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Carlos Granados Podcast
Welcome to the Carlos Granados Podcast. In this podcast, I will discuss my health journey, news, updates, and educational content surrounding my life, and anything and everything that I enjoy. This is my introduction to my new podcast through "Youtube Podcast". I decided to expand my horizons and let you into my life outside my health journey. You can watch clips and full videos in 4k on my YouTube channel "Carlos Granados".
Carlos Granados Podcast
Running For Georgia State Senate - Aizaz Shaikh
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We sit down with Aizaz Sheikh as he announces his run for Georgia State Senate District 7 and walks us through how a campaign actually works from paperwork to ballots. We dig into Gwinnett County issues like housing, property taxes, schools, safety, and small business red tape, with a clear reminder that local decisions hit your daily life fast.
• why he decides to run and how he gets informally vetted
• how Georgia campaign setup works, including forming a nonprofit corporation and filing a declaration of intent
• how primaries and general elections work and why independents face signature hurdles
• why a resignation triggers a nonpartisan special election and what 51% means for avoiding a runoff
• housing affordability, first-time homebuyers, and down payment assistance caps
• property tax increases, homestead exemptions, and the tension between tax relief and funding public services
• teacher workload, pay realities, and why local voices matter more than national noise
• school safety tools like weapons detection systems and how to listen to students living with them
• bridging the gap between younger voters and experienced legislators through tolerance and communication
• supporting small businesses by simplifying the steps to start an LLC and get an EIN
Regardless of what district you're in, please go and vote.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to my channel and welcome back into another episode of the Carlos Granados podcast. Before we get into the episode, I always want to thank you guys for supporting the channel, for always showing some love. Don't forget that you can listen to this podcast in all the audio platforms, and you can watch this video in 4K if you're listening on the audio platforms. And today, for the first time, we have a third-time guest. Welcome back to the show at Zaz. Oh damn. How are you doing, brother?
SPEAKER_00First time you had a third time guest. Yeah, you're the first.
SPEAKER_01You're a 3P right now. Officially a 3P.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna have to create like some kind of club like the SNL does.
SPEAKER_01That's what I'm saying. You know what, dude? I actually should have like the rankings of like the people, you know what I mean? On like my wall or something. Who's come the most? But there's a purpose as to why you're here. You have an update on your life, and I think some things are very important on what you're getting into in life. But I'm gonna let you get into it and let us, you know, let the community hear what's going on with your life and what's going on, man.
Why He’s Running For Office
SPEAKER_00Yeah, cool. Appreciate it, man. It's great to be back. I'm I'm glad, like I said, third third time. That's awesome. So the last time I was here, we were talking about just a little bit of my story and uh where my guess my beginnings um we got into it. But the update I have is I'm actually uh nominee for state senate district seven right here in the state of Georgia, brother.
SPEAKER_01This is so cool, man. Wait, I got one for you. No, not that one. There you go. Congratulations, congratulations.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate it, appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01But how'd you uh get into that and what made you get into politics, man?
SPEAKER_00So, you know, long story short, I basically I always wanted to get into politics. Uh when I was in college at Georgia Gwinnett uh back in like 2015, I was a part of the student government, and uh, I've always been big on helping people and volunteering, right? So at that time, you know, the opportunity hadn't you know presented itself just yet, but you know, I got into real estate, got him a pilot license, I did life basically. Right. Uh and about I think a little over a year ago, uh, the opportunity to run for state senate popped up. And you know, I prayed about it a lot and talked to a couple people around me, talked to my parents, and just kind of see, just given the current political climate, it was like, all right, let's see, is this the right choice to make right now? And you know, we decided to move forward with it. Turns out there was a vacancy in my uh district, okay, which uh sorry, I take that back. It wasn't a vacancy right away, but it turned into a vacancy. So it worked out and it was a very competitive district. Um, it fit the bill. Uh so the district, it's Senate District 7, okay, which is entirely Gwinnett, uh, but it covers uh Pea Street Corners, parts of Suwanee, parts of Lawrenceville, parts of Duluth. Well, sorry, entirely Duluth, at least the Guinea County part, Berkeley Lake and Norcross.
SPEAKER_03Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00So that's kind of how it got started. Um, it was uh interesting process because I was vetted, I but I didn't know I was being vetted.
SPEAKER_03Oh, talk about that.
SPEAKER_00Which was interesting. So I I was invited to different, like, you know, Christmas party here and meeting with a couple different people, and I realized later on that those are kind of like informal interviews. It was they were just trying to get a feel for me. Okay, am I winnable? Am I likable? Can I be electable?
SPEAKER_03Was the term oh gotcha, right?
The Paperwork To Start A Campaign
SPEAKER_00Right, and of course, I didn't know that at the time. I realized it afterwards. I'm like, wait, those are all like mini interviews. Me and be embedded, yeah. I had like four or five, you know, people. The very first meeting was uh so there were, I think, three phone calls initially. And then we finally had the in-person meeting. I flew into um uh there's a local airport in North Georgia. So I just I flew into there. Uh they had a they had a meeting there, they had a meeting there, went pretty well. Uh I got picked up in a G-Wagon, which was pretty. Oh, dang. Uh uh pretty nice, but I I try to stay home, you know. I try to stay grounded the whole time because even then it wasn't finalized yet. Yeah, it was kind of the first face-to-face, and then I had I think three other face-to-faces before everything was finalized. So now we're gonna get into a little bit of the technical side of things. Okay. So in the state of Georgia, I don't know about other states, but in the state of Georgia, uh, for running for the seat that I'm running for, you have to create a nonprofit corporation. So you file file a business with the Secretary of State, uh, and then which is you create like it's like creating other any other business except instead of an LLC, it's a corporation, and you do an uh domestic nonprofit. Okay. And then after that, you have to get your EIN, which is your employee identification number, an employer identification number, and which you go through the IRS, and then you file a declaration of intent with the uh state ethics commission. Okay. What that allows you to do is start raising money. Because before if you don't file that, you could actually get hit with fines. Because if you start soliciting funds or start fundraising for your campaign without filing a declaration of intent, without filing the uh it's called a campaign committee with the state, you could get uh red flagged and potentially potentially get disqualified before you're even qualified. Because there's a different qualification process. That's just to raise money.
SPEAKER_01Only to raise money to do that. That's just to raise money.
SPEAKER_00That process alone is like I think it takes almost 30 minutes to fill out the form uh thing, and that's just to fill everything out. You have to get all your information together, your mailing, like all that stuff. Because you gotta make sure your residency you know fits within the district, all those things. Um, let's see, after I file the declaration of intent, then I started raising some funds, but then qualifying, which is where you have to file your qualification paperwork.
SPEAKER_01What kind of qualification paperwork is that?
SPEAKER_00Basically, how long you've been a resident of the district you're running in, how long you've been a resident of the county, how long you've been a resident of the state.
SPEAKER_01So you can't come in from the outside and start running. So you have to live here for a while, essentially?
SPEAKER_00So uh for the state senate and state representative district, you have to be in the district for at least one year prior, preceding the uh date you get elected. Right. Um, so to qualify. And the way the qualifying period works is it's only a week long. Okay, gotcha. So this year's was like March 1st to March 6th, I think. Okay, like a Monday through Friday, Monday through Friday. And what happens is you go to the Capitol and you uh decide which party you're gonna run with, or you can run as an independent. Okay, so you can run uh for the Democratic Party, you pay a qualifying fee there, and then you get uh slotted for their primary uh or the Republican Party or the independent. Now the trick with the independent is you have to collect I believe it's three or maybe five percent of signatures from your district.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's so much.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so that's a lot. It's a lot if you're trying to go independent. Right. It's doable. Uh I actually know someone that's doing that right now. Yeah. But uh the reason he's doing it that way is because you know he's he's in a certain position where he just he can't really side with one side or the other, so he has to be just because of his job.
SPEAKER_01You know, uh I I've never heard of like somebody aside from a uh uh uh someone for a Democratic Party or a Republican Party uh not get elected. Like I've never heard of independent winning ever because it's so small.
SPEAKER_00At the local level, I think it is a little bit possible more, it's more likely than at the federal level.
Primaries Versus General Elections
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's yeah, it's nationwide. I I've always only heard of like too too many parties. And I've seen when I go to vote, I've seen uh you know independent parties, but it's like rare that they they get elected.
SPEAKER_00Well, and the thing is the independents they don't have a quote primary because with the I don't know how much you know about like the primary versus the general.
SPEAKER_01So the explain this is why you're here.
SPEAKER_00This is why you're so typically uh every election cycle you have a primary and then you have a general election. The primary is like say you have, for example, right? Our uh currently in the state of Georgia, there are I think five uh Republican candidates for governor. Okay, they have to battle each other in the primary to see who gets the nomination for Republic, who like gets the nomination, and then they go to the general. Same thing for the Democratic Party. I think there are three governor candidates for the Democratic Party.
SPEAKER_01So when when the person that gets nominated from each party, they go against the the opposite party in the general elections, correct.
SPEAKER_00And so I'll I'll I'll I'll focus on actually district seven, my race. Okay. So in my case, I don't have quote a primary because it was just me that qualified for my party. Right. But on the other side, there were three that qualified. So on May 19th, I don't know who my opponent is yet for November until May 19th when they battle each other. Like they're you know, they're right uh racing each other for the nomination.
SPEAKER_01And let's say you were to get elected, um what would you you be uh what is your position and your title? Like what would be I don't want to call it what would you be in charge of, but what would you be like overseeing essentially?
SPEAKER_00So I'd be a state senator, would be the title.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you would be an actual state senator for district seven.
SPEAKER_00So I'll be in the Georgia Assembly.
SPEAKER_01How many districts are there? Do you are you aware of?
SPEAKER_00There are 50, I believe 56 Senate districts.
SPEAKER_01So it's it's a big number that they're okay. Oh wow. So you would be going to the Capitol in State Capitol, yeah.
SPEAKER_00State Capitol, of course, yeah. Georgia. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. I've only been there when there one time, by the way. So uh when uh state was the only time and they were actually like passing or like laws or they were deciding and voting in laws, and I was like, this is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's that's a conversation for another if you go down there, but that's like the passing laws is not a simple process. Like, you gotta introduce, they have to go through committees, it's gotta go through committees, then it's gotta go through the floor, and yeah, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you would be part of wow, that's huge, man. Yeah, so essentially right now you're kind of waiting on an opponent or a of a opposite party. Where are we at here at the process that you're in?
SPEAKER_00So normally, yes, but what happened uh three weeks before the session ended, the general session like the general session, or sorry, the um assembly session ended like the every year there's uh they convene the session to talk about the laws and everything for the upcoming year. So three weeks before it ended, the the lady that was holding the seat that I'm running for, she resigned. But her term, even though she's running for a different seat, her term doesn't end until December.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I see where you're gonna be.
SPEAKER_00So because she resigned early, constitutionally, you can't leave that seat vacant. So what happened is it triggered what they call a special election to fill the remainder of her term.
SPEAKER_03That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00So I am actually running for the special election, which is which happens to be on May 19th, is the same day. So depending on which ballot you pull, uh because in Georgia you check which party you're running for, Democrat, Republican, or independent, or not running for, which party you want to vote for with uh Democrat, primary, Republican, primary, or independent. Depending on which ballot you pull, you'll see my name twice. Okay. Because one is for the primary and one is for the special election. Gotcha. And the cool thing about the special election is in Georgia it's um nonpartisan. So what that means is it doesn't matter what party or what ballot you pull, all the candidates that are running in that election show up on the ballot. So the citizens of this is district seven get to p a vote for all like they get three options. And whoever gets 51% of the vote right off the bat wins. Now, if they if uh nobody gets more than 51% of the vote, then the top two candidates go to a runoff, and then whoever gets the most Oh, this is cool.
SPEAKER_01This is this is kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So at like at the local level, it's more of a democratic process, whereas on the federal level, we're a republic because we have the electoral college. That's different. But at the local level, it's not an electoral college.
SPEAKER_01So, question let's say if you were to get elected for um the special um what did what'd you call it special special election. A special election, that means you would be in the seat until November. Oh, December. Until December.
SPEAKER_00Till December, un until you get to the other in November, you know, fingers crossed, God willing, I win. Uh-huh. And then I'll be in there for a two-year term, because that's how long the Senate terms are in the state of Georgia.
SPEAKER_01Can you run again after two Senate terms uh after a term? Yes. Okay, you can't keep running.
SPEAKER_00There are no term limits uh for senator or house of reps, which is similar to the federal level, there are no term limits.
Issues That Matter In Gwinnett
SPEAKER_01I appreciate you educating me on this, bro, because especially with the political climate that has been happening, especially since I've been in college. Um and the more you grow up and get older, I feel like it has either less meaning for you or more meaning for you, you know what I mean? So um, but it's important to at least be aware of the process, especially that's going on in your state, right? Um, and in your in your county. So because you're running, we want to talk about certain things that you are essentially what I what we call this promoting, um, that you want to better the county with or the community with. So there are certain things here that we're gonna talk about. So you can start with whatever you want, um, any of these processes uh housing, taxes, education.
SPEAKER_00So one of the first issues, you know, I'm a real estate agent, I'm also young right now. Um I say young right now. We're in our 36, by the way. So people know I will be 31 in June.
Housing Affordability And First Homes
SPEAKER_01And you know what? Before we go farther, I want to let people know I have had you again, we mentioned this early in the podcast, prior video. So I'm gonna leave the links to the last two podcasts that we've had in the description below. So people can also check you out, check your story, um, you know, what you've done up to here, because the first one we caught up a lot, and you talked about your your job, and then the second one we talked about more about your life, deep in depth about your life. So, and now this is your future that we're going into. It's like a movie almost, you know what I mean? It's a parts of the scene. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. So, if you guys are interested in more in knowing more, uh, then definitely go into the links. But go ahead, man. So cool.
SPEAKER_00So I'm gonna, you know, housing is is everybody knows housing affordability is huge right now. Um, the average age for a first-time homebuyer is 40, which is too much.
SPEAKER_01Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like, and you know, think about you got a 30-year mortgage on average, and you're buying your first home at 40. When for most people that's the biggest investment they're ever gonna make, that's how they that's wealth building in the United States, right? Yeah, for most people, that's how you build wealth. Yeah, you get a house, you build equity, and then you turn around and use that to sometimes start a business, uh, you know, pay for college for your student uh kids' college education, so forth and so on, right? We need to make it more affordable. And being in real estate, you know, I bring a unique perspective on that because a lot of my clients at the very beginning of my career were first-time home buyers. And I realized that there is a lot of resources out there that go untapped, but then at the same time, there are certain things that the legislature can do as elected officials are just to let people know, hey, we're we're there, we're supporting them, right? One of the biggest things I think we need to do, especially with inflation right now, is increase the amount of some of the down payment assistance programs that exist. Um now, some of them it's a percentage basis, which is good, but it's percentage capped at a certain amount. Right. Right. And depending on which jurisdiction you're in, it varies. Right. Um, I know Gwyneth County has a down payment assistance program, but the purchase limit I think needs to get a little bit higher, like as far as how uh much the purchase price of the house can be. Gotcha. Especially living in Gwinnett, I mean the property values are skyrocketed.
SPEAKER_01Expansive, yes, sir.
Property Taxes And Homestead Relief
SPEAKER_00So and then going to property values coming going into tax savings, right? Uh the state of Georgia actually just recently passed a uh legislation that caps the property tax percentage. Okay. Or sorry, the increase of the property tax percentage. So basically what happens is every few years, each county can increase the tax rate that they're gonna tax their properties at, like the homeowners at. What the state of Georgia did was they capped the amount of increase the counties can do every few years. Okay. So for example, yeah, give me an example. For example, let's say that the prop the counties were increasing the property taxes five, like the property values five percent every year. Okay. Not every yeah, it's every year. Now it's it's just capped where they can't do more than say five percent, they can't increase it by more than five percent every year so far. Okay because before it was there was no cash one year they could increase it by three percent, one year they could increase it by seven, one year they're like, hey, we we're gonna increase it by seven percent. A lot of volatility, essentially. So that's what essentially that legislation did, which I think helps our families right now, especially in the Gunet County area. Right. Um, and then something else that you know I'm gonna try to push once, you know, God willing I get elected is the homestead exemption. Right. That was recently increased for uh our elderly, right? If you're a senior, you can get a senior homestead exemption, and essentially what that does is that cuts the school taxes. Yeah, not in half, but it cuts it reduces the school taxes that you pay. Because in Gunnett County, a majority of the property taxes that we pay as homeowners go towards the school system.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna ask you about that actually. Like, how do you feel about you know, after even after paying for a house, you still get you still get to pay a lot of property taxes, which is a significant amount.
SPEAKER_00And that's why I think if you've if you've done, you know, if you've paid the 30-year mortgage, if you if you pay and you own your house outright, you shouldn't have to pay more money to the state to keep it, right? Because you have right now. I agree with that. You 100% agree with that people right now that have paid off their homes. But because they can't afford the taxes, the property taxes on a home that they've paid that they own outright. They don't owe anything on it or anything as far as a loan goes, but they're not able to afford their the property taxes, so they're either being forced to sell, or worst case scenario, the state comes in and says, Hey, you haven't, or not not the state, but the county says you haven't paid your property taxes, we're gonna do a tax foreclosure.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, that's crazy. That's actually really wild. I I up until probably several years ago, did I know that like how high property taxes were and how bad it is. And you're right, if you've done the the work, you know, to pay off your taxes, even after paying so much interest, because we understand that when you buy a house, a lot of what you're paying up front is the interest first, and then it goes into your equity of the house, right? So after all of that, and let's say somebody pays it in 10, 15, 20 years, you know, worst case scenario, 30 years. You've paid for 30 years and you still get to pay to live for essentially what you bought. Uh that to me doesn't really make sense. If it was a smaller amount, maybe you can let it slide by because you know, of what the taxes you know can do for you if you use them uh in a in a useful manner. But dang, bro, that's a lot of money still going out even after you pay for a house. So it do you want you know you you wonder if that's really the American dream.
SPEAKER_00Right. And that's and the thing is taxes do help pay for some of the like you know, the taxes help pay for the police department, taxes help pay for the fire department. Yep. So getting rid of it altogether, you know, I'm I have to do some more research. We have to do some more research, we have to you know conduct some surveys and just talk to some of the experts to see how we can balance it out. Because another thing that the state of Georgia has been working on this this past session was income taxes, right? All right. If you look at uh I believe Tennessee and Florida, there is no state income tax. You still pay still still pay federal income tax, but you don't pay any income tax to the state, right? So the challenge is how do you balance that, right? We gotta have some sort of a tax base because you've got public services that people still use, right? You got the public library, you have a public education system. There's so many things that taxes do help pay for, but we gotta figure out what the balance is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and to be honest, I'm okay, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with our taxes being used the right way, especially I mean law enforcement, like you take that for granted until you need them. You know what I mean? Until you need them, you take it for granted. Uh and you can have your different emotions about that, but it's rare that you feel as safe as you do in America. I know there's certain cities you know that are worse off, but in general, I don't, you know, as soon as something goes down 911 and paramedics and ambulance and uh fire department, the police, it's just they're there and they're so fast. When I go back to my country, it don't work like that. You know what I mean? So I come over here and I appreciate it a little bit more, even though in my country it's now it's really safe in El Salvador, but just having that to your disposal, it to me it's a blessing. So I agree with you in the sense that we need to give back, do something with it, but I feel like right now it's way too high. Yeah, for especially for property taxes, right?
SPEAKER_00And and like I said, this the current legislature's already been working on that, and one of the reasons you know I'm running is to continue that work. There you go. Continue that work and try to fine-tune it because everything can require uh what's the word? Everything can require a little bit more intellect in it.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, you have all these people that you different experiences can help bring different solutions to the table.
Teachers’ Workload And Local Schools
SPEAKER_01Gotcha. Yeah, I I feel you on that. That's good.
SPEAKER_00And then um, I know you know I'm I'm I'm also a substitute teacher. So I've been a substitute teacher for Guinness County Public Schools for many years, so I've realized you know that a lot of times our teachers need help in the c in the classroom.
SPEAKER_01Um I think teachers should get paid more, but that can be for another story. Yeah, no, I'm that can be for another podcast.
SPEAKER_00I actually have you know some of my ideas on that, but that's um I gotta fine-tune them a little bit more because it it they're they're unique, but it's trying to get people on board with it. And it's so that I'm kinda fine-tuning that a little bit more. Oh, it's okay. The uh that's how I want to help the teachers, right? Because I realized right now most of our teachers in the county school system they get stuck having to teach, mm-hmm, create lesson plans, discipline students, and sometimes. For lack of a better word, babysit. Yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_01Do like a parent's job almost. Almost, right?
SPEAKER_00And so one, yes, they don't get, I don't, I think they do need to get paid more. I think so too. Um, but we got to figure out where to get that money. Right. Uh one side we're talking about reducing property taxes, which do help pay fund the salary of the teachers, but we also have to we gotta we gotta find the balance, right? There's a lot of problems that we need to address, and I think the best way to address those is to actually start talking about them. Okay. Um, and that's at the local level. Because a lot of stuff that I'm I've been noticing in uh my district at least is you have a lot of the national news that's kind of taking over, and the local stuff, the locals are being forgotten.
SPEAKER_03Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00And so that's what I'm trying to bring it back. It's like, all right, let's let's look about supporting our small businesses, let's talk about supporting our teachers, let's look about school safety at the local level. You know, I'm you know, military, so like you handle things at the lowest chain of command because those are the people that know the issues firsthand. That's right. Like you were saying, you know, you didn't you were until you came back to this country, like or when you go visit rather, when you visit and then you come back to this country, you appreciate the 911.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you do.
SPEAKER_00If you weren't going to the other country, you wouldn't be able to re appreciate that or see it. That's right. So just like that, um you know, I don't expect our legislators at the federal level to understand the day-to-day issues that we're having that our people are having down here. Gotcha. So that's why, you know, that's why I think it's important for states to have quote states' rights and have a local legislature.
SPEAKER_01You know, it would be I would just came in the top of my head. I mean, if you if you were to get elected um to start doing, I know I have a lot of friends who are teachers, um, and whatever the issue may be, you know, surveys and stuff, maybe even get their opinions, even have a conversation with you to see what is it that they see, what they think should be changed, and then you can imply that into your day-to-day and see how you can fix it, you know, solve a problem, especially if that's if it's a major one. Exactly. Like a consensus.
SPEAKER_00That's what I've been doing, you know. I've been going around to different events and different community um outreach events and just speaking to people one-on-one. Right. What what do you what are you seeing? What are some of the problems that you're seeing that you're experiencing on a regular basis, right? Because I'm, you know, I'm not in it day-to-day.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Right. I'll I'll, you know, real estate, I've done that day to day, but teaching, I've I I don't create lesson plans, but I've been able to implement lesson plans. So that's why I can appreciate some of the stuff that the teachers go through, right? You know, teaching is one of those careers where it's not a nine to five. Because when you go back quote home, you're grading tests, you're creating new, you know, assignments, lesson plans. Lesson plans. And if you want to be a good, effective teacher, it it's it's hard to just once you leave the building, okay, you're not thinking about school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I just like any other career. Yeah, I I agree.
SPEAKER_00I agree. For example, even if we're not behind camera, I'm sure you're still regularly thinking about different podcast ideas, how to what guests you can contact, but then that you know that takes a toll.
SPEAKER_01It's it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But because you love what you do, I think that's what makes the difference. And that's what I think teaching is also one of those professions. You have to love what you do to be an effective teacher.
School Safety And Weapons Detection
SPEAKER_01That's great, that's a great example. I actually I hope it makes a lot of sense to people like it just did to me. That's good. So you wanted to also uh prioritize school safety. Is this in regards to you know everything that's been going on in the past decade with um there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um if you look at our schools right now, and that's something I've thought, right? Has there been an uptick in school shootings, or is it just because media is more rampant, you can you hear about it more? Right? That's a good question. We need to do some more research, one on that, but what the issue definitely needs to be addressed. I know right now in uh Gunning County schools they installed um weapons detection systems. So at all the high schools, you everybody that enters the building walks through just these they're metal detectors, but it's not like at the airport, so it's less it's less um overwhelming. Uh-huh. It's essentially these two like detectors covered in plastic, and you just kind of walk through them, and then there's an iPad that look, you know, ski like raises a flag. Like I have a notary seal in my bag, so sometimes because it's metal, it get flags and they're like, Hey, can you just take it out? And then I show it to them. So things like that, which are these in all schools right now or just some of them, right? All high schools in Gunnett County.
SPEAKER_01I had no idea.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, after the uh Appalachi High School shooting in Barrow County schools, I believe that was in 2024. It's right here.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the one at the after that Gunnett County Public Schools took precautions to help prevent something like that. Um, and again, fortunately, that's where that funding came in. There was funding to do that, gotcha, but it wasn't cheap. And uh something I would love to do is, you know, talk to some of the students that have to go through that on a regular basis and be like, all right, how would we balance this out? We want to protect you guys so you can study and you can be safe in your schools and not have to worry about your safety, but at the same time make it a normal experience, right?
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00How do how do we how do we find that middle ground?
SPEAKER_02Right.
Bridging The Age And Wisdom Gap
SPEAKER_00But I think the only way to address that is by talking to the youth that are going through it. Um and that's something else, you know, I want to address is a lot of times we need we need to lower the average age of legislatures in America. Right. I'm gonna be, I think the currently in the state legislature, we have a lot of experienced people, don't get me wrong, the experience is there. But what happens is you have a voter base that's on the younger side, and they it's hard for them to relate.
SPEAKER_01I I agree with that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and so we gotta bridge that gap. It's like, all right, you have the experience, but let's figure out how we can connect you to the youth that are going through it day to day, use their the experience they're having, and then use the experience and the wisdom that the current legislators have, and then find a solution.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna mention that, dude. That um the fact that you're young, people may look at you and ask, what does he know? You know, why he's too young. But I feel like it's what we need, especially because you you're you're coming out of the system, right? With everything that's been happening, right? You were coming out of uh high school, college, military, right? Your profession, your job, everything else that you've got that's led to this point. I feel like you are fairly new and you can relate to what's been going on around Gwinnett County. And we need a lot more of that instead of people who you know are just much older and they can't relate to even the social media part of life, which you can, right? Because you've experienced it, you've lived it, you know what it's like. There is a feeling to it, and I think that is where people should consider giving you a chance because if things have stayed the same and they haven't changed much, then why not try something new? Why not look into trying something that who knows it will be better? You know what I mean? But I think it's part of the process, and I think youth having more youth is also important.
SPEAKER_00And and the problem, like you know, talking about the youth versus the you know, the more experienced um wisdom of the previous generation, is the problem I've seen volunteering in different organizations, working in different different you know, fields. You have you have youth that are passionate, that they want to get things done, they want to do things, but they're missing the experience, right? Right. Um, and not not everybody, right? Like you've had certain life experiences, I've had certain life experiences. Um that's why I think age age is not a metric that we should measure wisdom by. Okay, right. Like I think I think on the I don't know if I mentioned this, but my brother, right, he's 23, but he's been through stuff in life. A lot of yeah. And so sometimes I joke that he's the older brother, because there'll be times he'll be giving me pieces of wisdom.
SPEAKER_01I I know exactly what you mean by that.
SPEAKER_00And but then, you know, on the same side, I do the same thing with him. Sometimes I'm giving wisdom to my dad. Right. And it's really not new pieces, it's just reminding, you know, reiterating things that he's taught me. Right. And then that's good. Yeah. So it's it's just things like that. But the problem I've seen, and I may have addressed this on the in a previous episode, you have a young generation that's passionate, that's energetic. You have an older generation that has the wisdom. And because of just the different lives or the different types of life we've lives we've lived, when an older person is telling a younger person, hey, I think this is how you should do it, the younger person wants an explanation. But this the older person is like, Are you questioning me?
SPEAKER_03Just do it.
SPEAKER_00It's sometimes seen as disrespect.
SPEAKER_03Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00Right? And so bridging that gap, if we can just have a little bit more tolerance on both sides, we can get more stuff done. You take the older generation that has definitely seen more than we've seen. They have wisdom and pieces of advice that we are gonna learn the hard way if we don't listen. Right. And on the flip side, have a older generation understand that hey, when the younger person is questioning, they're not they're not disrespecting you, they're questioning because they want to learn. They're genuinely curious. They don't want to, they wanna know how to fish, they don't want to be handed to fish.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And that's the problem I've seen. And I've been fortunate to, you know, I joke that I got I earned every whooping that I ever got. Oh, have we all I've I'm able to kind of bridge that gap for myself, and I've learned I've I'm even able to see it with others as well. And so that's kind of what I'm hoping to do, right? You know, as a young person getting into the legislature, I'm not gonna, I'm not trying to push anybody out. I'm trying to learn from their wisdom and learn from their processes because there are things that they know that I don't know, but then on the thing, there are also things that I know that they don't know. We gotta have that open communication. But in order to have open communication, we have to have tolerance. And I think that exists outside of politics too. If we can have more tolerance for one another, we could probably have some more peace in this world.
Making Small Business Setup Easier
SPEAKER_01That's probably right. Yeah, even even having some type of grace too for other people, exactly. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's good, man. Dude, this is actually um getting me thinking. Yeah, this is this is really good. This is truly is. I'm glad that you got into it. Uh, and obviously, you have one last thing, uh, talking about supporting small businesses. How do you plan on integrating that into what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00So that's interesting that I was uh we came up with that. Yesterday I was talking to one of my uh buddies who's also a veteran, and we were talking about how you know if certain things are happening, we just find ways around them, right? We don't we don't complain, we try to do it. And so you know, I've set up a couple different businesses, I've helped people set up businesses. And right now it is a tedious process in just setting up the business. Now, it didn't come off as tedious to me because for me it was like, okay, I hit it, I hit a barrier, I work around it, I move forward. I hit a barrier, I work around it, move forward. How many people don't have that flexibility? They don't they can't afford to do that because you know I don't have I didn't have kids and I'm not married. So when I hit those walls, I could try to overcome them. I had the time to do so. But you have a lot of people that are trying to start new businesses that they have families that they gotta pay for, so or pay bills for and feed them, but they don't necessarily have time every time they hit a wall to overcome that. Yeah. So right now, maybe make it a little bit easier to set up businesses, right? I'll I'll give you an example.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_00Right now, if you want to set up an LLC, you got two ways to do it that I'm aware of. One is you pay like LegalZoom or one of those other you know companies, I think it's$300 or$400 or something like that. You pay that company to set up the LLC, you give them the name, then they certainly uh get a registered agent, you pay them a monthly fee, and then I think they'll also sometimes set you up with a website if you pay for their additional services. Right. But at the bare minimum, they'll set you up with a LLC, which is register with your Secretary of State's office, get you an EIN number, which is with the IRS for which any company has. An EIN number is essentially um you know how people have social security numbers. EIN number is the employer identification number for a company. Now that's whether that's an LLC or a um corporation. Yeah, that's basically what that is. Sorry. Um but right now that's what you do. The other way to do it, it's cheaper, but it requires a little bit more steps. So in order to create a company for yourself that's cheaper without having to pay someone else to do it, and you're just paying the filing fees to the respective state agencies, you have to go to your secretary of state's website. This is specifically for state of Georgia. I'm not aware of other, I'm not sure how other states do it, but in the state of Georgia, you set up a sec you set up an account with your Secretary of State's website. Uh actually, I'm gonna backtrack. You go to your Secretary of State's website, you go to the business portion of that website, you gotta find the link. Then you go to I want to create a business, and then you gotta go to online services, then you create an account. It's free to create the account, you create an account, they send you an email, you verify it that it's you. Then you go in, you hit create a business, you put in, you know, what name that you want, you put in, you select whether you want an LLC, a partnership, an S Corp, C Corp, uh, or like a nonprofit, for-profit, and so forth and so on. After you select that, there's a few more steps that you take. You got to identify a registered agent. A registered agent is basically if uh somebody needs to get in contact with the company, who that is. Some people will have a lawyer that does that. Sometimes they use themselves, you know, then which is fine. But then you have to put in the registered agent address and the name and email address. Then you have to put in the principal location where your business is gonna operate out of. Then you also have to put in uh what's the word? Draw a blink here.
SPEAKER_01This sounds like a lot already, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so and that's and that's the before you can pay. Now, but it's a cheaper option. Right. It's a hundred dollars plus a ten dollar like uh convenience fee. I think it's 110 bucks. And then you wait three to five days, I think it's three to five business days before you get a response back. And um, if you're lucky, you will get a response back, and that means your business is created. After your business is created, you go to the IRS website and you have to fill out a form to get your employer identification number. But here's the kicker. If you don't have experience filling out that form and you fill it out the wrong way, then you'll get it'll get kicked back, or you'll have to get you'll have to wait for a response. Normally, if you fill it out the right way, it's instantaneous, right? You can just select an online delivery, like PDF, and then you get a PDF. But if you fill it out the wrong way, or what I mean by wrong way is you um Incorrectly. Incorrectly. Right. If you fill it out incorrectly, it gets kicked back, and you could reapply for another one, but that could create a second like per in queue. So it's essentially say you go apply for a driver's license, you don't do it right the first time, and the first file is still pending, but then you try to do it a second time.
SPEAKER_03All right, gotcha.
SPEAKER_00So when you do that, and again, we haven't even got to creating a bank account, creating a website, marketing, all those things. So what it looks like to make that easier, I don't know yet, right? That's why I'm talking to the community. I'm talking to people that are going through it on a daily basis. Because when I can't when I went through all that stuff, I just went through it. I'm like, oh, I'm not in a position to change laws. Right. So I had to like change my mindset. Yeah. Now I'm like, wait, you know, if the people elect me, I'm in a position to change laws to help them.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Right. So now when I mentor somebody, now when I'm walking through and I'm helping people, I'm not helping them work around barriers, I'm helping clear the some of the barriers that exist.
SPEAKER_01Becoming more efficient, becoming more efficient.
Integrity, Servant Leadership, And Local Limits
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Right. And I think that's what legislation is about. It's not about, hey, we're creating laws, now you got to follow them. It's all right, what are some problems? How can we as the elected officials make our citizens' lives easier? That's what it, that's what running for office, and that's what being, you know, in my opinion, a state senator is, which brings me to, you know, integrity and servant leadership. Right. I was Air Force integrity, is one of our is literally the first core value. Yep. And so, you know, if I can, if I can lead with integrity and make sure I don't forget that I'm leading the people and I'm the people's employee, essentially, because their tax dollars are paying my small salary. I think state senators get like 30,000 a year. It's not much because it's it's part-time, right? You go, you're in session from I think I believe it's January 13th. Yeah, right. It's part-time. So that's why you have to have a full-time job as well in order to, you know, live. But that's brings me to the integrity inside. So that's that's what I've been doing, right? That's why I'm here with you uh to get the word out. Uh that's why I got the website, and that's izazforsenate.org, which is uh I realized later on that I should have done Izaz FOR, but it's Izaz the number for Senate.org. Um, and then I'm raising money as well to help you know pay to go to these events and uh try to have some meet and greets as well, so I can offer some food for people and whatnot too while they come there. And just hear about what they're going through, right? What are the issues that are affecting them on a day-to-day basis? Right. Um, I was door knocking uh a couple days ago and I encountered one individual, which I was it was refreshing. And I was like, you know, sir, what are some of your concerns? You know, you've been here for a while, you've lived here. He's like, Well, nothing that the local politics can handle, which I was like, okay, I appreciate that. Right. The reason he said that is because I think a lot of the stuff that was bothering him is what's going on nationally right now. And a lot of times you run into voters that they see what's going on nationally, but because they they they don't have time, like they're they're again, they have to pay their bills, they have to put food on the table, they have to put clothes on their back, they have to put gas in their car. All these things take priority over legislation, over politics. That's right. So what happens is they forget sometimes that what's going on at the federal level is something that the federal legislatures have to handle. At the local level, we can only handle so much because we're at the state. Right. Right? We control the state minimum wage, but we don't control the federal minimum wage. Right. Right? We control the state income tax, but we can't dictate the federal income tax. So, and you know, there are certain regulations too, such as uh the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency. That's a federal regulator. At the state level, we can only do so much to keep them in check.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_00Right. We have states' rights, which is granted to us by the U.S. Constitution. Each state can legislate to their own, but sometimes you have federal legislation that trumps the no pun intention. No pun. No fun intention. I was gonna say that uh trumps the uh local legislation. And a lot of times, if the federal government enforces it, then we have to follow it at the state. We don't have a choice. So that's part of you know being uh part of the union, right? We're the United States, we're part of a union, a larger group.
SPEAKER_01So you know, talking about the small businesses that you were referring to, I also came to my mind that it could be very demoralizing going through that process. And like you said, if you have a full-time job trying to start a business, and then you have a family to provide for, uh, a family that needs you. Sometimes you're just like, Man, this is made, this might be too much. Uh, who knows if I even want to, you know, open a business and stuff like that. So it makes sense what you're trying to do and the people that you're trying to reach reach. Plus, this country's made of small businesses all the time. You know, there was a certain point even within the federal government that like there was a certain amount of money threshold that like would go to small businesses. Now, I don't think that exists anymore. Maybe they're taking it away, but even then, you know, small businesses have been part of uh America. It's what makes in the United States.
SPEAKER_00I think we uh I know we have the uh, excuse me, we have the small business administration. Yeah, SBA. Believe it's I think the current administrator or the director is Kelly Leffler. Loffler or Leffler? I believe it's Kelly Luffler. Uh she's the current uh administrator for the small business administration. And I think she's done a lot of good things as far as you know pushing support for small businesses. So right now, if you are a you know, if you're a veteran, uh if if it's veteran-owned, minority-owned, or women-owned, there are certain grants available.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00But that brings it to awareness, right? So the Gunnett County uh in downtown Lawrenceville, they have a I can't remember the exact name, but there's a small business, uh, I think it's workforce development program where they have a resource center to where if you're interested in starting a business, you can go there and it'll help you go through all the different resources that you have.
SPEAKER_01Gotcha. So wow, that's that's that's that's that's another interesting point. That's another interesting point.
SPEAKER_00There's a lot of things in you know, living in Gwyneth County that kind of I think spoils us a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Yes, dude. 100% though. 100% Gwinnett County's been for the most part a really, really good county. Yeah, yeah. I've lived here to be honest, since I moved to the states. I've lived here, and there are some parts you know that are not the best, but for the most part, Gwinnett County schools, man, school systems, oh yeah, everything else is really good. I think it's really good. And for you wanting to come in and try to even fix some of the issues that we have, I think that's pretty good, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00F fix and maintain, those are the two things, right? Fix some of the things and then maintain some of the good work that's good. That's good. Yeah. Um, because something that I think we encounter this that it happens kind of everywhere. Is you have certain uh group of legislators that are trying to that do certain things that put in some good work, but then they don't get reelected for one one reason or another, and then someone else comes in and they have their own way of doing things. Right. They might want the same solution, but they have a different way of going about it. And what happens is it undoes a lot of the good work that's already there. Um Because again, it becomes a tolerance. We have to have tolerance. It's like, all right, if I want to get from let's say you know we're in we're in Gwynette, let's say we want to get from Gwynette to the CAP, there are a thousand different routes you can take to get from Gwynette to the Cap Cap. But if we keep switching drivers and the driver doesn't stick to that already planned route, then when are you ever going to get there, right? You might I might say, let's go from here to 316 to 85, and that's how we're gonna get to the camera. You might want to say, uh, we want to take the inside streets. Right. But if we keep switching back and forth, I'm gonna keep aiming us towards the highway, you're gonna keep aiming us towards the inside streets, depending on how much how often we switch, we're never gonna make it there. Right. Even though we both want to get there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I feel you on that.
SPEAKER_00So it's you know that and that's where the tolerance comes in. Sometimes, you know, even if we do switch, it might be necessary to switch because I might have fatigue, I might get tired, you might get tired. But if we can have tolerance and agree on a plan, hey, we're gonna get to this, we're gonna go to DeCab County, this is the route we're gonna take. If we do need to change the route, this is how we're gonna change it. Right, right. And going back to aviation, that happens all the time. Or you have a captain and you have a first officer, but then you also have ATC. Weather pops up, you have predetermined routes that you take. You know, so at the end of the day, you still get to the destination. Now the difference is when you're in the air, you have fuel you're gonna run out of. You know, in legislature, I guess in the legislature you don't necessarily have fuel you're gonna run out of, but you do have your the people that elected you to office, they have a they have a patience limit as well.
How To Vote And How To Help
SPEAKER_01I think so. I think so too. So dude, this is this is this is great, man. I I am excited for your journey because um whoa, I don't think I've ever been this close to politics like that in my past. And the fact that I mean I've known you for the people that are watching or listening, I've known you for since high school days, bro. Yeah, it's been a minute. So half our lives, half our lives, dude. That's and yeah, we have so many friends in common that uh I've also come into the podcast as well. Uh, I'm excited for you, man. So remind us how people can find you. Uh, remind us of the voting process, the dates, the important dates. So so we can all be on the lookout for that.
SPEAKER_00So, right now, um, and again, I'm gonna focus in uh Gwinnett, and I believe this is statewide, but I'm just gonna focus in on Gwynett. In uh Gwinnett County, and I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to the camera if that's do your thing. So in County, right now, early voting is live. And what that is, is you can go vote early at certain locations, and uh I'll I'll give the link to uh Carlos here. But if you go to if you just Google Gwynett County Advanced Voting, the list of early voting locations pop up. The last day to early vote is May 15th, which is uh next Friday, and then the election day is May 19th. So right now you can vote on the like you can vote Saturday and Sunday this weekend, but you can't vote um next like you can only vote until May 15th, basically, early voting. And then the next the last day to vote would be May 19th, which is a Tuesday. Now in my district, like I said, there's a special election, and depending on which ballot you pull, you might see my name twice. Uh and my name shows up my first, middle, and last name, Izaz Shabazz Sheikh on the uh ballot. And if you have any concerns or any issues that you want addressed, my website is Izazthenumber4 Senate.org. And you can fill out our volunteer form if you want to volunteer, or you can email us directly and someone from our team will get back to you and just address basically address your concerns, right? Because we're here for you guys, right? You are the one electing, you'd be electing me. I would be working for you guys, which brings it back to servant leadership. But there's a lot of information, and hopefully we'll be seeing you at uh we're gonna be going door knocking as well. So hopefully I'll see you at the door. Um, if not, I'll hopefully see you at the uh different events. But right now we need voters, volunteering, volunteers, and funds. We're doing fundraising as well. So any amount helps, whether that's a dollar, three dollars, five dollars. You know, I know affordability is a big thing, but that's what we're trying to uh address. But I can't do that without getting elected. And that's where the funding comes in.
SPEAKER_01So thank you for that, man. Uh, a couple questions. So in order for them to donate, they can go to your website and they can donate there?
SPEAKER_00Yes, there's a contribute button on the website that they can go to. Um, and then you know, if they're seeing any of my flyers or if you guys are getting any any of my mailers, the information is on there as well.
SPEAKER_01Okay, got you. And uh quick question. Uh don't know if you touched on this, but so if we people if people go and they vote for you for the early uh elections. Early voting, yeah. Do they have to go and vote again for you for the general elections? So yes, thank you.
SPEAKER_00So it's a double so you would be voting once in on May 19th or early voting until May 15th. And then in November, on November 3rd, which is the general election, you'll be voting again that day as well.
SPEAKER_03Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00Okay, but we're gonna we're gonna keep you guys updated, keep you guys posted. I know now in November is a long way to go, but uh, you know, if we focus on May, we'll get we'll get through this and then we'll keep you guys informed for the November election as well. Because uh, you know, we we know everybody has lives that they have to live, but that's that's what we're here for. We're here to make sure you guys can keep living the lives that you can live.
Faith, Endurance, And One Step Forward
SPEAKER_01Hey man, man. Uh, I feel like I'm probably gonna be having you back here on again so we can run it back, you know. Yeah. Um it would be cool. Um, good luck to you. I appreciate it. I hope it works out, and I really hope that you stick to what you're saying and helping the community, which I feel like is important, you know, can be that integrity. Is there any last message or a topic maybe you haven't discussed that you want people to hear or we can talk about, or you feel like we touch everything that we need to well?
SPEAKER_00The biggest thing is, you know, I'm I'm a faith-based man, right? Um, I've been praying every step of this way, and um I forgot I was speaking to he's currently running for re-election, but I was speaking to a senator and he mentioned a story of his. He was in the army and he mentioned how uh they would have these 20-mile ruck marches. So they would get, you know, dropped off and then they would do a 20-mile ruck march back to base. And he said the difference between the uh the soldiers that made it to the end and that gave up in the last three to five miles. I say gave up, but again, that's bear in mind that's like after 15 miles of walking and everything, but nonetheless. The difference was the soldiers that made it just kept putting one foot in front of the other, just one foot in front of the other, next step, next step, next step. Versus the ones that didn't make it, they kept looking at the horizon, but they kept looking at the destination, and they're like, Oh, that's so far to go, so far to go. Even though it's like only, you know, I say only, but two, two miles, three miles left, right? And they would fall out, and then the truck would pick them up and they would drive them back. So um before I started this process, you know, I had that conversation with the senator, and that's kind of what I've been using this whole way, right? You know, because it's it's politics, right? It's just running a race, things happen, things have been coming up here and there. I've been seeing things from the other side that can you know, someone who could be my opponent, and sometimes it can be overwhelming and just uh draining at times. So instead of looking at election day, just looking at the next step, taking putting one foot in front of the other, because at the end of the day, right, as long as I have my faith, as long as I stay true to myself and true to the people, then I'm a winner, regardless of what happens on the ballot. Okay, right. And like we said, I'm you know, I'm young enough to where hopefully this isn't the end, right? Right, you know, God willing, this does I do end up winning, and then I can run for re-election and keep doing more good because there's gonna be new problems and new things that people bring up every single election cycle. Right now it's affordability. Next time it could be I don't know. I've there's so much going on right now, it's hard to imagine what the next thing could be. But you know, there's so many issues, uh, you know, right now one is special education. Yeah, that's one of my other issues as well. Is you know, I've been a special education teacher, like I said, I've done a special education with classrooms, and there's gaps that need to be filled there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, but I'd say the best thing I can say is just prayers. And uh our tagline is uh let's shake things up, you know. That's good, shake, because that's my last name. And uh just prayers, your support, and let's shake things up. I said that like three times now.
SPEAKER_01But let's shake it up, like Taylor Swilversum, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah. You might actually get some votes off of that. Try to use that line every now and then. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I might get I might get like a uh cease and desist, like hey, because it's because it's political. It's like you don't like this.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's right. See, this is why you're in the mix, and I'm throwing some ideas out there. Uh, I'm excited for you, man. Um, it's good to see new light, you know, something new uh coming about with in the political climate. So again, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for coming on my past podcast, brother. That it really means a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me again. And uh maybe we'll do a fourth and fifth time. You know, we gotta have uh gotta have some kind of board now. I realized that was the first time I come back three times.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is the third, I think you should. You I think you're the first one to come to me back three times. Yeah, and I'm probably going to have that would be cool to have on there, you know what I mean? Yeah, I gotta start getting more creative with my podcast. I'm gonna be honest with you.
SPEAKER_00You can have like uh, I guess for the 12th time when somebody comes back, you can like have like balloons or something, or I might give you some merchandise or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we'll we'll we'll run something. I my brother broke my good vibe sign back there a while ago, and I love having that, so I gotta get something new.
SPEAKER_00Was was he at least having good vibes when it broke?
Final Reminder To Show Up And Vote
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I think he stepped on it. So I don't know how much good vibes he was having. Um, but everyone, uh, really appreciate you guys listening. And you know, listening to the podcast, I feel like um us as on the younger side of the crowd, we're trying to affect our community, change our community for for better ways. Um, obviously, me through the podcast, and as that's through politics. Um, which I think it's cool. I think it's something that's being very proactive, and hopefully we make a change in in this life, you know. Leave the world better than you found it, right? So exactly. Uh, thank you guys for for watching. Don't forget that you can watch this video in 4K on YouTube. My YouTube channel, there's a playlist, the Carlos Granadas playlist, and you can listen to all the podcasts that I've done, which I would highly recommend. And also you can listen to this podcast and all the audio platforms that you can think of. Links are gonna be in the description of this video below. So find all the websites that um we mentioned on there and you know, go support, uh, let your voice be heard. And if you have any concerns or questions, you can reach out to me. Uh, you can reach out to him, and you know, we we'll start spreading the words because I think it's something important. It's definitely something important, and you know, don't be don't be shy or afraid to touch it.
SPEAKER_00So and I do want to say actually one last thing that just came to my mind. Regardless of what district you're in, please go and vote. Because that is a constitutional right that we have. And as a veteran, there has been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that have been spilled in order for that right to remain. And so if you have the right to vote, please, please exercise it. I don't care what district you're in, I don't care what your political affiliation is, just go make your voice heard. And how you do that is by voting, and that is a right that we have, and we are very privileged to have that as U.S. citizens.
SPEAKER_01I respect that a lot. Yeah, yeah, because it's not just about you, but let your voice be heard regardless of what you're affiliated with. I like that, man. And that's real. You know what that's called? Integrity. Good for you, brother. I like that, man. Appreciate it. Hey, thank you guys for watching. See you guys on the next one. And as always, familia, peace and love.