Bonus Episode: 'Go F@&king Do Something' - Erich Mische's Call to Action

[00:00:12] Welcome to The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics, policy, and current affairs. I'm Michael Brodkorb. I'm coming to you today with a special bonus episode that will likely have the most swearing of any podcast episode. My guest today is Eric Misches, a passionate nonprofit leader, political veteran, and unconventional changemaker known as for challenging the status quo with humor, grit, and a relentless heart.

[00:00:39] Eric is the author of a new book, Go Famp. Do Something, a rallying cry to move from apathy to action. Known for his passion and relentless drive, Eric once floated down the Mississippi River on a homemade raft to raise awareness for failures and crisis. He's here to break down what it means to serve, challenge power structures, and inspire people to actually fucking do something. Thank you for joining us today, and I hope you enjoy the show.

[00:01:09] I am overjoyed, excited, and very enthusiastic about the guests that we have here today for this bonus episode, Eric Misches. Eric Misches is someone I've known for, oh my goodness, 30 years maybe. Yes. And it's been just a real joy to have someone like him in my life for a variety of reasons, and Eric is just how I want to be when I get older.

[00:01:36] And one of the reasons we're here, and the reason we're here today, Eric, is to talk about your book. Tell our listeners the name, just lead into it. Tell our listeners just the title of the book. Yeah. Go fucking do something. That's the type of book. Go fucking do something.

[00:01:54] And those of you in Minnesota politics who will recognize Eric Misches' name, which many, most of you with a political IQ above 10 will, that is pretty much the perfect title of a book coming from Eric Misches. But I just want to say at the onset, Eric, this podcast, we try to do something a little different in terms of the noise that's out there. And we cultivate and look and have people on who are thoughtful and who want to contribute positively.

[00:02:24] And I can't think of a better example of that right now than you. And you have been that way. You've always been someone who wants to contribute either. And we'll get into some of those scenarios. But really, at some times of crisis in our country and in our state, you have been someone who has gone out and just stake that flag of thoughtfulness and doing something.

[00:02:47] And so I just want to say that at the onset, how much I respect you and how much I truly mean this is that you are someone that makes me excited about getting a little older because I see what's out there that we can still do. And I just wanted to say that at the onset, how much I respect you and the tone that you're taking. And I'm just really excited to have you here and particularly to talk about your book. Explain the title a bit more. Talk about why you wrote it.

[00:03:17] Yeah. Well, first of all, honors back at you, right? I appreciate the comments, Michael. I also appreciate the leadership role that you had out there in the public life for decades. You and I, throughout the years, we may have had our differences of opinions on ideology and politics and policy. But I think we're drilling into this common notion that ultimately, if we want to continue this great civic experiment called America, we've got to be involved in it. We've got to do things.

[00:03:46] And that's really the whole trait behind the book, Go Fucking Do Something. We are surrounded in this world by people who have opinions, right? What we've confused humans with actually doing anything. And we're at a pivotal point, I think, in American life and history where we've seen social media simply crowd out every part of our existence and our responsibility as to do civic duty, right? To get involved in our communities.

[00:04:16] And doing a post on Facebook or a tweet isn't the same thing as going out and volunteering for something and getting involved in something and making your community a better place. And I've watched the body politic in this country over the last decade or two decades. I've seen us continuing to walk away from engagement with one another.

[00:04:38] The only way that we make this country a better place and this exceptional place that I think we are is for us to go fucking do something. Go out and fix the province that you see. Instead of complaining about shit, go out and do shit. Instead of treating people like crap on social media, try to use those platforms as a way to communicate ideas and engagement and connect people. That was the third trait behind social media 20 years ago.

[00:05:07] It was going to be this utopian world in which we're all going to be connected and share ideas and thoughts. And it's become a cesspool where we simply attack one. But the purpose behind the board for me is to kind of take paper and literally kind of work them up alongside the head and say enough with the crap on social media. Enough with the complaining about stuff.

[00:05:30] If you really want to see the country be a better place, go if that can do something about it instead of complaining about it. You know, Eric, we talked a little bit about this before we started the interview, but I think we really should lean into it as I'm thinking. You're coming out in the aftermath of a shooting.

[00:05:49] We are in just less than around 10 days away from the shooting and murder and assassination of Speaker Meredith Horvath and her husband, their dog. We have Senator John Hoffman and his wife still recovering from trauma and shooting that was done towards them. I know you're not. I know that this book has been in works for a long time and you're not trying to piggyback off that.

[00:06:19] But the truth of the matter is your message of go fucking do something is more relevant than ever. And also that cesspool of social media. Talk a bit in, in, in, in, I think the only way you really can under balancing all that, what you've seen in the aftermath of this shooting and this assassination that makes. I think very much more relevant your book. Yeah.

[00:06:45] But let me start by saying that the children of Mark and Melissa Horton sent a very powerful message after their parents were killed, which is if you want to go make the world a better place, don't go on social media and, and keep attacking people. Go do something. Go walk a dog and pet a dog, go volunteer, go bake a cake, go do something. And I think that's an extraordinarily powerful message, right? Which is in the aftermath of this kind of phasis.

[00:07:14] And I got to underscore the murder of an elected official and her husband and the attempted murder of another official and his wife is a phasis. We should not allow this moment to simply pass us by and expect that this becomes a new normal. That is a dangerous proposition at this time in American history.

[00:07:38] And so we have to ask ourselves the question in the aftermath of this criminal act, this assassination of public officials and attempted assassination. What did we do? What did we do to make the world a better place? I was struck by the great change rally at the state capitol that drew 25,000 people, like whatever that number was, right?

[00:08:03] And yet at the same time, the candlelight vigil for Mark and Melissa Hartman was a significantly smaller turnout. I would have shunned that we would have seen an exponentially larger crowd at that candlelight vigil than we saw at that rally. Because I think we need to be all very concerned about our human, excuse me.

[00:08:28] We have to be very concerned about our humanity when it comes to how do we deal with this. And the training behind the board is to recognize a shared humanity. Recognize our shared experience as Americans. Recognize that if we think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, if we're sick and tired of politicians that we think are shooting us on the left and the right,

[00:08:56] if we think that the country has become shirtlessly divided, Michael, the only people that we have to blame are we, people. We have created this environment. We have allowed it to foster. We have allowed this cesspool to grow and expand and deepen. And my book's grandly objective is to set the way and remind people, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

[00:09:23] We need to look at the meaning for the way that we've created. And the only way we're going to make it a better place is to look at the mirror and say, what do I have to do to make it better? Do I continue to play into the narrative that the person who murdered these public officials and their spouses or attempted to murder them and their spouses, that somehow it's because that person was a left-winger or a right-winger?

[00:09:52] Or do we start recognizing that person murdered these people because of the venom and the vitriol and the anger and the division that we, the people, have allowed to play and to fester in this country? Your book talks about some of your journey. Yeah. From Capitol Hill to a homemade raft on the Mississippi River.

[00:10:16] And I want our listeners to note, and I just remembered this, your book is behind me. Your other book is behind me. I, uh, that's my book. That's my bookshelf. That's behind me that I have that I cultivated those books that, and, and that I have behind me along with many books. But the book I'm reading, the book I have for you is, is that you, other, other book you also wrote called Hope on the River. Uh, talking about a journey you took on the SS Hail Mary.

[00:10:47] Eric, when I first met you, you scared the hell out of me because of your just sheer, I mean, I respected you and I still do, but you were, you always have had this radiant, powerful aura and just a desire to basically always get shit done.

[00:11:09] But you were always a get shit done part, part doing, by the way, I think this is going to be probably our Goodfellas episode in terms of the amount of swearing we do. But that's okay. That's what the internet's for. Uh, we'll put a, we'll put a, we'll put a narrative out there, but, but you've always had that and you've always had just a get it done type scenario. There is no one that I think in is the, has that type of, we can get it done.

[00:11:37] I mean, in some ways you're really old fashioned because I think not because of age, but just because of that persona of we can get it done. It's people like you that helped built this country. Uh, you're, you're old fashioned, I think in your love of, and I respect it so much. And I wish more people had it. You're like out of a time machine in terms of your patriotism, your desire of we, the people, the way you talk about it. That's not a punchline. It's not a tagline. It means something to you.

[00:12:06] You've always had an emotion and a passion and a love for democracy in this country, even in when we disagreed on issues. And so as I hear you talk about this, I'm, I'm, I go back to those days when I first met you almost 30 years ago and how you just were passionate then. And boy, oh boy, your passion has just only grown and you're passionate about the right things. And I just, as we're talking here, I just wanted to kind of acknowledge that little arc that you and I have had.

[00:12:36] Yeah. I appreciate that. You know, Mike, I believe in American exceptionalism, right? I truly believe that America is the most exceptional, indispensable nation on earth. I have always believed that. I have believed that when I was a Democrat. I believe that when I was a Republican, I believe that when I was a liberal or conservative, I believe that now as a guy who was a dad. Right. My primary mission in life is to be a good dad to my adult kids. Right.

[00:13:05] And it's to show my kids by example, that the way you keep this country that I love so much, the way we want it to be a place where there is opportunity for everybody, a place where people should all feel welcome to want to contribute and be a part of this great experiment. Experiment that was created 250 plus years ago is you've got to get involved. You've got to be willing to invest yourself.

[00:13:33] And it doesn't mean that everybody has to run the public office. Right. It does. I just thought in my mind, I'm a volunteer on Economic Development Commission in Woodbury, Minnesota. It takes one month for me to go to this meeting and simply be involved. Right. There's other people that you and I know. We've been involved in Protestant politics and in government public policy. But that was one of the only ways you can get involved in making this country the kind of place you want it to be. I volunteered.

[00:14:01] There's millions of opportunities to volunteer. I got to tell them that when I listen to people say, I just don't know what to do. Again, I want to take the coffee of the vet, smack them on the head and say, good luck and do something. But this idea that you don't want to do to make a difference in this absurd emotion in a country as free as the United States. And I want to emphasize that. You can complain about this country all you want and God bless you. Right. You can say it's not thinking.

[00:14:31] You can say we're this. You could say we're that. And you'd probably be right about all of it. But there is no country on earth. No country. Ultimately, where you have the ability as a single human being to do a matter to effectuate the outcome and impact of your country. And you can do that at a very small level in your local community. You can do that at a state level. You can do that at a government level. Three million new countries on earth.

[00:15:00] That you can do that. And it has to weigh me that if you speak up and speak out that same thing or another, you're going to get shot. That somebody's going to join you in prison. That is the piece that I got to say that I always get frustrated when I listen to people complain about nothing I'm going to do to deal with the issues that they think need to be fixed in this country. It's like that is an excuse that might rise somewhere else.

[00:15:29] It's not an excuse that should fly in the United States. Talk about your journey from Capitol Hill to being on a homemade raft. And probably the most interesting part is the homemade raft part. Tell our listeners about a little bit about this journey, about a previous book you wrote, Hope on the River. Yeah. So it was on Franklin, right? And at the time, I was running a nonprofit called Spare Key. Favorite hit.

[00:15:56] And like most nonprofits in the country, one of the events that we had, we had to cancel. So we landed on the money and we're quite sure what we're going to do. And, you know, I know this was kind of a surprise to people who know me, but, you know, I tend to get a little obsessive compulsive on ideas and things. And they just kind of took my brain and they stick there.

[00:16:15] And on my birthday in 2020, June 16, 2020, I was wending around the Mississippi River trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do to save this nonprofit. And my original thought was, eh, take a canoe down the river. And then I was like, but you don't even know how to run a canoe. I don't know if you kill it running a canoe. But, and then I was like a kayak.

[00:16:37] I was like, well, that sounds like a bad idea because I was looking at all these fabriotin barges and said, then I thought, I'll take a raft in the river and I'll use that as a way to raise money for this nonprofit. And said, then I climbed a couple of my friends who, of course, who were immediately were like, okay, well, this sounds like something you'd come up with.

[00:17:01] And then over the crash of a couple of weeks, we built a, I got a thingy-owned Roderick platoon and we put a whole deeper garden shed on top of this damn thing. And in the baddest of 2020, I set out from St. Two months later, I ended up in Baton Rouge. You know what I've been doing before? Certainly had never taken a raft down the river. In the best part of that journey, Michael, and I said this in the book, right?

[00:17:31] The best part of that journey is that during that time, and remember, we're talking about COVID. People were scared to death, right? We were dealing with a defensive national election, right? Nobody asked me whether I was a Democrat or a Republican. Nobody asked me who I was open for president. They didn't ask if I was a liberal or a conservative.

[00:17:56] I find a time again everywhere when people displayed the end figures and their concerns said, what can I do to help? And that didn't matter which state. In the river, I went through 10 states on that trip, 17 million miles, two months, at a time when everybody could have been absolutely justified in saying, I don't want to help. I don't want to be a part of this or he's this guy. And instead, people came from everywhere to simply say, what can I do to help? What can I do to make a difference?

[00:18:26] What can I do to make sure that they were kind of trying to do something good for other people? So, for me, that trip certainly is extirpated in the message of the book, which is, that's what this country is really rooted in, right? It was that unique nature of theism as citizens. It involved to try to make a difference, to try to create a better place.

[00:18:52] And for me, during that trip, reinforce my love for this country. Don't remind me, I've already had that, but reinforce really just the depth of goodness of people in this country. For when given an opportunity to make the planet a better place, we'll always take that opportunity if given a chance.

[00:19:16] And if Ramizu did, that the way that you make it a better place is to go to fucking Dussel. There were many times, having read your first book and followed you on that journey remotely and read it, there were many times when you could have given up and you didn't. What kept you going when you had all of the technical, weather-related, navigational issues? What kept you going?

[00:19:47] That really really, but always kind of keeps me going, right? Which is, I just, I have tremendous confidence in my ability to get things done, I guess. You know, and I guess, Michael, that you've complimented me a lot on a lot of stuff. And I, you know, I tell people the only real skills I have in my life is that I can type and I can talk.

[00:20:11] And the only real character trait that sustains me during times when my skills are lacking is simple persistence. And so even as I looked at that trip and I don't know how many times I almost sank, how many times I almost got run over by tow roads. I had people try to rob me and swung me. When everything was said and done, it is that persistence, right? I come from a family of nine kids. We didn't have a whole lot when we grew up.

[00:20:39] And so you kind of learned that life isn't fair, but life not being fair is never an excuse not try to do something or to make a difference or make an impact. And so for me, as I look at even what I do at Save and what can be helping to prevent suicide and raising awareness about suicide, you can look at the numbers.

[00:21:03] You can look at the data and you could say this is another well-being daunting proposition to try to prevent suicide and save lives. I am limited and anchored in the idea that ultimately we can do it and we are doing it and we are persistent about it. And I think the same thing is about protecting and preserving democracy is that the only way you protect and preserve it is you are persistent.

[00:21:28] You continue to insist that you've got to get involved as an American citizen to do things to make the world a better place. Not again, I come back to in the book is that if anything you're going to do is put a post up on social media and think somehow or another you should pat yourself on the fact that you've contributed to American democracy, I got to tell you, I don't have time for that shit and I don't think anybody else should have that shit.

[00:21:53] I think what you got to do is to say, you know what, that bullshit, if you really want to make a difference, turn off the laptop, walk across the street, go volunteer at a community center, right? Go show up at a protest. Go show up at a rally. They'll do something. But don't tell me that somehow or another you're really well-witted first on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook. Somehow or another change the direction of the wind.

[00:22:21] And then by all means, don't tend to be a plane that you don't know what to do. That the world is going to hell in a handbasket and throw up your hands. I don't have time for it. I don't have patience for it. Democracy is hard work, right? Civic engagement requires persistence.

[00:22:39] It requires us to put aside our own sense of personal comfort and say, I've got to put myself out there because ultimately what I'm willing to do to make this country, my community, a better place is going to impact my kids, going to impact my kids' kids.

[00:22:56] I'll tell you that it is not a shriven democracy that will be defended in America successfully because of a well-crafted social media post. It just won't happen.

[00:23:14] But I will tell you this, that going and volunteering at a homeless shelter or don't make it to a food bank, those are the kind of things that build enduring democracies. That is probably one of the most profound things that's ever been said on this podcast. And it does not surprise me one bit that it came from your well there.

[00:23:38] One of the things that you have that I've already respected is just a confidence. And you talk about in the book a lot about, you know, you didn't know how to build a raft. You didn't know how to do some of this stuff. You are someone who seems to be very self-aware of what your limitations are, but that doesn't prevent you from going out and trying things. You know, Eric, I would have never thought I wrote a book and I did. You've written two now.

[00:24:07] And you built a raft that you didn't know how to and you made it all the way down the Mississippi. There are people out there that have a couple of things. Imposter syndrome. I think it impacts people a lot, but also feeling unqualified. You exude confidence. And but in many ways, some of the most remarkable things that you've done have been things that you literally say you had no idea how to do.

[00:24:34] How did you how can you help our listeners and people overcome that feeling of maybe some imposter syndrome, not feeling qualified, but still taking that risk to do it? Yeah. Well, I just I think it's. You know, look, again, I'll come back to this. I am the C minus intellect guy in every room, Michael. Right. I am not the smartest guy in any.

[00:25:03] And part of that is by design for me is I try to surround myself and work with people who are smart. I think it's OK to acknowledge your shortcomings. Right. I'm 62. Right. I'm chubby. I'm losing my hair. Right. I, you know, look at your seat. Right.

[00:25:26] If there is this idea somehow or another that you can't go do anything unless it's going to be done perfectly or that you know how to do it. Right. That you're right. Right. Exactly. You may fail. You just may fail. I think just what a remarkable idea it is that you can fail and try again. Fail and try again. And I have failed and tried again so many times. Long ago, lost count of that.

[00:25:55] So I think again, I come back to this and I don't want this to sound friendly. But it was the truth. I didn't think that had I grown up in any other country in the world, that I would have that notion of confidence in my belief that there isn't anything that I can't do. OK. I didn't believe there is a single thing living in this country that I am not capable of doing.

[00:26:23] There are things that you shouldn't let me do, like I should not fly like an F-16 and things like that. Right. Or be in a rocket ship. But the things that I want to do, the things that I want to make a difference in, the things and the change that I want to see. But basically, all the things every single one of us has the ability to do simply because we live in the United States.

[00:26:47] And for me, even as I look at writing this book today, one of the messages that I really want people to walk away from is that not everything you have to do has to be world-changing in the sense that I need to wait until all of my plans come together, until I've got all the details. Even the smallest thing that you can do can be world-changing. Right.

[00:27:16] They have to build upon each other. Imagine thousands of people all doing small little things each day to make the community a better place. That creates an ocean of change, an ocean of impact. And so, for me, what are the confidence I may have that was given by my parents, by my brothers and sisters,

[00:27:42] ultimately has been believed by and strengthened by. It has been built on a foundation of the fact that I am an American citizen living in the greatest country on earth for the United States of America. Has that ever wavered? Never. Never. Even during times, even during times like when there had been great disappointments.

[00:28:07] I remember during Hurricane Katrina, watching what was going on in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. And I got to tell you, I was never more shape-breaking or heartbroken than watching the failure of our response as a country to that tragedy. Okay? Now, I could have said, America sucks and this is terrible. Instead, I was like, we can do better than that. We've got to be better than that. Right?

[00:28:36] My family and my kids were very young at the time. We had an opportunity to go down and volunteer in the aftermath of that and made sure that our kids got involved in that. So, again, they understood what their obligations were as Americans, even as kids, to make the world a better place. Even in the aftermath of the assassination of Melissa Hartman and her husband and the attempted assassination, Senator Hartman and his wife.

[00:29:01] If I can look at that and I can dispute and I can say, this is the end of American democracy. This is the end of American greatness. This is the end of American exceptionalism. I can say, I saw our communities come together to try to make a difference. The way it's law enforcement, men and women in law enforcement, Michael, laying out of danger.

[00:29:23] Just think about the profound nature of the decision of that local police officer responding to the crime scene with Senator Hartman and his wife. Going, we need to go check on this family. And what went through that, there's some of the thing. Professionally, we had a moment of great stress. And think of their lives that that was received because of that. Okay?

[00:29:51] I will tell you that is a one feature of being able to, as an American citizen, to think independently, to be able to think, instructively to think, what do I got to do to make this situation a better place? I will tell you that even in my, you know, when my candidates lost, or candidates won, that I, that I'm like, or whatever I want to think about that.

[00:30:16] I have not the lengths in my life ever waited in my belief that we live in the most indispensable, consequential country on earth. Never. Can I ask you a question that may seem a bit unfair, but I think it's true. You talk a lot about in the book about, you mentioned in the book, I should say, some of your impatience with bureaucracy and with government.

[00:30:40] And so what I find so interesting about you is you have that impatience with the bureaucracy, but you also, I think, simultaneously have an incredible amount of patience with people. I think that you separate, and I think your book title, Go Fucking Do Something, is kind of a wake-up call to this kind of apathy that we have out there. Yeah.

[00:31:06] Describe a bit how, if you agree with the premise a bit, about your frustration with the bureaucracy, but yet you put yourself in that situation to help change it. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah. I mean, I got involved in politics, Michael, as a kid, because I believed in the power of politics to make positive change, right? That's why I got involved in it, right? I got involved in government because I thought government could be a catalyst for change.

[00:31:32] And I think, in large, politics and government in America is about positive catalysts for change, right? Don't let these work that way. Doesn't let these work quickly, right? I get immensely frustrated with bureaucracy. I get incredibly frustrated with the, what I oftentimes find is the pettiness of politicians and the bureaucracy to decide that this isn't their problem to solve, this isn't their issue to deal with.

[00:32:01] And it would be important sometimes to try to distinguish between the people in the bureaucracy and the bureaucracy itself. And I may be lying to you if there aren't times in my life where I'd gotten equally frustrated. I give you a perfect example I talk about in the book. A few years ago, there was a pile of garbage and hazardous waste that was filing up in a parking lot in a church in the similar state town.

[00:32:26] And for a minute, the city, the county and the state knew that was there. And there was epidermic needles. There were condoms. There was drug paraphernalia which had crossed the street from a child care. And not letting those government entities or any leaders of those entities would take responsibility and just go clean it up. And right Saturday morning, I was watching the news and there was a note, a story about this. And I told my wife, I said, I'm going to go clean it up.

[00:32:56] So I grabbed a couple of chillers and some garbage bags. And I went down there. And an hour later, there was a family and military guy and his kids who came down there and helped. And by the time they were done, there was over a dozen people who had come there and cleaned up a pile of fun. That three units of governments with compelling budgets of $5 to $10 billion. How to clean it up. Taking their fingers at one and the other.

[00:33:24] I could have sat back and went, these sons of a bitches. Why can't they just get this done and take and kill them? Or I could have gone and fucking done something, which is what I did. Right? And it didn't take any permission. I didn't need anybody's permission to go clean it up. Right? I didn't need to pick somebody and say, is it okay if I do this? All the joke was I had a shovel and I had some trash bags. And I went and picked it up. And guess what?

[00:33:51] That strategy can repeat itself anywhere in this country, anytime, any day. You don't need permission from anybody to make your city a better place. You really don't. Okay? And, you know, at the end of the day, we're doing a lot of really angry politicians. Yep. I'm saying, I took all that trash and I dumped it in fantasy. And they're not investing me.

[00:34:17] And I think somebody would like to take a step back from this because that movie is not a good luck. We should have picked that garbage up. You know, they sort of bring kind of thought. Greece, you've got to try to separate the bureaucracy from bureaucrats so that you don't treat the bureaucrats badly. Recognizing that sometimes it's the bureaucracy itself that makes bureaucrats not function at the level that you need them to. And I think part of our job as American citizens is to hold the truth to power.

[00:34:45] And whether that's an elected official or it's a bureaucrat, is to say, you know something? This is a plan. You can save it. You can't save it. All some of it. And if you're not going to fix it, I'm going to figure out a way to help fix it. If that means I'm going to run against you or I'm going to find somebody else to run against you or something. But there's criminal change, taking a crappy raft down the river, volunteering at a fork shelf, whatever it is.

[00:35:14] There's no agreement to what you can do as an American citizen. Go fucking do something and make a better country. Don't sell yourself short. You wrote two books. So one second. There is slight audio. Don't sell yourself short. You've written two books. One thing I want to ask you about is social media. And researching and just pulling some information together about some of your recent stuff.

[00:35:42] You've mentioned about the ugliness of social media. But you don't ignore it. You go out there and in that ugliness, you stake that flag. I just read an amazing commentary you wrote from InPost about Harvey Milk and the changing of the name, which I just thought was beautiful.

[00:36:01] And how do you, in the face of, because it seems a lot of people and you seem, when I think tragedy, social media is the worst. And I think social media, Eric, I was with a legislator yesterday talking with him. And I said, I think that social media is something that we're going to realize is as harmful to our youth as smoking would be.

[00:36:28] I have three kids and none of them are on social media for that reason. And, but you go out there and in that face of ugliness, you stamp a flag and draft and produce and publish some of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking pieces. How do you do that? Well, let me come to the issue about social media, because that's the piece that I think you started to point on.

[00:36:58] Social media and kids, clearly that's a danger in this country and in this world is the impact that social media has on Europe. We are seeing kids today from every walk of life who are dying by suicide due to the threat of nature of social media platforms. They're being sex-dorted. They're being sex-trafficked. They're being sold illegal drugs on things like Snapchat. They're being bullied, right? They're being foggated.

[00:37:26] Big tech companies are worse than big tobacco. Big tech companies are worse than big auto. They're worse than big pharma. They're worse than big oil. So here's the reason why they're worse than kids. It was that you still have to let them stay to buy a pack of cigarettes as a kid, right? You don't need to walk into anywhere other than on your phone to get into a website that can cause such traumatic damage to you as a child.

[00:37:53] That it is inconceivable to me that there is an elected official in the United States of America that finds behind the idea that we should not regulate social media in the same way that we regulate tobacco and alcohol, that we regulate the oil industry, that we regulate the pharmaceutical industry, and that the bottom of the thing is that to do sex is a violation of free speech. Read this shit, right?

[00:38:19] We have seen destruction of American children's lives that we will not even understand the breadth and scope of it for another 10 to 20 years. You talk to any parent in this country who has lost a child on social media? When Greg has to listen to my executive editor or somebody else say, there is no evidence, there is no offense, but they will tell you the evidence. In fact, it's my dead child buried in their grave. Yesterday in Nashville, D.C.,

[00:38:49] there was an event called Social Media Remembrance Day where almost 300 families had pictures and known signs of their kids who died as a result of their interaction with social media, right? We have with any of these parents, right? We have kids who have cured themselves, who have died by fentanyl poisoning, who have been bullied to death, who have been sex trafficked, right? Time again. And then we have to listen to big tech CEOs say, there's no evidence,

[00:39:18] there's real truth to that. Bullshit. About 20 minutes ago, Steve Irons, on six continents, started a campaign, which is, keep it digitally silly, which is an effort to craft the running labels on social media platforms that will elate parents and kids to the homes that are on those platforms. It is, it is, it is not the end of the solution,

[00:39:43] but the fact of the matter is that every foot has a consequence and it's time that we label the risk. And so the kids campaign, whose real effort, along with others we've been in bed with, trying to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, on an age-appropriate design club does throughout the entire country. When we look back on this time in history, Michael,

[00:40:05] we will be judged for unfairly to understatement the depth and breadth and scale of the forms that have been friendly and already kids by social media. When you look at the scientific evidence about the impact of social media on adolescent brain development, it is as shocking as watching the impact of nicotine and tobacco on brain development as an addictive feature.

[00:40:32] They have been able to look at kids' physical brain development who have been exposed a significant time on social media and see actual physical changes to that adolescent brain development. That's not science fiction. That's not some guy sitting in a chanson coming up with this crazy idea. That's right. And so when, when I look at social media today, let me tell you that if not, that I do, I wouldn't be on social media,

[00:41:01] but the firm is there. And by God, I'm going to use it to raise awareness and sound the alarm and use it as a way to try to get information out to parents and the public, out of the forms of social media, which then transcends to adults, Michael. We can't think that the only reason we are seeing this division and this nastiness and the violence in American life today is because these platforms and the algorithms amplify that division. Okay?

[00:41:29] Every time you show something that you are pissed off about or you criticize this person, that fact one knows everything about you. They know that based on what you've just put on there, that's the kind of content they're going to keep feeding you. And it becomes this angry, nasty, evil loop of information that continues to pollute your mind. It pollutes your perspective. It creates a cesspool of division in the country.

[00:41:57] So social media for kids, absolutely. One of the most dangerous places on earth. Social media for adults is where democracy can go to die if we're not too far about what it's done to divide us as Americans. Wow. I couldn't agree with you more. I couldn't agree with you more. Eric, you're 62. I am. You're 62 years old.

[00:42:26] And I have to say, I'm doing the math inside my head. I think I mentioned 96, 97. And I got to tell you, you are more passionate about life and issues than I think you ever had before. How have you sustained that? How have you sustained that? What, what can our listeners take? Because I'm sure they're going to, they're going to see you on this podcast. They're going to listen to your voice and they're going to say, a 62 year old guy who's done all this stuff.

[00:42:55] How do you, how have you found a way to sustain it? How have you, and what recommendations would you have for people about how they balance social media and exercising and going for walks and volunteering? What's the recipe? Because in all seriousness, Eric, you're, you're unique. You're so unique. And the more I hear you talk right now, and I know our journey where you're at, there's really something special about you. And I know you're not going to acknowledge that.

[00:43:25] I know you're not going to say it, but there's things that you do every day, your daily life, whether it's going for a walk or something, how do you, in all this ugliness, what do you do every day to make this type of Eric, Mitch, you show up for Minnesotans? And what can you share about a little bit of your behind the scenes kind of secret sauce? My behind secret sauce and my kids, right? I have a 24 year old son and a 22 year old daughter, right? And I would say,

[00:43:55] what's proudly sustained me for the past 24 years is the world that I show that they can create. That's a good place for them, right? My wife and I focused on trying to raise good kids, make them self-sustaining, make sure that when we sent them off into the world, that they were good people who were committed to being good citizens. I think we succeeded in that. I'm very proud of my kids. You know, I talk about it in the book. The book is dedicated to my two kids,

[00:44:24] that it was always important for me to show my kids what it meant to be an American, what it meant to be involved. It wasn't just enough to say it. It just, I mean, words are great, but at the end of the day, showing your kids that you're out there involved and you're doing things, right? Is, I think it's important. When I walk on, Michael, I want my kids to remember me as somebody, not only love them,

[00:44:49] and love their country enough to get involved and take risks and tip myself out there. And I assume that we've taught them to do the same thing, to be good Americans who love their country, that want to make it a better place. I got to tell you, I think sometimes, again, what we get caught up on is just the inertia of just getting stuck, right? It is, you got to recognize that everybody is capable of doing something.

[00:45:18] I mean, that isn't capable of doing the same thing as everybody else, but anybody here in the United States is capable of doing something, right? Well, that may be, but if our entire life is defined by doing something as that comes to put on social media or that grumbling and complaining about shit without doing anything about it, that inertia just, it sets in even worse, right? It just, it becomes even deadening, right?

[00:45:48] In a long period of time simply results in even more inaction. It becomes paralysis. And so we, we can even choose to get up in the morning and, and do something that moves us in some way. And as I say, there's recognizing that, you know, not everybody can walk, right? So if you can't walk, you know, level somewhere. If you can't roll somewhere, type something. If you can't type something, ask somebody,

[00:46:17] text somebody, do something. I just, I just, the frustration for me, it is the idea that we use obstacles that maybe aren't obstacles or the excuse to not do things. Um, I just, there's, there's not a thing in this country where there's an obstacle in a way that prevents you from doing something to make a difference and make an impact in your community, in your life. And for me, it's, again,

[00:46:48] my backstop has been my kids. Anytime that I might feel frustrated or anytime where I might feel bad, or I might think there's nothing I can do about this. I have to remind myself that I can't send that message to my kids. My daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes a little over a year, right? In her junior year at Marquette. My daughter could have taken that diagnosis, Michael, and she could have cratered. She could have went, this sucks.

[00:47:17] This is terrible. Everything that I plan to do in my life is now changed. Okay. Instead, my daughter has embraced this challenge, recognizes it for what it is. And would she rather not have type one diabetes? Absolutely. Is it going to alter the trajectory of her life and what she wants to have out of it? Absolutely not. And so I looked at my daughter, I looked at my son, who are my heroes and heroines in life,

[00:47:46] and who I admire and I respect. And I think to myself that the price that I'm paying, so I'm having that in my life, is for me to continue to show them what I'm responsible for, not only as their dad, but as a fellow American. Tell our listeners about the, when the book comes out, where it'll be available, where can people buy it? Give us all that. Let's get all that good information out. Right.

[00:48:16] We need to talk to it. Right. There's a cover. I'm looking to it. The cover's not subtle. But it's kind of, they were meant to be solved. There's nothing that was meant to be solved. But the book is kind of, by MJ Rice Blair, let me really quick mention that. MJ Rice, the monster daughter of a, to sort of sing, I think about two weeks ago, at a factory extension here in Minnesota, and came to us at SAVE and said, I'm going to make sure that never every kid ever goes through this tragedy.

[00:48:46] MJ, to me, is an example of people going out and fucking doing something. Could have sat back, in a groove, and said, I have nothing else that I'm going to do, but instead went, I'm going to go fucking do the same thing. I'm going to fix this. And this year, working with MJ, we were able to get $8 million to put physical billers on this bridge, and now we're going to be able to save a lot of lives. The break is available not on Kindle, at Amazon. It'll be available in paperback, on July 1st, on Amazon,

[00:49:16] and on July 9th, would it be an nature, a release party, uh, for that information out there. You know what the significance of July 9th is? No. So, July 9th is the day that George Washington had the Declaration of Independence read to American soldiers. And so, I decided to have the Brooklyn News page on that date, the price of the paperback, $17.76, and the committee probably

[00:49:45] says $7.76, on the proceeds from a break, where we donate to Soap Suicide Awareness, Voices of Education, there's some franking work that we do in raising awareness about suicide and suicide prevention. So, make a money out for bank. The good thing is to get the message out, to go fucking do something, sell some breaks, ring so many to help prevent suicide, make the world a better place. Eric, it has been nothing, nothing short of an absolute joy

[00:50:15] to speak with you. You are a patriot, you are a good American, you are a good Minnesotan. I consider you a role model, I consider you a friend, and you are something that all, every bit of you should be something that we should all try to model. And this episode is going to show what you can do when you go fucking do something. And I'm just so proud to have the opportunity to speak to you and to call you a friend, but also just call you a citizen. It's a pleasure growing up

[00:50:44] at this time to have crossed paths with such a remarkable human being like you are. And you are literally saving lives and changing things, and I hope everyone will go fucking do something after reading this book. Eric, if there's anything that Becky and I can do to promote your message, share it or promote, you are always welcome here. I appreciate it, Michael. Thank you for all everything. Let's go fucking do something. I want to thank you for listening to this bonus episode

[00:51:13] of The Breakdown with Brock Cormbecki. We know you have a lot of podcast options out there and we're truly grateful you chose to spend time with us. Before you go, show some love for your favorite podcast by leaving us to reveal an Apple podcast or on the platform where you listen. You can also follow us on our website and across all social media platforms at The Breakdown with Brock Cormbecki will be back again this week. Until then, thank you for tuning in. We appreciate you flying with us through the world of politics and current affairs.