Howie Hawkins – Do You Know Him? – Green Party Presidential Choice in 2020-

Show # 90– 6-8-2020 Jason Schwartz invests an hour with  leading Green Party 2020 Candidate for President of the United States, Howie Hawkins. Howie shares highlights of his extensive progressive platform and the expansive Green Team and their progressive work across the United States.

Summary & Transcript

Core Points

1. [00:00 → 09:10] Howie Hawkins’ Background and Green Party Origins
   • Howie Hawkins is a longtime activist and Green Party candidate with roots in labor and environmental movements dating back to the 1960s.
   • He has been involved with various progressive parties, including Peace and Freedom, the People’s Party, and the Citizens Party before helping found the Green Party in 1984.
   • Hawkins emphasizes building political power from the grassroots and local elections rather than relying solely on presidential campaigns.
   • The Green Party gained national recognition through Ralph Nader’s presidential campaigns in 1996 and 2000, which helped secure ballot lines in many states.
   • Hawkins’ campaign runs in all 50 states plus DC to maintain ballot access, which is crucial for allowing Green candidates to run in local and state elections without excessive petition burdens.
   • The core of his platform is the Green New Deal focused on climate action, economic justice, and social rights.
2. [09:10 → 15:16] The Green New Deal and Economic Bill of Rights
   • Hawkins proposes a $27.5 trillion, decade-long Green New Deal to transition the U.S. economy to zero and negative carbon emissions by 2030.
   • This plan includes large-scale public investments in clean energy, manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and buildings.
   • Drawing parallels to the WWII “arsenal of democracy,” Hawkins advocates federal government control over key industries to meet this climate emergency.
   • The economic Bill of Rights underpins the campaign: guaranteed living wage jobs, affordable housing, comprehensive healthcare (Medicare for All), free lifelong education, and secure retirement benefits.
   • The campaign stresses addressing inequality as a life-or-death issue, citing declining life expectancies for working-class Americans caused by economic hardship.
   • Nuclear disarmament and ending the new nuclear arms race are also emphasized as a critical component of the platform.
3. [15:16 → 23:29] Political Strategy and Battleground States
   • Hawkins encourages voters, especially in battleground states, to vote Green rather than “waste” votes on establishment candidates who don’t fully represent progressive values.
   • He argues that the Green Party challenges both Democrats and Republicans, especially on issues like fracking and environmental destruction, often ignored by mainstream parties.
   • The campaign views every state as a battleground, fighting for ballot access and visibility.
   • Hawkins acknowledges concerns about “spoiler” effects but urges people to vote for what they want rather than strategically settling for less.
   • The Green Party aims to build local and state power to effect change from the ground up.
4. [23:29 → 28:09] Policy Focus: Education, Housing, and Social Justice
   • Education: Hawkins advocates for increased federal funding to reduce reliance on regressive property taxes, ending privatization and high-stakes testing, and making tuition-free childcare, pre-K, and post-secondary education available.
   • He highlights the growing segregation by race and class in schools, calling for federal intervention to redraw school district boundaries to promote integration.
   • Housing: The Green New Deal includes a $2.5 trillion investment to build 25 million units of mixed-income public housing nationwide, avoiding segregation and promoting diverse communities.
   • Hawkins promotes integrating green agriculture and housing, using examples like Detroit’s urban farms and repurposing unused hotels in places like Maui for housing solutions.
   • Social Justice: The campaign supports defunding excessive policing, reallocating funds for social services, drug treatment, mental health support, and housing for the homeless.
   • The movement for racial justice is seen as a critical moment, with young people of all ethnicities demanding change and the Green Party positioning itself as a solution-oriented force.

5. 

   [28:09 → 35:39] Vice Presidential Candidate and Campaign Messaging

   • Angela Walker, Hawkins’ running mate, is a labor and racial justice activist with a history of union organizing and grassroots activism in Milwaukee and South Carolina.
   • Her experience includes involvement in the Wisconsin uprising, Occupy movement, and running against a controversial sheriff on a platform of fighting poverty rather than crime.
   • Hawkins emphasizes the importance of his campaign’s message resonating with all Americans, including conservatives concerned about issues like fracking.
   • He encourages voters to make their voices heard by voting Green to push progressive policies into the mainstream rather than disappearing in the Democratic Party.
   • Young people are a key demographic, and the campaign focuses on grassroots organizing, relationship-building, and showing real local victories to overcome political alienation.
6. [35:39 → 43:06] Energy Policy and the Need for Systemic Change
   • Hawkins calls for a public power system with a smart grid to accommodate distributed renewable energy, moving away from investor-owned utilities that prioritize profits over rapid climate action.
   • He criticizes current utilities for continuing to operate fossil fuel plants despite the urgent need to transition.
   • Decentralized, community-based renewable energy efforts are supported but insufficient without systemic public-sector leadership.
   • The campaign underscores the urgency of climate change and the necessity for government-led, large-scale transformation rather than relying on corporate interests.

7. 

   [43:06 → 52:49] Challenges of the Pandemic and Failed State Response

   • Hawkins critiques the U.S. government’s failure in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, contrasting it with Pacific Rim countries that successfully implemented test-trace-isolate programs.
   • He condemns both Trump’s incompetence and Biden’s incoherence and invisibility in addressing the crisis.
   • The economic fallout from the pandemic deepens the need for the Green New Deal as a recovery plan.
   • Hawkins notes shortages and vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic, such as food supply issues and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
   • He also highlights the pandemic’s role in exposing systemic racism and police violence, which has sparked a multi-ethnic uprising demanding justice and reform.
   • The Green Party offers concrete alternatives for funding social services, reducing police budgets, and investing in communities.
8. [52:49 → 52:49] Campaign Outlook and Engagement
   • The Green Party primary is nearly complete, with Hawkins expected to clinch the nomination soon, followed by the national convention in July.
   • Hawkins rejects calls from establishment media and political figures to drop out, asserting that his presence is essential to promote ranked-choice voting and electoral reform.
   • He remains open to dialogue but expects little cooperation from mainstream campaigns, which prefer to ignore the Green Party.
   • The campaign will continue focusing on grassroots organizing, issue advocacy, and expanding ballot access.
   • Hawkins expresses hope for future visits and greater engagement with communities like Hawaii while acknowledging pandemic-related travel challenges.

Key Conclusions

1. [07:09 → 08:40] The Green Party’s electoral viability depends heavily on maintaining ballot access across states, which requires presidential candidates like Hawkins to secure a minimum vote percentage.
   • This structural aspect makes presidential campaigns critical to the party’s broader strategy of building local political power.
2. [09:10 → 11:52] Addressing climate change through a Green New Deal is inseparable from tackling economic inequality and social justice; the Green Party’s platform integrates these issues as equally urgent and interconnected.
   • The campaign frames these as life-or-death issues for millions of Americans.
3. [15:46 → 17:53] Voters should prioritize voting for their true values rather than strategic voting for major parties that only partially represent their interests, as this dilutes progressive voices and slows systemic change.
   • The Green Party provides a necessary alternative for people disillusioned with the two-party system.
4. [26:56 → 28:39] The ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism present an opportunity for the Green Party to advance substantive reforms that align with its social justice values, distinguishing it from establishment parties.
   • The campaign advocates reallocating police funds toward social services and addressing root causes of crime.
5. [35:04 → 35:39] Young people are the key to the Green Party’s future growth, but mobilizing them requires grassroots engagement that builds trust and demonstrates tangible victories rather than relying solely on online outreach.
6. [45:39 → 46:47] Ranked-choice voting and electoral reforms are critical to overcoming the “spoiler” dilemma that harms third parties; without such reforms, the Green Party faces systemic barriers to gaining political influence.
   • Hawkins uses his campaign as a platform to advocate for these reforms.
7. [48:29 → 49:39] The COVID-19 pandemic exposes deep failures in U.S. governance and public health infrastructure, underscoring the need for systemic political and economic change that the Green New Deal aims to provide.
   • The pandemic also emphasizes the interconnected nature of health, economic security, and social justice.

Important Details

1. [00:54 → 02:42] COVID-19 lockdowns have shifted Hawkins’ campaign to virtual organizing, enabling him to connect with Green Party activists across all 51 jurisdictions more efficiently than traditional travel would allow.
   • This digital strategy has facilitated exponential message duplication and broader outreach.
2. [06:36 → 07:09] Hawkins’ 5% vote share in New York gubernatorial elections pressured mainstream politicians like Governor Cuomo to adopt progressive policies such as banning fracking, raising minimum wage, and paid family leave, demonstrating the Green Party’s influence without winning office.
3. [08:40 → 09:10] Signature requirements to run as independents or minor party candidates vary dramatically by state, with some requiring thousands of signatures, making ballot access through party lines vital for Green candidates.
4. [18:23 → 21:02] The property tax-based school funding model perpetuates inequality; Hawkins calls for federal funding redistribution and federal intervention to address racial and economic segregation in education.
5. [21:35 → 22:48] The Green New Deal’s housing component aims to build millions of mixed-income public housing units nationwide, avoiding past practices of concentrated poverty and segregation by integrating diverse communities.
6. [27:35 → 28:09] Police budgets in many municipalities are bloated and are used to fund practices that exploit marginalized communities, such as fines for minor offenses; the Green Party supports scaling back police roles and funding social services instead.
7. [29:51 → 31:26] Angela Walker’s activism includes union leadership, community organizing, and electoral runs, bringing a background of labor and racial justice to the vice presidential candidacy.
8. [36:54 → 37:32] Political alienation stems more from disempowerment and lack of trust than apathy; building local Green Party organizations that deliver real results can overcome this barrier.
9. [41:14 → 41:48] Hawkins’ example campaign for public power in Syracuse showed cross-party local support but was ultimately blocked by special interests and political leadership favoring private contracts, illustrating the challenges of grassroots initiatives.
10. [43:06 → 43:50] Distributed renewable energy initiatives by individuals and communities are positive but insufficient without a coordinated public power infrastructure and smart grid to scale climate action.
11. [46:12 → 46:47] Establishment parties and media often dismiss or attack Green Party campaigns to avoid elevating their platform, yet this creates opportunities to highlight electoral reform and alternative policies.
12. [49:09 → 49:39] Hawaii’s low COVID-19 infection rates are threatened by reopening tourism; the state lacks hospital capacity for a large outbreak, making cautious public health measures critical.
13. [50:17 → 50:51] Vaccine development timelines for COVID-19 are uncertain and likely to take years; social distancing and public health measures will remain necessary in the near term.
14. [52:13 → 52:49] Hawkins emphasizes that true leadership arises from active participation in communities and movements, not from political maneuvering, highlighting the Green Party’s grassroots ethos.
15. [52:49] The interview concludes with a call for unity and cooperation across political and ideological divides, embodied by the Maui Neutral Zone’s mission as a space for open dialogue.