We’ve all heard about how divided America is today. At least that’s what we’re being told. You only need to watch five minutes of cable news and you’ll hear about how one political party is trashing another - calling them the enemy or a grave threat to democracy. Voter enthusiasm for leading candidates is low, and many people we speak with are asking if these two very old male candidates are the best options our country of more than three hundred and thirty million can produce. The last Congress was one of the least productive in terms of legislation passed in decades if not US history history because of partisan infighting and a lack of willingness to compromise. Many times, we feel like both of the major political parties are standing on the opposite ends of the field hurling insults across the 50 yard line at each other. What we don’t see them doing is the hard work of governing. What’s clear is that Washington isn’t going to change itself and it reminds me of what Dr. W. Edwards Demming said: A bad system will beat a good person every time.  This episode is all about making the way we elect our officials better and how, by improving the system, we can improve our nation’s politics. Joining us are two guests that have a few ideas on how to do this - Navy veterans Todd Connor and Eric Bronner. Todd is the founder of the veteran business incubator Bunker Labs, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a Presidential Leadership Scholar, and author of Third Shift Entrepreneur. Eric is the Co-Founder of Show Me Integrity Education Fund, Missouri. He hold s a JD from Washington University in St. Louis, and is a nationally recognized election reform leader. They both have co-founded a group called Veterans for All Americans (formerly called Veterans for Political Innovation) whose mission is To build and mobilize a community of military veterans to advocate for election innovations that unlock competition, make our politics less toxic and our government more effective.For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

America doesn't have the best election system in the world by accident. In our democratic constitutional republic, the power to run elections is in the hands of our 50 states. The people who are responsible for ensuring the safety, security, and efficiency of those elections are our secretaries of state. They also have the responsibility for recruiting enough volunteers every election to ensure a sufficient number of polling places. Yep, that's right. When you vote, the vast majority of people working at the polling station are citizen volunteers - people just like you. On this broadcast, you'll hear from two leaders, one Republican and one Democrat, who are working to ensure every qualified citizen in their states can exercise their right to vote. Joining us are The Honorable Jocelyn Benson from the Great State of Michigan, and The Honorable David Scanlan from the Great State of New Hampshire. For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

No surprise to anyone, 2024 is a big election year where we’ll elect everyone from the President of the United States, one third of the US Senate, all of the US House of Representatives and countless officials right on down to the local county dogcatcher. American politics and elections have always been an energetic affair.For instance, when Candidate George Washington was competing for the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758, he plied voters with 47 gallons of beer, 35 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of cider, and 70 gallons of rum punch. While the United States is one of the longest running and most stable democracies in the world’s history, we’ve had our moments when it comes to elections. In 1834, Whigs and Democrats duked it out in Philadelphia and burned an entire city block to the ground. In the 1850s, the Know Nothing Party used violence against immigrants and Catholics to prevent them from voting - which led to riots in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Washington, DC and more. In 1874, more than five thousand men of opposing parties fought in the city of New Orleans.This episode features three incredible guests who are doing great work to help strengthen our elections and support election officials all across America. As they will tell you: Democracy doesn’t just happen. It relies upon the patriotic work of hundreds of thousands of elections officials and volunteer poll workers - patriotic men and women who ensure the sanctity of the polling place to ensure every qualified American citizen can exercise their fundamental right to vote.Joining us for an important discussion on our vibrant democracy are:U.S. Air Force veteran and CEO of The Elections Group: Jennifer Morrell. Jennifer is a nationally recognized expert on election audits and subject matter expert for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a member of the National Task Force on election Crises.Tina Barton, also of The Elections Group. Tina spent 32 years as a civil servant from the local to federal levels and has spent the last 16 years dedicated to election administration and safety. She has been the city clerk of Rochester Hills, Michigan and the Senior Advisor at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.And finally, Justin Smith. Justin is a retired sheriff of Larimer County, Colorado. He has 35 years of law enforcement experience and advises The Elections Group on law enforcement concerns.For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

In 2022, America had a major problem - we didn't have enough election poll workers. Every election, we need about 1.2 million people to volunteer to set up polling places, check IDs, issue ballots, tally votes, and report the results. The problem was that our country was short about 120,000 volunteers. COVID-19 and threats of political violence to election poll workers dissuaded many election volunteers - many of whom were 65 years old and older - from helping. When We the Veterans and Military Families learned of this crisis, we took action. First we called our friends who led six of the post-9/11 veteran service organizations and secured their commitment to help. Concurrently, Joe had a conversation with former US Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, USA (ret.) who knew former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who introduced us to current Commissioner Roger Goodell, who tasked his staff to help. Our team of teams grew from 6 to 30 veteran and civic groups and, together, we recruited more than 63, 500 veterans and family members to be election poll workers. At the heart of it all are our first guests, Anna Isaaacson and Ken Edmonds of the NFL who engaged their mighty marketing and communications assets to help increase public awareness of the crisis. This episode is all about how a team of committed American patriots - veteran and civilian - closed more than HALF of America's need for election poll workers in 2022, and how we are launching Vet The Vote 2024 at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas Nevada the week of February 5, 2024. Our goal this year is to recruit 100,000 election poll workers. Will YOU commit to serve our great nation as an election poll worker this year? Find out more at www.VetThe.VoteFor more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, once mused that given the choice between  “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter". Ever since modern democracy emerged in The Enlightenment, the press (media) has served a critical role in keeping citizens informed of current events and holding the powerful to account through greater transparency. Today, in the age of the 24-hour news cycle and Internet, citizens have access to more information than ever. Considering our realities are constructed from the information we consume beyond the immediate range of our five senses, it is increasingly important for Americans to know where to go for timely and accurate news and to know how and why bad actors might be trying to influence our thinking and decisions. In this episode, Ellen and Joe chat with long-time NY Times Pentagon reporter Thom Shanker and Army veteran, author, and investigative journalist Kelly S. Kennedy (who broke the burn pit story BTW) about the role of a free and vigorous press in our democracy. For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

The more we surf the Internet, the more crazy bulls--t we read about the Department of Homeland Security, and we're tired of it so we decided to do something about it. Poorly understood and much maligned, the 260,000 patriots of the Department of Homeland Security do tremendous work to keep us safe. Their mission? To secure the nation from the many very real threats we face. In this episode, hear from retired Navy Admiral Steve Abbot who was there at the start of the department when he served as the deputy homeland security advisor to the President of the United States. You'll also hear from retired Marine Corps Colonel David Lapan who served at DHS more recently as the press secretary and deputy assistant secretary for media relations during the last administration. Both of these great American patriots join Ellen Gustafson and Jeremy Butler (USN) to dispel myths and highlight the accomplishments of the department over its two decades of existance.For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

If Americans don't understand how their government works or their roles as citizens, it's impossible for them to function as an adult in a democracy. While it is very important for all citizens to know their rights, it is equally (if not more) important for citizens to understand and act upon their responsibilities as citizens.  When Americans are dissatisfied with the state of affairs, we have important and legal recourses to hold elected officials accountable, change our laws, and insist on sound policies that benefit our society. People who do not understand these processes are at much greater risk of manipulation and even incitement to violence.In this episode, former Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Louis Caldera and former Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Sean O'Keefe join Joe Plenzler (USMC), Ellen Gustafson, and Jeremy Butler (USN)  for a discussion on how increasing public understanding of civics just might be the thing to help strengthen our democracy and reduce political polarization.A quick reference to our rights and responsibilities as American citizens is below.For more, check us out at www.WeTheVeterans.usRightsFreedom to express yourself.Freedom to worship as you wish.Right to a prompt, fair trial by jury.Right to vote in elections for public officials.Right to apply for federal employment requiring U.S. citizenship.Right to run for elected office.Freedom to pursue “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”ResponsibilitiesSupport and defend the Constitution.Stay informed of the issues affecting your community.Participate in the democratic process.Respect and obey federal, state, and local laws.Respect the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others.Participate in your local community.Pay income and other taxes honestly, and on time, to federal, state, and local authorities.Serve on a jury when called upon.Defend the country if the need should arise.For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

America was founded on the idea that all people are created equal and have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We were also founded with a civilian-led military whose members swore an oath - not to a king but to a Constitution. When veterans solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, the obligation to that oath does not end when a service member leaves the military. In this episode, veteran thinkers Scott Cooper (U.S. Marine Corps) and Dan Vallone (U.S. Army) join Ellen, Jeremy, and Joe for a robust discussion on what our responsibilities are as veterans and how we can best continue to serve America and strengthen our democracy.Scott Cooper is a former Marine Corps EA-6B Naval Flight Officer and former founder of Veterans for American Ideals.Dan Vallone is a former Army infantry officer and current director of More In Common, USA - whose mission is to build a more united and inclusive America that is resilient to profound threats posed by our country’s polarization.  Find out more about We the Veterans and Military Families at www.WeTheVeterans.usFor more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Hello, and welcome to Vet our Democracy - a podcast created and produced by We the Veterans and Military Families. We are a non-profit, non-partisan, pro-democracy and stridently patriotic organization created by veterans and their family members to promote positive, patriotic civic engagement, counter propaganda targeting the military and veteran community, and help veterans live their best lives as leaders in their communities following military service. In this series, we explore what it means to be a citizen, what veterans and their families can do to defend our Constitution following military service, and provide ways veterans can get involved in helping create a more perfect union. We're all in this democracy thing together, so it's important for every American to know their rights, their responsibilities as citizens, and how their government is supposed to work so we can engage productively to help bring about the best version of America. Oftentimes, members of the veteran community get more credit for knowledge of the Constitution than we deserve. Too many raise their right hands and swear an oath without even having read the Constitution! In this episode, founders Ellen Gustafson, Ben Keiser (USMC), and board members Jeremy Butler (USN) and Joe Plenzler (USMC) test their knowledge against the test questions on the U.S. Government's test for citizenship.Have a listen and see if you can beat them with your knowledge of the United States in this fun and humorous episode.For more, check us out at www.WeTheVeterans.us and on social media.For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and on LinkedIn and Instagram.