Speaker Identification
Speaker 1 - Theme/Opening or Closing Music
Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown, Host
Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones, Co-Host
Speaker 4 - Shubh, Guest and founder of Policy Decoded

Speaker 1 - Theme/Opening Music
Democracy is a chorus and it starts with you. Shadow Politics. Let the midnight speak For the overlooked. The unheard, the strong and the weak. Senator Michael D. Brown holding open the door. Liberty Jones saying we were silent no more. From the district streets to the nation's soul. Every broken-out voice Makes the country whole. Shadow Politics. Turn the dark into sound. When America listens. Justice comes around.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Good evening and welcome to Shadow Politics. An hour long grassroots talk show which is on a mission to make America think again. I'm your host Michael D. Brown, United States Senator Emeritus and along with my amazing co-host, Liberty Jones, we are interviewing the people that are making it happen. Not always in front of the camera, but always ahead of the curve. I'm not going to tell you how to feel or who to vote for. We're just putting the information out there because it's what goes on in the shadows that really makes the world go around. So come listen and learn because our vote is a terrible thing to waste. And now more than ever we need everyone listening, learning and engaged. If we're going to make America sane again. Got a question? Call in at 888-627-6008. We've got a guest tonight named Shubh. Shubh I'm going to let you pronounce your last name because I would only butcher it I think. So welcome to the show. Shubh, welcome Liberty Jones. Let's get going.

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Shubh. Are you happy? We're happy to have you. Nice to be on here with you. Good.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, Shubh, tell us what, well let me just give you a brief introduction. Shubh is a high school student and Shubh is only one of three high school students we've had on in 12 years. And one of the reasons we went I we had on was running for public office. So we thought that was great that an 18 year old was running for public office. Shubh is on because he's come up with a great idea. I've seen a few other people do this, but I think it's really, really unique what he's trying to do. He created an organization called Policy Decoded and I'm going to let him tell you all about it. But I think it's a great idea and it's and since the theme of our show is trying to make America think again, this is a guy that's trying to make young people think. So Shubh tell us what's up. What's what you're doing. All right. Thanks for your kind words. Policy Decoded is a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to raising civic awareness in youth about the policies that affect their daily lives. We're on a mission to educate more than a million youth about different policies that affect their daily lives. This includes both state level policies and federal policies like state House bills, state Senate bills, federal policy, etc. Well, but the brilliant subtle idea in my humble opinion is that you're doing it in one-minute vignettes, 60-second vignettes because I've raised a few young people and I know their attention span. I've gotten shorter and shorter and shorter thanks to social media, cell phones and iPads, etc. So that's what really intrigued me about what you were doing. So is that you're trying to do one-minute vignettes, which will keep people's attention. I asked, well, where do we see these? Do we see these on Instagram? Do we see them on YouTube? Where do we see them?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Oh, you see them on both YouTube and Instagram. We're also considering launching on TikTok. And just so you know, tell us the kind of response you've got because that surprised me. Yeah, you've done hundreds of these. Have you not? And you've gotten over 250,000 hits already? Yes, we have. We have over 180,000 views on our YouTube channel and we have over 70,000 views on our Instagram page. Wow.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Okay, Liberty, we're going to have to ask this guy's advice on how to get more of the listeners. Liberty, go ask him a brilliant question. Come on.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
Hi, Shubh. Thank you so much for being here tonight. We're so happy to have you. You know, I really appreciate your creativity and your innovation. I think right now that's the best to create the change you want to see in the world is to create things like this. My question to you is what was your turning point of poor choice of words? But when did you decide to create this? Why did you decide to create this and what really inspired the process technically and ideologically as well?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Sure, great question. So for a long time, I actually had a minor interest in politics, but it wasn't until a several months ago that I actually decided to begin applying it. For a long time, I thought about becoming a doctor. I thought about becoming a pediatrician. I really like helping people my age. I really like helping young children. I thought that's what I was going to do. But then, you know, so like this past year and a half, we've seen all kinds of things coming on the news. We've seen the president come into the news more and more often. Policy is becoming more and more prominent in our lives. And that was when I realized that becoming a doctor wasn't something that made me truly happy because I love helping people, but I realized that I'm more interested in policy and about how it affects our daily lives. And it's the events of what's been going on the past year and a half that we've begun to feel the effects of policy especially. And this is why I started Policy Decoded because I want people my age and I want people of all ages to be able to access policy in a way that is easy to understand in a way that is accessible to everyone. So then they have an idea of what's going on in their state and on the federal level.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, Shubh, I have great news for you. You can be a doctor and a politician. There are several members of Congress that are in fact doctors. So they're not mutually exclusive. Don't give up your, we need doctors. I'm more than we need politicians, I don't know. But yeah, you can do both. But let me ask you, since you seem to be more interested in policy now, first of all, do you think that the work you're doing to get people interested in policy? Do you think if people understand policy, they may vote more on the basis of what they know than on the basis of example personality? Because I've got to tell you, this is something that I see with young people. I think that I think you see with all people, but especially young people, that personality goes a long way. So they'll see somebody like Donald Trump and they'll go, yeah, I like this guy. You know, he says this and he says that and he looks like a bad ass, but they have no idea what he stands for. And they vote on the basis of personality. They don't vote at all. So I guess my question to you is what's the benefit you see from doing what you're doing for the public besides the benefit from you?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So the benefit I'm seeing is that we're reaching out to people in a way that is accessible to them and that we try to make it engaging. A lot of the reason young people gravitate towards charismatic figures like President Trump and other politicians is because of just how engaging we are. And we try our best to be engaging. We try to focus on the issues that matter to people the most. We've tried to focus on issues like health care, housing, affordability in general, taxes, et cetera. And it's important for you to connect the dots I assume for people because, you know, does the average young person care that much about health care, right? I remember I didn't have hospitalization when I was a young person. I really didn't worry about it. Of course, it's an important thing to have, right? Because if anything serious happens, you have to be able to take care of yourself. Not the chances of it happening when you're young, chances of you having to have a serious need for health care is not as great. So is that, I mean, how important is that to you? They connected dots for people. So they understand that it's important because a lot of these issues young people don't really don't understand are important. Don't you say? Yeah, maybe it's not young people themselves, but perhaps people that like they really care about, like take my grandmother, for example, my grandmother on my dad's side, she was a diabetic and she had a lot of health problems in her life. So even though I'm healthy and my parents are healthy and like growing up around my grandmother, it really taught me about the importance of health care and making sure that we have a good health care system. And I do believe there are millions of cases out there like mine where they have, you know, a grandparent they care about or, you know, not necessarily a grandparent, just a very close older relative or maybe they have a friend with a chronic illness like cancer or a disability who is being impacted.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, that's true because I know for a fact that Liberty Jones best friend is a diabetic, right? Liberty, you ask another question.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
Yes, a serious diabetic. I'm afraid he might be getting lines diseases. Oh my God, that's so true. But good. My next question is, you know, do you see what is the feedback you're getting? Are people our age? Do you see people's minds changing? Do you see them being receptive to this? You know, are you getting people from what sides of the political sphere engaging with your content?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Yeah, that's a great question. I'm happy to answer that. So Policy Decoded has expanded across multiple states. We have expanded so far to more than 10 states. And yes, I have gotten positive responses from both sides of the political spectrum. I have people from all walks of life. I have people from different like races. I have people from different age groups. I have college students who are as a part of Policy Decoded as well. And I have people of opposing political spectrums. I talked to a college student a few days ago and she worked with the Heritage Foundation before. And she really liked the idea of Policy Decoded. And at the same time, I know people who are a part of High School Democrats of America and they're also receptive. As for the politicians, I meet so far, I've only been able to conduct interviews with Democratic politicians, but all of them have said that they really like this idea. So yes, I have been getting support from a lot of people.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, and that's really says something. I have somebody from the Heritage Foundation, which is a really conservative group. I used to work. I used to run the Public Interest Group that was next door to the Heritage Foundation. And so if you're reaching liberals and conservatives, I mean, you're really doing a great job in that show. So now you're interested in politics. What's next with Policy Decoded? I mean, it seems to me that you're putting information out there. You're telling people how to be engaged as well? So my group and I have actually been considering ideas on promoting civic engagement as well. Just today, we had our first all hands meeting and we discussed other ways that Policy Decoded and help advance life, not just civic awareness, but also civic engagement. We're also planning on partnering with other organizations as well to promote civic engagement. And we have a bunch of great ideas that we have. Well, that's good. And, you know, I noticed that, I mean, our relationship started to show because you wrote me and asked to interview me. And when I found out what you were doing, I said, let me interview you because I'm interested in what you're doing. So let me ask, was your attempt to get to interview me? Is that a new direction you're going in? Or do you want to interview people on a regular basis?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Oh, I interview people on a regular basis. What I do is I reach out to politicians and or former politicians and also people who are running for office. And I ask them for an interview request. Sometimes like sometimes they don't respond. Other times I've been respectfully declined an opportunity to have an interview with the person. But other times the people who do respond to me, the people who do get back to me, the people who do agree to my request. There's some of the nicest people I've ever met. I've learned so much through interviewing politicians. One of my goals is to also show that politicians are human beings as well and that they're real people. And that's part of what we're trying to do here at Policy Decoded. We're trying to reach out to politicians like you and just try to get rid of this image that's become prevalent on the media about politicians kind of being like, you know, actors and everything.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, and that's important. And because they come in all straight sizes and all different types of people, just like people in general, so there are good people and bad people. And I'll tell you what somebody said to me when I first entered politics 40 years ago, he said, don't ever forget that the cream always rises to the top, but so does the scum. So you have to keep an eye out and there are both types in politics. And you're right. Unfortunately, we all get painted with scum brush instead of some of us getting good people brush like Liberty Jones, right? Liberty, go ask another brilliant question. Save me. Liberty, do you leave me?

Speaker - Unidentified/Overlap
OK, sure.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
It seems that I'm on mute, but I'm unmuted now. All right. My bad. You know what? I do that all the time. So it makes me feel good to see a young person do it. Go ahead. From the best. Yeah. But, you know, that's really what it's about. Making sure I love that quote, Senator Brown, and you it really inspires me when you say that because it's true. The scum also rises to the surface. And my question to you, she was, how do you how do you differentiate? You know, is there bias in the policies you post? How do you differentiate a good policy and a bad policy? Is it opinionated or, you know, how what type of information are you actually putting out there?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So we do our best to be nonpartisan whenever we publish policies. We try to present both sides of the arguments, like what supporters are saying and what people oppose to this bill are saying. Because a lot of times, both sides do have valid arguments when it comes to being for and against a bill. But at the same time, like as a nonpartisan organization, we also try to get a piece of information. A group of groups of people with a variety of beliefs in order to try to prevent this from being any kind of stereotype of us having any kind of bias. So as I've mentioned, I have people from high school Democrats, I have people who interned with the Heritage Foundation. I'm looking for more people from both sides of the political spectrum. So to answer your question, no, we try not to have bias because we just want to make sure that people are aware of the policies that affect their lives. And then they can just decide as to whether they like it or whether they want to go and stand up for themselves, whether they want to take action.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Can I ask you, do you get, have you been able to categorize the responses you're getting in the sense that you hear more from, you get a more positive response from local politicians, for example, than national politicians or retired politicians rather than active politicians or Republicans, as opposed to Democrats or conservatives, liberals, haven't been able to categorize any of that? Do you have any sense of it? Oh, yes, I've actually noticed a common trend. A lot of times, politicians don't really respond to my request because they're very busy. Other times, whenever I reach out to a politician, it takes time because sometimes the interview gets postponed. That's happened to me before quite a few times. And I've found myself that it's usually active politicians who are more inclined to respond because I just, because it's just something I've noticed personally, because I've reached out to retired politicians. I've been a politician before, and the only time I've ever had a politician decline my request directly was from a retired politician. That's surprising. Because we got us retired politicians, retired politicians don't have anything else to do. So we should be out there talking to young people. We have a responsibility to that for that. So what are your personal goals, Shubh? I mean, obviously, graduate in high school. You want to go to college? Have you thought about what college you want to go to?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Yes. So yeah, I do want to go to college. I'm aiming for a really top university. I really want to go to the Ivy League that I'd love to check out the East Coast. I think that's where a lot of things are happening. That it's just a very stimulating environment compared to where I am right now. Yes, California does have a lot of things, but it's more towards the stem side. Whereas on the East Coast, you have universities like Harvard, you have Yale, you have Georgetown, you have all of these great universities. And those are really like my target university. That's where I really want to go.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown / Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
Well, I have a secret for you. This is not common knowledge, but the most brilliant students graduate from George Washington University. Isn't that right, Liberty? I completely agree with that. You'll never guess for a Liberty once it's full. Go ahead. Ask your question.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
My question for you is, you know, what's some upcoming projects that you're super excited about?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So I'm super excited because we recently opened up board applications for our members. We only accept applications for executive positions from our board. So I'm excited to have a bigger team because a lot because for now I've been doing the work by myself. It's me who has to follow up with people. It's me who has to onboard people and answer questions about our fellowship. It's me who has to create a lot of the content. So I'm really looking forward to having a full team. Additionally, I'm also looking forward to being on track to have Policy Decoded the whole complete more than 700 videos in around two months. And we're also aiming to cross. 500,000 views and a few months based on the amount of traction we've been getting. We've been having so many fellows join us that I'm sure that nothing can stop us in our goals from expanding throughout the country and reaching more than a million. So, yeah.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
And what, what after college, what after you get out of the eye, is it politics or. You know, because you know the only advice I could give you about going to a school like maybe Georgetown or GW or American University or. When you're here in Washington, you can do it all. You know, you can study it and you can be part of it. And that's actually how I found the most amazing. I've ever had in my entire life and I've had several of them. So Liberty Jones was my intern at one time. So, you know, that's something you can do here in Washington and have. You know, you have so many opportunities. I'm just putting in a plug for my hometown. But anyway, what after college you want to go directly into politics? You want to start business. You know, being a political staffer is a tough job. If that's your goal. What have you given a thought? I mean, this is way off in the distant region, right? You're still, you're still focusing on on getting through my school. But have you given any thought to this?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Oh, yes, I have. I've given a lot of thought to it. So after I get into a university, I really want to major in political science and public policy. Maybe a minor in a language I have or also US history. I am pretty passionate about history and learning languages as well to an extent. After that, I want to go to law school. I want to really want to get into a prestigious law school. Then after that, I want to work for a while as a lawyer. During college, during my undergraduate years, I'm really excited to be able to apply to intern with Senate offices. I already have some people in mind as to who I want to intern for because I've had the opportunity in the past to interact with. I've just found that certain offices have better staffers and better staff than others. So that's what I have in mind. And then after I become a lawyer and I practice law for a few years, then I want to go into politics because then I'll have a better idea about my community and what my community needs. So then I can rise up to the occasion for my community.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
And that's really important. I mean, just giving that little advice that a good politician listens more than here. She talks. But given that on that note, the word Jones say something. Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
I mean, I really, I really respect what you want to do. I think you're going to find a lot of like minded people here in DC. So I'm excited. You know, I live here. So I hope you reach out to me and Senate around. But my question to you is once you do achieve those goals, when you are on the hill and. If you do pursue law, you know, what's what's your big dream? What is your big goal that you would like to change the world with?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So like my ultimate dream, like what. So like what I really am hoping to do once I achieve my all my goals. Yeah, I mean, what is what are you passionate about when you walk into the hill? What are you going to walk in with your mind on? So I have so what's a topic I'm personally very passionate about is health care and improving our health care system. And it's also the story of like, you know, immigration as well. Those are two topics very important to me. So I really want to do some work on that once I, you know, get into elected office. I really want to just help my community. I want to make sure that people are being people are living the best they can. I want to make sure that people don't have to worry about insane health care costs. I want to make sure that people can spend more time with their loved ones. And they don't have to worry about having to work in long hard conditions for poor wages. I want to make sure that people are safe from drug abuse. There's so many different things I want to accomplish when I get to DC as an elected official.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, it seems like you've got a nice path, you know, planned out for you, but leave a little time in there to have some fun. And, you know, it's as Liberty points out. Yeah, it's important to have an agenda right off the start. That'll, that'll, you know, those things will adjust. My big dream was to Mario, Olivia Newton, John, but I gave that up years ago and moved on into politics. And, you know, seriously, it's good to have an agenda, even if you have to adjust it as you go along, you will. You know, one of my mentors in politics is a former speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, and he used to say the best way to get along is to go along. So sometimes you have to make those compromises. Have you thought about that? Have you thought about, you know, because I think one of the things that bothers me, and I don't know how young people are going to deal with this is how divided we are still in this country. You know, we've all, you studied enough political science probably to understand that we all make a tacit agreement to enter into this thing we call a democracy, where we agree to let majority rule, for example, which means we have to accept each other. We can't, we can't, we have to compromise. The idea behind our government is compromised, and it's probably, in my opinion, anyway, it's what has allowed our country to be the oldest democracy, the oldest continuous former government on the face of the planet is the fact that we can compromise is the fact that we have a framework called a constitution which can be amended, can be changed. So have you thought about that? Young people hate to compromise. Have you had to compromise on anything yet?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
Yes, multiple times. So I have had to compromise, and I am also somewhat frustrated. So I do Model UN, and I did a U.S. Senate committee, and so I played a Republican senator, and I, even though it's like a simulation, I still felt really annoyed when the legislation that I wanted passed got blocked. So yes, there is a sense of annoyance that, okay, I have to compromise, but I can't do what I want, because no matter how much I want to do a particular thing, the opposing side, there's relatively few people who are willing to just be passive and just say, oh, okay, let the other side do those things. No, and that's actually, like I value people and I really like how people stand up for themselves, but at the end of the day, if everyone is sticking to their belief system so strictly that it's nothing that's done, then it's not really good for the country. It means that our country goes into chaos, and that's why we compromise that way, even though not all our beliefs are like implemented to the extent we'd like to see some of our ideas are implemented, and that helps our country, at least in some way.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, and it's also the reason that our government and our economic system is supposed to be self-regulating, right, to a certain extent. Capitalism works because, you know, of competition, and the government works to a certain extent policy works, right, because very liberal people push on one side and very conservative people, which on the other side, and the hope is that you get something in the middle that works a little bit for everybody, and it seems that we've risen that, so it's good to hear that a young person has that particular view. So let me ask you about your peers in California. Now, you're from California. You live in an area that's a large metropolitan. It's adjacent of, I'm sorry, where do you live - around Los Angeles, San Francisco, any of the main metropolitan areas or more in the country? I live in a city called Fremont. It's just around 15 minutes away from the city of San Jose. So, what do you see in your peers? Do you see them as liberal or conservative? Do you see a mix of people? I mean, look, when I was in college, everybody was liberal. I mean, and then I got out of college, and I started in politics, and it seemed to me I was in graduate school, all college students became conservative. They came in on a wave from Ronald Reagan, you know, and now it seems that college students are back to be in liberal. Do you see any of those shifts with anything you can characterize with peers as? Yeah, I can. So a lot of my peers are very socially liberal. They do, like most of my peers do believe that, like, you know, that what's going on in terms of like President Trump, that it's not good. So a lot of my peers back in 2024. So when we're very young, we're still developing our political opinions, and a lot of people were just sick of Joe Biden, and they felt, oh, Biden didn't do anything. All he did was drive a crisis. So a lot of my peers, they shifted to the right, and they thought they were Republicans, and they were really happy when Trump won. However, after President Trump took office, and he started implementing his agenda. A lot of my peers, they realized, hey, that this wasn't me all along. I don't agree with anything that's going on right now. So I say to answer your question, like, my peers are generally socially liberal, but at the same time, they're looking for an effective leader. Well, let me ask you, you've explained to us why health policy is important to you. Why is immigration policy important to you?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
All right. So health policy is very important to me because so my grandmother had diabetes. She was my, like, dad's mom, and it just. And I remember her in her final years. I don't remember her too well because she passed away a long time ago, but I just remember her in her final years that she wasn't in a very healthy state. We were like, no, no one was really surprised when she died. It wasn't a surprise. We were all expecting her to pass away sooner or later. And I believe that with better health care, because where we live is a very rural area. We didn't have that much access to health care, that if she had better health access, then perhaps she could still be here with me. And perhaps I'd still have my grandmother. I'd still have someone to talk to. I'd still have someone to spend time with because, like, I'm telling you this, she was my, like, she was one of my favorite people in India. I have other favorites in India, but she personally was the grandparent whom I'm, whom I was closest to and whom I still am. And so when she passed it, like, at the time, I was, like, nine years old. I was just about a turn 10. I didn't really understand anything that was going on. But even today, I still miss her so much. And if there'd been better health care, then she might still be here with me. As for immigration policy. So I'm an immigrant. I was born in India, and I moved here when I was four months old. When I was little, I used to want to be the President of the United States. Now I really don't want to be the President of the United States, but I was really disappointed to learn that, oh, it's only for people who are born here. Can become the President of the United States. And so that was something that, like, when I was little, it was something I was really disappointed about. And if I'm being honest, I'm so relatively recently until I expected it. That I was some, it was a bit sore over. And, like, I've heard people say, tell me, oh, hey, show up. You're not a real American because you were born in India because, oh, you spent four months of your life there. I mean, like, if you've met four months old, they don't really do much. They just lie around. They cry. But they don't really have any idea of what's going on around them because they're just in their little world. So both, so just addressing the misconceptions around immigration is something that's really important because a lot of immigrants get demonized. We're especially seeing that in the current climate right now. A lot of immigrants are told, oh, don't talk in your native language or that's not, you're not American enough for anything. And that just really, that's just really offensive because you're trying to enforce your idea of what's American on to me. And I'm not necessarily like this period typical definition of an American. Yes, there are a lot of ways where I am, stereotypically American, but there are so many different traditions that I do that are Indian and just because I do them, that doesn't make me any less American than anyone. I'm still an American. I have an American passport. I talk like an American. I eat like an American. I love this country so much because it has given me so much more than India or any other country that has given me. What is your status? Are you an American citizen? We have passport. You are an American citizen, correct?

Speaker - Unidentified/Overlap
I am an American citizen naturalized a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, that's great. And I have another question for you. Or do you still have ties to India? Yes, I do. I have a lot of families who live in India. I have my on my dad's side. My dad has an older sister. So she lives there with her husband. So even if I don't have my grandmother anymore, I still have my aunt. She reminds me a lot of my grandmother. So I love having her there. On my mom's side, my mom has an older brother. He lives with his wife. There are two daughters. So they recently had a second daughter a couple of months ago. I'm overjoyed that I have a new cousin and I have someone new to play with. Because I really like, there's a reason I wanted to be a pediatrician because it's just fascinating to watch young children and babies learn more about the world. And I'm just really excited to, yes, I do have very strong ties to India through my family. Well, let me ask you, I am proud to say that a few years ago I went to a conference in Hyderabad and I received honorary degree from St. Mother Teresa University, where they called me the man, their man, they named me the man of the people for 2019. But they also had a guy that was very much like Donald Trump in charge, a guy named Modi. And we've seen this all over the world. We see this in North Korea. We see it in South America. We've seen it in Brazil. We've seen it in countries all over the world. There's kind of fundamentalists, fundamentalism coming back and unfortunately a certain type of racism that's creeping back into all these different societies and all these different governments. What is your feeling about that? Do you have any feeling about that? Why? Why we seem to be reverting back to policies from 2030, 50 years ago sometimes.

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So that's a great question. A lot of the times, like people are just looking for scapegoats and they look for in all kinds of people. In India, we have a lot of really far-right Hindu activists who are really Islamophobic and who are very, you know, they promote the case system. So I'm not really sure why it still exists, but I do know that a lot of times people just want to go back to their traditional roots and they just interpret it like tradition as being this kind of like horrifying thing when really tradition is about, like, there are good traditions and there are bad traditions. And so my definition of a good tradition and someone in like, you know, someone born and raised in India's definition is different than mine, but I do think that a lot of it stems from, that a lot of it comes from like misconceptions about people because people simply don't interact with each other too much. And people, they develop all kinds of stereotypes, develop all kinds of caricatures of other groups of people. There's all kinds of conspiracy theories in India against Islam. There's all kinds of, like, even today, there's still racist hate groups operating in the United States. So a lot of it stems from misconception and it's unfortunately been around since the beginning of time. A lot of it has been incorporated into society as we know it. And it's kind of steeped into just like daily life. And it's just unfortunate as to how this like misconception can cause so much problems and so much hate.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, let me tell you, let me make a personal observation here that you have a much better understanding of the world that anyone raised should have. Amazing. Liberty Jones, ha ha ha, somebody said, I asked a good question. Go ahead. Go show me up. Go ahead.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
You know, I really appreciate that mindset. And I think that's why what you're doing is so important to me that I agree. There's so many misconceptions. There's so many people who are just willing to shift blame, point fingers and put other people in boxes to make themselves feel better. My question to you is. You know, having a double nationality. What are some things. That you'd hope to never see again happening right now in our political structure.

Speaker 4 - Shubh
So, technically, I'm not a dual citizen, I or dual national India doesn't allow dual citizenship, but I can kind of see your idea. What you're trying to ask. So some of the stuff I really don't want to see is like, it's going to be around, but and I know that no matter how much I want it to be eradicated, still going to be there is just misconceptions and caricatures of other groups of people. Like, I've heard all kinds of things. I phone banked for political campaigns before. And I've heard all kinds of misconceptions about different groups of people. For example, I've heard people say that, you know, oh, socialist hate the United States just because they're socialist. And I don't really understand how describing the how ascribing a belief simply, like how just saying that someone hates America simply because they hold a specific set of beliefs has anything to do with that. So, that's one thing I really want to see. It's just like, you know, immediate just jumping to conclusions is what I'm talking about. Someone says, oh, you know, I'm a democratic socialist. That doesn't mean they're like Soviet style communists. Or they want to do like all kinds of horrible things. That just means they have a certain set of beliefs that may or may not be different from yours. And that's totally fine. Same goes for like, you know, people of races. Like, that doesn't just because someone is of a particular race doesn't mean that, you know, all these stereotypes that you see on TV shows and that you read on the news are true. There's plenty of nice people in each race and there is just plenty of or there's just this plenty or perhaps even less, usually less like people who are bad in each group. So it's like, it's so to cut to the chase, what I'm talking about is just not jumping to conclusions when you hear parts of a person's identity. That's something I really wish was like, that's something I've been noticing a lot in the political spectrum, like, here nowadays. And that's something I really wish just can go away.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
So, given that given what you just said. So how do you see Policy Decoded helping in that regard, helping people understand each other? I couldn't. Did you see beyond beyond just policy? Do you see, for example, maybe branching out? I know that you're having, you know, you're having working groups now trying to decide what you're going to do. But do you see yourself explaining, for example, that socialism is a way of looking at things and not necessarily. It's a political ideology. It's not. It doesn't say one thing or another about it. It doesn't say whether you love America or don't love America. It's just a way of looking at things to a different lens that's different in capitalism. It's different than a democratic thought. Have you given any thought to try to explain these things to people? Or do you think that's beyond the scope of what you want to do?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
I personally believe that that's beyond the scope of what Policy Decoded does. Because as much as I'd like to dispel stereotypes that we have about opposing political beliefs, at the end of the day, a lot of people, they still jump to conclusions no matter how much you tell them. I remember I made a video recently on the Israel-Palestine conflict and a lot of people specifically when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, it's a big debate over sending funding to Israel and everything. And I made a video on that. And people were just so quick to jump to conclusions and there's all kinds of nasty things in the comments. And that was just jumping to a conclusion. No matter how much I want to present each side of the political spectrum, people still jump to conclusions. So I just believe that that's beyond the scope of what we do here at Policy Decoded. Because as much as I'd like to do it, unfortunately, there's still so many people who will still listen and who will accuse us of having bias who will accuse us of hating this country because we don't ascribe to their political beliefs. So unfortunately, I don't think that that's what Policy Decoded does.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
And that's always going to happen in politics. You will be surprised sometimes if you get into politics, you'll be surprised at how there are two sides to some issues that you thought there was only one side to. And I mean, I was a local commissioner at one time and simple things like moving a stop sign or changing a bus route or things that look like they're really, really good for everybody. They're still opposition to them. You got to get used to that and got to get used to having a thick skin because you just have to have a real solid solid understanding of who you are. And I can tell you at your age show you know yourself better than most adults. So, I think that you're really, really, really on the right track. And I'm going to let Liberty Jones ask more and more question. And then I'm going to tell you that we're running out of time and I want you to tell us what you want to say that we didn't ask. But first Liberty, you have a, anything else you want to ask?

Speaker - Unidentified/Overlap
Yes.

Speaker 3 - Liberty Jones
Shubh, what do you think your generation brings different to the world of politics?

Speaker 4 - Shubh
My generation bring different to the world of politics in terms. So my generation, we bring with us like all kinds of skills. We now have all kinds of technology and artificial intelligence at our disposal and that's affecting our lives more than ever. So we have that to use. And with us, we also have a very politically like, I've noticed more and more people rising up for change and noticing this all across the country that people are looking for effective leadership and young people are often behind effective leadership. So we have a fire in us for change. We are leading a movement to do what we believe is right. We're bringing a movement to make America sane again, to make America think again. So it's us using the technology and artificial intelligence and everything we have at a disposal. We're using social media online to reach out to people and mobilize people and get people to come to rally and to get people to get out and vote. It's us using all the tools we have to feed our fire and to bring change to the United States.

Speaker 2 - Michael D. Brown
Well, I would say to all our young listeners to maybe out there. If you're looking for effective leadership, you need look no further than show. He's the man. I would support you in a minute. But let me just say that it's been great having you on the show and I want you now to tell everybody how they can find your website. Sure. So if you just search up. So let's see if you do. If you just search up policydecoded.org. Then our organization will pop up. And you'll see lots of cool videos showing show. And if you still want to interview me, I'm happy to be interviewed by him. Get back in touch with us. Thanks so much for being on the show. Understand that you're welcoming us this interview downloaded interview. Liberty Jones, thank you so much for being on as always and asking the question. And we'll see everybody next week. Now we leave our show every week and play out with the song every week. And this one goes out to you. Here's one from Pink Floyd. It was a big hit long before you were born. So this is called The Wall. We'll see you all next week. Thanks for being with us.

Speaker 1 - Closing Theme/Outro Music
Come with your questions. Come with your history. Come with your hope. America is calling. This time we listen. Shadow Politics make the blue no surprise. Put the unheard city right before the nations are. Senator Michael D. Brown Liberty Jones by his side turning conversation into a rising tide. From statehood dreams to the truth we defend. From the stranger at the door to the voice of a friend. Shadow Politics. Let the whole room sing. Representation is where freedom begins. Leave one light on the window tonight. Leave one chair open. Leave one question bright. The shadows on empty. They're waiting to be heard Sunday night. We give the people the word.