He Drove Across America to Prove We're Not as Divided as You Think | Adam Mizel
CommonX Podcast
What if America isn't as divided as the news makes it look? Adam Mizel left a successful finance career to find out — hitting the road in a purple and white pickup truck, talking to thousands of everyday Americans from parking lots to state fairs, and filming a documentary along the way.
Adam is the founder of Us United, a national unity movement built around one core idea: you can't sympathize with a label, only a person. In this conversation, he shares what he actually found on the road (spoiler: people are more united than you think), why Generation X needs to stop sitting on the fence, and the surprisingly simple things each of us can do to change the culture starting today.
We also dig into his unlikely friendship with Sheriff Chris Swanson — the Flint, Michigan sheriff who famously took off his body armor and walked arm-in-arm with protesters in 2020 — and how that moment sparked the creation of Us United.
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Chapters:
00:00 — Intro & welcome
01:00 — Why Adam walked away from finance
03:00 — Meeting Sheriff Chris Swanson & the Flint march
06:00 — How Us United was born
08:00 — Sheriffs as community unifiers
13:00 — The cross-country road trip
16:00 — What Adam found: America isn't that divided
20:00 — Gen X needs to get off the fence
22:00 — What's fueling the divide (it's not just politics)
28:00 — The power of storytelling: the redlining conversation
32:00 — Shaq's one-word definition of unity
33:00 — National Unity Day, December 13
38:00 — Simple things every American can do right now
41:00 — If you were president for a day...
45:00 — Jared's Five
50:00 — Adam's personal story: success built from collapse
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Learn more about Us United: https://www.usunited.org
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#CommonX #Unity #AdamMizel #UsUnited #GenerationX #America #Podcast
The CommonX Podcast features long-form conversations with musicians, cultural voices, veterans, entrepreneurs, and independent thinkers who bring lived experience to the table. Hosted by Jared Mayzak and Ian Primmer, CommonX explores music, culture, work, identity, resilience, and the systems that shape everyday life—without talking points or manufactured outrage.
From iconic artists and creative pioneers to everyday people with extraordinary stories, each episode prioritizes honesty, curiosity, and meaningful dialogue. This is a Gen-X–driven show for listeners who value depth over noise and conversation over clicks.
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