Tulsi Gabbard

and not really seeing a way out, given how much gridlock there is in Washington and how too many politicians are putting their own self-serving interests ahead of the interests of the country.

This is why we don't have anywhere close to 80, 90, 100% voter turnout because people feel hopeless and don't feel like my vote and my voice will make a difference.

The powers that exist in this broken system are too great, but that's wrong.

It's not true.

I do understand that feeling of hopelessness, but the only way we change this

is at a bare minimum being informed voters and holding leaders accountable and not turning a blind eye when it's the party that we like

not being blind followers, being critical thinkers, not believing everything that you hear and what people say, but actually being informed, being critical thinkers, and voting.

That is how in this system we can bring about wholesale change by putting the right people in office who are committed to the Constitution and to our country and who have a backbone and the courage

to root out the deep rot of corruption that exists within every agency of our federal government.

I mean, the thing that you did with the petition, I think that's a great idea because it forces their hand in a very public way to try to do the right thing.

I've seen in real time, I experienced in real time, you know, people wonder like, if I call my Congressman, do they really care?

If I send an email, if I put out a tweet, like, you know, you feel like you're yelling into the darkness and no one is hearing you.

And maybe if you're just one person doing it, that may be true.

But if we all kind of throw in the towel, then we're giving up without a fight.

I've experienced in real time, there was a bill that was coming to the House floor for a vote and it had strong bipartisan support.

I remember looking at the readout that I got and the assessment that I did before every single vote that came through, I had my staff put together, okay, here's why the Democrats are saying to vote for or against this bill.

And here's why the Republicans are saying to vote for or against this bill.

Then I could look at, you know,

oftentimes very different narratives, all talking about the same piece of legislation.

But in this case, the recommendations were, hey, we need to vote for this legislation because it's going to do X, Y, or Z, and it's a good thing.