“Which candidates are actually talking about measures that will change the system that enables police to continually murder Black people and other people of colour with impunity? The system, this system, is inherently flawed. And we are the only party talking about that.”

That’s Angela Walker, Green Party candidate for vice-president. She’s on the ticket in thirty states, yet most voters have never heard her name.

They haven’t heard of her running-mate, Howie Hawkins, either. “The campaign that Angela and I are running on,” he says, “according to public opinion polling, is the most popular platform. People want a Green New Deal. They want Medicare for All. They want the cancellation of student debt and free tuition at public colleges and universities. They want to get out of these endless wars.”

Many of their ideas on climate change follow the lead of top researchers, scientists and the United Nations. But they are treated as marginal.

Talking to me ahead of a rally in Minneapolis, Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen is caustic about Trump and Biden. “Neither one has an answer to the question of healthcare costs, and neither one is going to bring the troops home. So a lot of voters have been saying to me, it's nice to have somebody that I can actually vote for, rather than against.”

But despite expressing popular sentiments, despite echoing the views of people I speak to in New Orleans, where I live, or on a recent trip to Kentucky, in the US electoral system, these are fringe candidates.

Many of the people I’ve spoken to don’t talk about ideas for how to invest in the sustainability of the planet, their health and their communities. Instead, they tend to talk about their fears.

And for Walker this is how the Democrats and Republicans retain their grip, “Stop voting from a place of fear… How about we look forward to what it is we actually want, the kind of country we actually want to live in?”

Broken politics

The US political system places numerous blocks between third-party candidates and voters.

“Ballot access is a huge issue” says Hawkins, describing how he spent a month campaigning in Pennsylvania only for the Democrats to succeed in getting him struck off the ballot, because a Green Party official had sent documents in separate envelopes rather than together. “In New York, we need 3,500 signatures. We had six weeks to collect them. In Indiana, over 40,000.” In the UK, he points out, each candidate for Parliament needs just ten. In India, it’s two.

Jorgensen managed to get on the ballot in every state, but believes the media plays a huge role in preserving the two-party system. “Having a third person on the ballot in all fifty states who every single American in this country can vote for and they’re not reporting on it. I would say they aren’t doing their job.”

Dark money

Greens and Libertarians agree that fighting the amount of corporate money funneled into politics is an uphill battle. “Corporations will actually write the law, hand it to a congressperson, and the congressperson introduces it as a bill,” said Jorgensen.

An investigation by the Center of Public integrity in 2018 revealed that these ‘model laws’ push an agenda by special interest groups including limiting access to abortion and the rights of protesters. By pushing these laws through, politicians make friends who in return will donate to their campaigns in the future.

For the Greens, the solution is “full public campaign finance, on the clean money model”, explains Hawkins. “They do this in Arizona and in Maine for state elections…. You qualify by getting a reasonable number of small $5 donations, then you run on public money, not private money.”

Candidates like Hawkins and Jorgensen are keenly aware of what they’re up against. They aren’t running to win this year’s election (although, they’ll never openly admit to that.) They’re in it for the long game and are relying on Americans to think in terms of what they need instead of settling for the lesser of two evils. “When they go to the polls, I hope every American realises and values the freedom we have in this country that we’re slowly turning over to the people in Washington,” said Jorgensen.

‘I don’t do smoke and mirrors: I’m a socialist’

Greens and Libertarians agree that America’s political system is broken. They agree that America needs to end its foreign wars. But their domestic solutions are radically different.

“I don't do smoke and mirrors. I am a socialist,” says Walker. “Black people in this country have a very proud history of being socialist. I know that they've been using “socialist” as a curse word to hit each other back and forth. And you know, all we do is laugh: I mean, you want to talk to some socialists, we right here!

“Our job in this country is also to educate people about what socialism is, how it improves people's material conditions, and how we can align it with the needs of the planet.”

Jorgensen has a very different perspective. For her, the problem is an overweening state. When I ask her if she supports the Black Lives Matter call to defund the police, for example, she replies: “Crime is a local issue. I would allow each different jurisdiction to decide how they want to handle their policing. And I would absolutely end giving tanks and tear gas and grenade launchers to the over 8,000 federal state and local police forces.

“If you're sitting in Austin, Texas, or Albuquerque, New Mexico or Charleston, West Virginia, and they put a referendum on the ballot: ‘Would you like your taxes raised so that our police department can go out and buy a tank?’ most people would say: ‘No, I'd rather keep that extra money, maybe walk to a nice dinner or go to a nicer vacation’.

“But what happens is the federal government takes that money from us, then they buy the tanks and tear gas. And then they dangle it in front of the police department. So that ‘OK, do you want a free tank?’”

If the polls are right, Biden is going to be the US president. The system will hold itself together. For now. But anyone who can smell the air can tell that something is going to break.

Jo Jorgensen

Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker

Jo Jorgensen, Joni Hess, full transcript (unedited)

Jo Jorgensen

They both want to spend our money they both want to

control our lives pass laws, they both have no answers really to our problems. Neither one has an answer to the question health care costs, and neither one is going to bring the troops home. So a lot of voters have been saying to me, well, it's it's nice to have somebody that I can actually vote for, rather than against.

Joni Hess

Yeah, definitely. And, um, and this year has been crazy, to say the least. There's been heightened levels of anxiety. There's wildfires, hurricanes, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd all that stuff going on this year. What do you think will happen with Election Day, and you know, afterwards in the aftermath?

Jo Jorgensen

Well, I don't know, we'll see. It depends on you know, how big of a showing we can make and if we can make a difference. So I'm hoping that we can make a difference. I'm hoping to score at least five percent, and three and two percent in the states that need a certain percentage in order to be on the ballot the next time around. A lot of people don't realise that we've got to spend 10s of thousands of dollars, sometimes on just one state to get on the ballot. And so if I have a good enough showing, then we can save that next time around.

Joni Hess

Yeah. I mean, like, with all the violence and stuff going on, do you do you worry about what will happen on election day? Or afterwards?

Jo Jorgensen

No, I know what we usually I mean, we have had rough patches before, and we're in the middle of a rough patch right now. However, I think Americans, for the most part, value the representative democracy that we have, and they value the system we have. So... but most people are law abiding.

Joni Hess

Yeah, I got you. Um, okay. Well, thank you. A lot of people think there's a big problem with... I'm shifting gears here a little bit... with, you know, dark money in politics. Money comes in through super PACs, and there's lots of powerful organisations in the US who aren't really, you know, they don't disclose where that funding comes from. Do you think that there should be more of a transparency around the sources of funding?

Jo Jorgensen

Oh, yeah, I think all money that goes into politics is a problem. And a lot of people don't realise that many corporations actually write the laws themselves. They'll write a law, hand it to a congressperson, and then the congressperson introduces it as a bill. So, you know, forget the hidden money that's coming in, let's just look at the at the money that's out in the open coming in. And a lot of people are saying the corporations are becoming too strong. Yeah, they are. And they're becoming strong through a, through a Congress who is basically accepting bribes in the in, you know, they call them campaign contributions. But there have been many laws that have been written for just one company.

Joni Hess

Right. Right. Um, well, much of the world you know, they're tuning in to this election is a big deal. How do you think the rest of the world sees this election? And who are they rooting for?

Jo Jorgensen

I'm not sure we'll see. We'll see the reaction.

Joni Hess

And I just have to ask, I know, in politics, language tends to be especially polarising. But I want to ask how do you feel about defunding the police? I mean, should police have access to tanks and military equipment? Like, is that appropriate?

Jo Jorgensen

No. Yeah. And if you don't mind, let me back up to your last question, because I really didn't answer very fully. I have been on a few shows with people around the world. And they keep saying the same thing. You know, from over here from Europe, it looks like there's only two people running for president. How is it that there's a third person who's running for president, and nobody talks about it? And people have been... just... they don't understand it, because there are other countries in Europe and around the world, who do have more than two parties, and they talk about all the parties. And then it's like, 'does not compute', you know, they just don't understand. But regarding defunding the police, crime is a local issue. And it should be up to the local mayor, police department, city council voters taxpayers, I would allow each different jurisdiction to decide how they want to handle their policing. And I would absolutely end giving tanks and tear gas and grenade launchers to the over 8,000 federal state and local police forces because, you know, look at it from the other way. If you're sitting in, you know, Austin, Texas, or you know, Albuquerque, New Mexico or Charleston, West Virginia, you know, just pick a state, and they put referendum on the ballot? Okay. 'Would you like your taxes raised so that our police department can go out and buy a tank?' You know, most people would say, No, I'd rather keep that extra money, maybe walk to a nice dinner or go to a nicer, gone a nicer vacation. But what happens is the federal government takes that money from us, then they buy the tanks and tear gas. And then they dangle it in front of the police department. So that Okay, do you want a free tank? Well, of course police departments aren't going to say no, they're going to say, 'Well, yeah, because that's our taxpayer money'. You know, 'we don't want the people in Alabama to get it'. So yeah, we're going to take that free tank. And so now we've got escalation in the police. So now, so now the police instead of like the friendly, local beat patrol officer, you know, on the cop car was to serve and protect and community and all that. Now they're out there in a soldier, 'us versus them' mentality. And we're getting that because the federal government is getting where into where it shouldn't be. The federal government needs to stay out of policing. And I was really dismayed when I saw Joe Biden in his town hall, talking about oh, we need social workers and psychologists and we're going to have a police training. I thought, 'why is the president getting involved with a local issue like policing?' you know, the needs of rural Appalachian much different than downtown New York City? Why? Why are you even doing this?

Joni Hess

Yes, yeah, I understand what you're saying. And I and I get it. I know how you feel about government. As far as government dimension goes, how do you think the pandemic in particular would have played out if there was no government intervention?

Jo Jorgensen

Oh, well, and that's the biggest mistake that President Trump made, was not getting rid of the FDA obstacles. Because... when people ask me, Why are you running for president, I tell them, it's because government is too big, too bossy, too nosy, too intrusive. But the worst part is, they usually end up hurting the very people they're trying to help. And that's the case with the FDA, the FDA is supposed to be there to protect us to make sure that we get some drugs and so forth. And what they did was they stopped us from getting tested. And if you look, because there were like, 40. There, there were literally dozens of testing kits around the world. And thanks to the FDA and the CDC, we were only allowed to use two of them. Meanwhile, other countries around the world like South Korea, they got ahead in the testing, they were able to get ahead of the curve, without any shutdown at all. Meanwhile, we lose tens of millions of jobs, because we're all under house arrest instead of being out there working at our jobs.

Joni Hess

Right. Right. Okay. Um, all right, we just have a couple more questions for you regarding the election. What's one thing you'd like Americans to be thinking about when they go to the ballots here? We're asking a lot of non politicians the same question. What do you think they should be having? You know, keep it in their head when they go into the ballots?

Jo Jorgensen

Well, I hope what they're thinking about is, I'm an American, and I should be able to make my own choices, and not have a one size fits all from the federal government. And that's what they're getting from the Democrats and Republicans. And I hope that every American realises and values the freedom that we have in this country, that we're slowly just turning over to the people in Washington.

Joni Hess

Okay, and what's one thing you think the media has missed out on in covering this year's election?

Jo Jorgensen

The fact that there's somebody else on the ballot in all 50 states? And let me mention as a libertarian, of course, I don't feel entitled, I'm not saying that they're required to cover me. What I'm suggesting is that having a third person on the ballot in all 50 states, where every single American in this country can vote for and they're not reporting on it, I would say that they're not doing their job very well. And they owe it to their viewers and readers and listeners.

Joni Hess

All right. Well, thank you so much, Jo. Um, that's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoy your rally. Where's your rally today?

Jo Jorgensen

Oh, gosh, it I'm in Minneapolis. Yeah, we just flew in like an hour ago. So I'm not I yeah... Well, I don't know offhand the name of the place. I'm sure it's on my website, which is Jo twenty.com. Which, by the way, slowed to a halt after the first presidential debate...There was so many people after the first day going, Oh my gosh, is there any other choice out there? They can go to my website and see where I'll be tonight and many Minnesota.

Joni Hess

Great. Great. Well, thank you so much for your time. We'll help you have a great rest of your evening. Thanks. You too. Bye bye. Okay, bye

Howie Hawkins, Angela Walker, Joni Hess, full transcript (unedited)

Joni Hess

Hello, Hello.

Hi Howie Hi, Mr. Hawkins. How are you?

Howie Hawkins

I'm good. Call me, Howie.

Joni Hess

Howie?

Yeah. Is will Angela be joining us?

Howie Hawkins

Yes. We're just on another call. So

cool.

Joni Hess

Y'all have planned for today?

Howie Hawkins

A lot of these kind of calls. drafting a statement for election night.

Joni Hess

Okay.

Yes. Where will you be watching the election?

Howie Hawkins

We'll be right in here. We'll be having a live stream, having people speak getting reports from Green races around the country. That won't be reported on the cable news. And commenting on what's going on. Whether it's election protection or results, whether we got enough votes for ballot lines I don't even know if we're gonna know Tuesday night.

Joni Hess

Yeah, it might take some time. You have to do it by hand.

Howie Hawkins

There are a lot of contingencies...

What the reports will be with Florida and North Carolina, they'll report early. A Biden wins those. It's hard to see how Trump did it, you know, he just wouldn't have a path but so we might know, but then again, we might not.

Joni Hess

yet it's gonna be a toss up. We shall see.

Okay.

Here she is.

Hi, Angela.

Angela Walker

How are you today? I am doing I think I had a I had two different links. I think I was sitting on the wrong one.

Joni Hess

Yeah, yeah, we had some issues with the first link. And I'm glad I'm glad both you guys could could join us today. My name is Joni. And I'm over here in Kentucky, covering the elections right now. So yeah, let's just get get let's go ahead and get started. So why do you think in the United States, we have to be defined by a particular party? I mean, we can't even really vote in the primaries if we're a registered independent. So why can't we simply vote for the candidate who we aligned with most do you think?

Howie Hawkins

Ballot access is a huge issue. You know, majority of people or the biggest group of people are not aligned. They're neither Democrat or Republican. We know from public opinion polls, majority of people would like to see another major third party, you know, major party. So the problem for Greens is getting on a ballot. This country's off the charts. You want to run as an independent for Congress. If your party doesn't have a boundary line takes thousands of signatures or tens of thousands of signatures. Actually, I think Kentucky's exceptional. It's easier to get on but you know, in New York, we need 3,500 signatures. We had six weeks to collect them. In Georgia, it's over 15 or over 20,000 signatures, Indiana, over 40,000 signatures. You want to run as an independent For the House of Commons in the UK, it's 10 signatures. You want to run for Congress in India, the world's largest electoral democracy in this country is thousands or tens of thousands. And then when we file our signatures, in our case, the Democrats challeng us, sometimes it's very trivial objections, just to, you know, bog us down documenting our signatures. Like in Pennsylvania, we spent a month and then we proved our signatures are good. And the Democrats dropped that objection. But they got us on a technicality that was irrelevant to what the board of election needed, which was Angela's address. No, it was actually the stand-in that petition was stands before our national convention. And a woman, it was the vice presidential stand-in, sent her withdrawal form, she mailed it in rather than attaching it to the petition. You know, so they, the Board of Election had what they needed, but because it wasn't attached to the petition. Technically, we're in violation. So we're off the ballot.

Angela Walker

I would argue, but also speaking to your question, you know, why do we have to be defined by two parties? We don't have to. But I think we've become so this country, you know, folks in this country have become so used to only thinking in terms of a duopoly that anything else feels radical, you know, and like how Howie, said around the world, this, you know, this parliamentary systems around the world, we don't have to be defined in this way. But fighting that is going to be an uphill battle and changing people's minds.

Joni Hess

Exactly. And to your point, you know, many of my family members were decided on voting for Biden, as soon as he announced his candidacy, I think in his environment in his camp played on this on their confidence and his confidence in Black voter turnout, by consistently aligning himself with Obama, name dropping Obama every chance he could in debates and in interviews and stuff. So why do you think that many, not all, but many Black voters get right behind Biden so quickly?

Angela Walker

I think you just said it, you know, his proximity to former President Barack Obama, you know, a lot of us are conditioned to vote Democrat. We don't think outside of that, you know, the Republicans for whole lot of us are not an option. I think, you know, there's a lot of rumbling around, you know, celebrities and some of the inane things that they're saying, but by and large, you know, Black folks in this country vote Democratic, they know that. And when they chose Biden they understood, you know, the folks that chose Biden understood that people are going to align him with former President Obama, he should be a shoo in. He shouldn't have to earn the vote. Wasn't this Obama's wing man. So um, yeah, I think, you know, any any rumblings coming from Black folks? Because Biden has not made? I would argue he hasn't made any gaffes. He has said exactly what he thinks about Black voters. He's been very clear about that. So I think that's a that's an intra-family discussion that Black folks is having right now.

Joni Hess

Yes, right.

Howie Hawkins

Yeah. Yeah, people are voting so much for Biden as against Trump. And Biden got the nod for a lot of Black folks once he wants South Carolina, and Cliburn endorsed them. And then all the Democratic leadership close ranks behind Biden except for Sanders. And I think the signal to people was this is the guy who could be Trump. So I think it's more, you know, the Republicans, for Black folks is the White man's party's it's like the Klan. And so you may not be enthusiastic about Biden, but you want to get Trump out of there. I think that explains a lot of the, you know, Black vote going to Biden, it's against Trump more than is for Biden.

Joni Hess

Yeah, he's a safe bet. You know, if they're putting their faith in Biden to get Trump out of office, definitely. Angela, you consider yourself a socialist? Correct. All right. I know that conservatives love to play on certain trigger words, you know, to rev up their base. How do you feel about aligning yourself with that term? Are you concerned about it limiting your ability to advance in politics in the future?

Angela Walker

I'm not running for anything else electorally. And I think in a lot of ways, for my feeling about it has always been because I ran as an independent socialist for Milwaukee county sheriff in 2014. Don't... How can I say this? I don't do smoke and mirrors. I am a socialist, I stand on that. That is that is my ideology. That is the way that I think that things need to be handled. Black people in this country have a very proud history of being socialist, which a whole lot of people don't know, because we've been red baited for so long that, you know, it's not something folks really talk about mainstream. But as far as, you know, if I'm going to run for an elected office, you need to know who you're voting for. You need to know exactly where I stand on policies, you need to know where that came from. And, you know, I, I know that they've been using socialist as like a curse word or something to hit each of the two, you know, mainstream candidates hate each other back and forth. And you know, all we do is laugh because we're real socialists, like y'all are nowhere near the mark. I mean, you want to talk to some socialist, we right here. But I'm not concerned with the propaganda around it. Our job in this country is also to educate people about what socialism is, how it improves people's material conditions, and how we can align it with the needs of the planet.

Joni Hess

There you go. There you go. I gotcha. Shifting gears a little bit. A lot of people think that there's a big problem with hidden money in politics. You know, money comes in through certain ways, and lots of powerful organisations don't have to reveal that whether funding comes from so do you think there should be more transparency as far as where their money comes from?

Howie Hawkins

Well absolutely, you're talking about dark money and both Biden and Trump are taking hundreds of millions of it. And we don't know who: could be a foreign country could be organised crime, could be just another billionaire doesn't want you to know, where their money is going to give it to a, what's called a 501c4, social welfare organisation, those organisations don't have to report to donors, those organisations can spend on politics, they can also pass it on to Super PACs, who say they got it from the 501c4. But they don't have to say where the 501c4 got their money. So we got hundreds of millions of dollars being flooding, the campaign's into both parties. And that's wrong, but you could close the loopholes for dark money, and you're still gonna have rich folks buying the politicians. So we call for a public full public campaign finance, on the clean money model. They do this in Arizona and in Maine for state elections. So you opt in every candidate that qualifies you qualify by getting a reasonable number of small $5 donations, then you're qualified, then you run on public money, not private money. And in Arizona, you have to participate in a publicly sponsored debate as well. And that's what we would like to see, you know, get the private money out, have a level playing field, give the candidates equal resources to speak to the voters. And that would level the playing field. And we also are opposed to this matching fund system, which is an HR1, a bill that has a lot of good things in it, but it's a six to one match. So if you're a congressional candidate running with $100,000, that can be matched against the congressional candidate with the million dollars that can be matched, you end up with 700,000, they end up with 7 million. So it actually increases the gap between the lower finance and the higher finance candidates and also allows all the private money to continue to be donated. So when you opt into that system is just putting a little public money on top of all that private money they're already getting. So it's reform that won't really reform but they're calling that public campaign finance. And, you know, one of the things we want is real solutions, not saying we did something that doesn't solve the problem.

Joni Hess

Thank you.

What's, um, yeah, this election is impacting people on a global scale. We touched on it a little bit earlier. You know, everyone's watching. What do you think is the hardest thing for other countries to understand about US politics?

Howie Hawkins

how we ended up with Donald Trump is president, I think that's what most people are wondering, how did this buffoon end up? The leader of the so called leader of the free world, and how could the Democrats put up a guy that really has trouble articulating a positive programme? I mean, all he said is 'I'm not Trump'. When you think of Joe Biden what reform or policy is he the champion of? It's all about Trump. I mean, I think people wonder how we can be so focused on that. And I'll just take one issue. The US has deployed new strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, they call it nuclear modernization. It's destabilise the world. 22 nations agreed to a new treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. Three years ago, they agreed to the test, the 50th country just ratified it this week. So it goes into effect for those 50 countries. International campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, got the Nobel Peace Prize for that achievement three years ago. And this has not been talked about in this whole campaign. It should be a top campaign issue. And people around the world are scared because the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, their doomsday clock, the closest ever been to midnight. And a lot of people around the world are wondering, you know, what is going on in the United States where this issue isn't even mentioned? You know, in the whole coverage by the mainstream media, and in all the presentations from the candidates, because both parties are committed to deploying these new nuclear weapons. It's grossly destabilising, and the rest of the world scared to death. So I think, you know, they're wondering, why doesn't anybody raise that issue? You know, Angela, and I have been trying to, but we've been blanked out in the corporate media

Unknown Speaker

The world is also really concerned about the way that this election is going to be handled. I mean, this is an unprecedented year, in six million different ways. And this election isn't going to be any less unprecedented. And then you've got an individual that is currently occupying the White House, making really questionable statements about whether he's gonna leave or respect the election results if they don't fall his way. So you know, Howie and I both been interviewed by, you know, overseas media, and that's one of the things and we've been asked like, Yo, this cat is talking about, you know, 'if I don't get this, then, you know, I might not leave office'. What are y'all ready to do? So the world is most definitely watching. And I think this is going to be an election that we unlike any we've ever seen before.

Unknown Speaker

I agree.

Unknown Speaker

Okay, I'm just have one more question for you guys. What is the one thing you'd like Americans to be thinking about when they go to the ballots this year?

Unknown Speaker

Well, my message would be to progressives. You know, the campaign that Angela and I are running on, according to public opinion polling is the most popular platform. People want a Green New Deal. They want Medicare for All. They want the cancellation of student debt and free tuition at public colleges and universities. They want to get out of these endless wars. So, if you're for that, you should vote for it. If you don't vote for what you want, you settle for Biden, because you want to get Trump out there, you get lost in the sauce. They don't know you want a Green New Deal and Medicare for All. And Biden will take you for granted. Because, you didn't express your preference in the in the vote. The vote is your voice. It's your power. So I urge people if they like what the Greens are talking about to vote for us. That gives us leverage going forward. The more votes, we get, the more leverage we have in the political process going forward?

Unknown Speaker

Piggybacking on what, Howie just said, on a bigger scale, stop voting from a place of fear, you know, about being afraid of what you stand to lose? How about we look forward to what it is we actually want the kind of country we actually want to live in, you know, which candidates are actually talking about measures that will change the system that enables police to continually murder Black people and other people of colour with impunity. You know, this is not something that is that, you know, the topical reforms offered by the Democrats and no reforms at all offered by the Republicans. Those things aren't going to change the system this system is is inherently flawed. And we are the only party talking about that. So you know, but even bigger than that, third, fourth, fifth parties, you know, parties outside of the duopoly people need to start questioning why there is a duopoly to go back to your initial question. Why do we do this this way? Why do we have to? Why are we allowing them to take our votes for granted? And take our voice for granted? And why are we electing people who we know are not going to do what we need them to do. And then we stand back and throw our hands up and say, 'hey, y'all got it, I gave you my vote'. And we're surprised when we don't get what we need. You know, people also have to understand politics is not a spectator sport, you're gonna have to hold these people accountable. And that is physical work. You know, that's getting in the streets, that's taking over meetings, that's, you know, offering solutions in your own community, when you can't get it from them, and then taking it to their doorstep that we have to do what you're not doing. So, you know, I just want people to think that be be thinking of the fact that if you have not considered before, how much change is needed in the way we do politics in this country? I hope they're thinking about it now.