The Andrew Miller Show

How would you like to decide directly how your taxes are being spent?  It's already going on in thousands of cities throughout the world and dozens of cities around the U.S. and Canada.  It's a chance to shift more power from politicians to the people.  We can all help it expand and grow if more people become aware of it.  This episode's guest is Elizabeth Crews who is with the nonprofit group called Participatory Budgeting Project.

Cam Gordon is up for Re-Election for 2nd Ward Council Member for the City of Minneapolis, MN.  As the one council member who is in the Green Party, he is the Minority Leader.  Furthermore he is also on several committees.  Cam helped found the Minnesota Green Party, and has served on the boards of FairVote Minnesota, Common Cause Minnesota, and Minneapolis Center for Neighborhoods. You can find out more about him as a council member at https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/city-council/ward-2/about-cam-gordon/ and his candidacy and campaign at https://www.camgordon.org/

Same show, new name.  Just me babbling for a few minutes on why I decided to rename it.

Ranked Choice Voting allows you to vote for your favorite candidate while having back up choices in case your top choice doesn't stand a chance at winning.  It already exists in Maine for statewide and Presidential elections, a few other states for local elections and primaries, and there's a movement to spread it further nationwide.  Learn more at rankthevote.us.  This episode's guest is Nathan Lockwood from the leadership team at rankthevote.us.  Nathan served as the Greater Worcester Chapter Lead, a statewide speaker, and as volunteer co-lead for communications for Voter Choice Massachusetts. He was an executive board member of the Voter Choice Education Fund and a founding member of Unite America. Nathan was elected to the Town of Lunenburg Planning Board and served from 2009 through 2015. He holds a BA from Yale University.

Loathe and despise the Republican and Democratic parties but want a certain candidate to win one of their nominations?  Or like your party but sometimes want to vote in a different primary?  Want to vote in all elections including primaries without having to be labeled on record as a certain party? Then you need open primaries.  America needs open primaries.  This episode we talk with Jeremy Gruber, J.D. from the movement Open Primaries.  We discuss why open primaries are beneficial to all, why closed primaries stink, and what needs to happen.  

What started as a "dumb question" at a school assembly, has found its way into the issues of the day for better or for worse.  

Many progressive ideas that make certain political candidates labeled as radical or out of the mainstream, pass with flying colors all over America when presented as ballot initiatives.  Listen to why that may be and how to continue making progress happen.

Most states that are "solid red" or "solid blue" really have a 60/40 ratio give or take, not including those who don't bother voting because they don't think it will matter anyway since their state always goes a certain way.  Even if it wasn't enough to swing a state, just imagine how much of a difference it can make in these tight presidential races if a few thousand more voters in each state came out and gave the candidate they lean more towards the extra votes needed to surpass the opponent in the nationwide popular vote.  That is how declaring the winner based on the popular vote can benefit any party or candidate.   Knowing every single vote in every single state counts just as much as any, would motivate candidates to campaign in every state and discourage a sitting President and other federal elected officials of any political party from neglecting most states and Americans while only focusing more on the few who determine the outcome in the current winner take all electoral vote system.  This episode we talk with Rebekah Warren of National Popular Vote. Rebekah is on the front lines of National Popular Vote. She currently serves in the Michigan House of Representatives and is an author of the National Popular Vote Bill there.  She also advocates for the National Popular Vote in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and several other states.  You can learn more at nationalpopularvote.com

Marcia Squier is the Green Party candidate running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.  A Gen Xer who sees it is time for younger generations to step up and move the country forward instead of backward, she joined the Green Party after experiencing how not so democratic the Democratic Party is especially when it came to Super Delegates and how they ignored the will of the people in her state in 2016.  She has witnessed first hand how bought the two major parties are and what they're really about.  She offers voters a chance to reject corrupt candidates and incumbents while having a better and brighter option to vote for.

George Gluck has been active with the Green Party for well over a decade and has ran for office before.  He spent forty years working in Information Technology for the government and private sector, including being an expert in improving effectiveness and operating efficiency of government agencies such as Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA), the Medicare financial system, and the General Services Administration information systems through business process re-engineering.   Unlike many naysayers who don't have the experience he does, George has a realistic sense from experience on the government's potential and ability to benefit constituents within the platform he runs on.  Being highly educated in science and mathematics, he also plays the violin and substitute teaches Physics.  His work experience, activism experience, and well-roundness offer a lot for the constituents of Maryland's 6th district and the rest of the American people.  Learn more at https://sites.google.com/view/georgegluck/home