In May 2010, Green Party co-founder Howie Hawkins was officially nominated to run for Governor of New York State. Hawkins helped establish the national Green Party in 1984 with a group of like-minded individuals in St. Paul, Minn. A long time green activist, Hawkins also co-founded the Clamshell Alliance in 1976 to combat the spread of nuclear power plants.
Hawkins is no stranger to New York politics. He ran campaigns for the US Senate in 2006 and for the US House of Representatives in NY's 25th Congressional District.
Hawkins sat down with The Spectrum staff writer David Johnson to discuss the current gubernatorial race, the youth vote and the presence of minor parties in politics.
David Johnson: It seems that minor parties have not made much progress in the last couple decades. Why is that and could you provide an example of minor parties really impacting the lives of citizens?
Howie Hawkins: On a state or federal level, you're right, not much progress has been made. At a local level however, I can provide plenty of examples where I've been working in my home in Syracuse. Minor parties played a huge role in passing a living wage ordinance and we've just gotten a feasibility study advanced into the development of green public power. Albeit minor parties are still shut out of electoral position, the grassroots work of minor parties towards the public well-being is slow, but undeniable.
DJ: Since you'll concede on the lack of progress, do you think that stems from, especially in left-wing circles, the continuous splintering in political subdivisions within liberal politics? Does that constant division impede progress?
HH: Absolutely, yes. We in the Green Party have been trying to develop ourselves as the pluralist entity for the independent left. We can't split over individual principles, but we have to allow minorities to argue their point of view. That's been the difficult balance we've been trying to strike for some time, achieving what I'd like to call, a "democratic decentralism," differing from the more Leninist "democratic centralism" which eventually shuts out minority opinion in favor of faster, but maybe ineffective political action.
DJ: With social issues such as abortion and gay marriage taking center stage, almost paralleling the immediate economic needs of New York, why are voters becoming once again preoccupied with issues that probably won't pertain directly to a majority of New Yorkers in their lifetime?
HH: Emotional sensationalism to stir up voters. [For instance], Andrew Cuomo just called Carl Paladino an "extremist" on the abortion issue for denial on grounds of rape and incest, but I don't think it's in play, because it's a non-issue this election. New Yorkers won't stand for taking away a woman's right to choose should Paladino win, so Cuomo is wasting his time in the end. Let's not take from this that social issues aren't important however, Democrats, despite control over state government promised to legalize gay marriage and provide civil rights for homosexuals and they blew it. Civil rights are an important issue this election.
DJ: What are your plans should you win? And if you did, you'd be completely outnumbered and outgunned politically. How would you execute your imperatives?
HH: I carry a strong political mandate that's strongly supported by the population. If I were to win, we'd have the popular support to send a message to the legislature that is: if you don't advance the public cause, then other Greens will run for your seats. Every poll you read, they want lower middle class taxes, higher taxes on Wall Street, renewable public energy, and general advancement of progressive issues, such as the repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws, which only promote an underground economy of narcotics trafficking and racial profiling. That was the other issue I wanted to address socially; the drug laws causing a large, disproportionate incarceration rates of African American and Latino men.
DJ: What do you think about your opponents' views?
HH: Ultimately they are two economic conservatives in the pockets of big business. I can't think of a single accomplishment Cuomo has accomplished in his entire career in the terms of racial justice and economic equality. It's an all white slate. Paladino largely represents the Tea Party perspective, he promises austerity, cutting taxes to raise revenue and erase deficits, which is non-sensible. I promise, worked for, and will continue to work for, prosperity, for all of New Yorkers.
DJ: Do you think there is any real liberal representation in government, based on what you just said?
HH: On an electoral level, federally, there are about 25 at best, genuine progressives in the House of Representatives; Dennis Kucinich happens to be one of the better known progressives. However, they've been marginalized by the Democratic Party. The Democrats will end up getting their butts kicked because they are not fighting for anything, except for goals that are just unjustified, unworkable tax cuts for instance.
DJ: On younger voters, why hasn't there been a real effort to connect with the youth of the electorate, at least on a state level to engage younger voters? Do you plan otherwise?
HH: Well, I could hypothesize that since younger voters are shackled in debt. The parties of big business seem to think they don't need them. I think education at the college level should be free and it's a goal that's definitely attainable through reworking the tax structure. I have been, as much as possible, trying to speak on many university campuses. When I speak on campuses I try to reaffirm to students that, contrary to what they've been told, governments, like universities, are not sprawling problems, but collections of people working together for the advancement of the common good.
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