking, let's open our minds or hearts a little bit. My goodness, you know we're all in this together. I think it was John Lewis that said you know, we all came over in different boats, some on slave ships, some on the Mayflower, some on Dingy's but we're all in the same boat now and I don't care about your politics. Let's unify behind principle.

Speaker 4: 40:33

Let's disenfranchise that small handful of Americans on the furthest right fringes and on the furthest left fringes, because, yes, they've always been the danger to this country and the system, sadly, right now is designed to actually to give them more power than the exhausted majority on the right and the left, the center right, the center left, thoughtful Americans who are sick and tired. You're my people. You are my people. The truth is, you got to run with a D or an R at the end of your name. That's why Donald Trump ran as an R. I'm running as a D. We are very different men.

Speaker 3: 41:08

Let me assure you one of the things that you share in common Is that you're a subject in the media ecosystem and since I started this program, I said there's three bad actors.

Speaker 3: 41:17

They're the Democratic National Committee, the GOP's at central Governance and the media ecosystem that continues to Fuel this partisan divide, and I've read how they've tried to dismiss you instead of saying what's the policy, what's the character, what's the qualification for Dean Phillips as a potential chief executive, the Politico says is a gelato tycoon, turned back bench congressman and attractive alternative to Joe Biden. And I said well, this is interesting, coming from a party in a media ecosystem that fond over an Illinois Legislature back venture, with 150 days in the United States Senate and no Management experience. So, as we move to our close here and I would love to have you come back on, we could go deeper on many other topics a bit about what we should expect our media Ecosystem to do and how have they been treating you, because you've been on a lot of the big outlets in the big channels and, frankly, I see them coming loaded with a narrative, not with the curiosity about hey, who are you and what can you do All right.

Speaker 4: 42:28

Well, let me start at the very top. We have an anger tainment industry. Anger tainment, it's an industry dedicated to dividing us because they prey on the human condition. Doesn't matter if you're an American, doesn't matter if you're living in China, doesn't matter where you are in the world. Humans are programmed to respond to fear and the media environment. Anger tainers have realized the more fear that they can inspire, the more wealthy they become, the more eyeballs they attract and the more revenue is going to be generated. It's as simple as that. That's why we have a perverse incentive. That's part of the human condition. We are rewarding people and rewarding anger tainers, who would have us believe we are far more divided than we really are.

Speaker 4: 43:10

I see the beauty in every American with whom I visit. Whether you are a died-in-the-wool Grizzled Trump supporter, whether you are a bleeding heart liberal, I can find some common ground with you. That's the beauty of America. That's what makes us so darn unique. That's what Ronald Reagan talked about so regularly. We're the only country like that, and if we cannot convert that to a strength and we're gonna allow anger tainers To convert that into our, the end, frankly, of our Democratic Republic, you know what it's our fault.

Speaker 4: 43:40

So that's why my closing words are this is this is a time for courage. Everybody has it. The most courageous people in the country I know are not the industrial Titans or the celebrities. The most courageous people I know are the people working up we're getting up at midnight to go work the overnight shift at a plant and the people who have to go get their chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer and still go home and make dinner for four kids. You know the people who are trying to make ends meet in the face of rising prices for everything housing and education and health care and groceries. Right, you're the courageous people.

Speaker 4: 44:13

I don't care if you vote R or D or L or I. I don't care about the letter at the end of your name, how you pray, how you eat, how you think, how you live. I Do care about creating a place that's safe for our children, that has opportunity for everybody and that Restores what I consider to be what I talked about in the first place the America that literally shoots for the moon and goes there. Not the America that sends too many of our young people to places all around the world for reasons that many of us cannot understand. The America that spends a trillion dollars a year on our military, while people are starving and people are homeless and people are suffering and we have diseases of despair, you know what? While our, where our plants close and our kids don't have futures in rural America and we see the wealthiest getting wealthier and the poorest getting poorer, and we don't care about it. That's what we're trying to face.

Speaker 4: 45:04

And, by the way, to answer your question directly rich, no, I do. Am I treated fairly? You know fairness is relative. You know the pain that I'm feeling, based on the treatment I'm receiving from fellow Democrats and from the media, is nothing compared to the pain that people are feeling every day in this country. So, if I can take those arrows and take those punches and take those attacks for so many people who are suffering a whole lot worse than anybody, believe me, I'll do so.

Speaker 4: 45:29

And this is where it ends. You know, if you have the courage to give me a chance, you're gonna have a voice in the White House. You will have access to the White House. You will have access to your president. I will do so in a different way though respectfully, gracefully, with strength, with courage, with conviction, and I think that's what America is all about, and that's why I would ask, no matter your politics, give some thought to voting in the Democratic primary to make a fundamental change in the future of the country. Forget about the letter at the end of my name. Please look into my character, my competency, my experience and my policies, which I'll be rolling out here in the next number of weeks. I love this country, I love everybody listening right now and cannot wait to meet you and answer your questions.

Speaker 3: 46:09

We've been talking today with three term congressman from Minnesota and announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for the president of the United States, a fresh approach that sounds very much binding to me, bringing us together, america. We can do better. Those loyal listeners, readers and viewers of the Common Bridge. You've heard policy experts come forward on so many issues and say here's a common-sense way to do things, yet we can't get the political class that is empowered to make those changes to take action on our behalf. We've talked with many luminaries in the new media model that's emerging and the frustration with the narrative driven model. Guess what? The powers in our hands by showing up by voting, not believing the lesser of two evils and consuming media reports that we know are coming from a righteous and factual place. And with our special guest, dean Phillips this is your host, rich, helpy, signing off on the Common Bridge.

Speaker 2: 47:17

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Speaker 1: 47:57

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