There’s lots of ways to serve, and lots of ways to help make the world a better place – but you gotta show up, you gotta “do politics” and you gotta take ownership of your own government.
Only 269,912 people in Hawai’i showed up to vote in the 2024 primary election (32% of registered voters).
Those choosing not to show up, clearly think it doesn’t matter, their vote doesn’t make a difference, and “doing politics” is ugly, dirty, complicated, and contentious.
I’m here today to say, “Yes, perhaps, maybe…but…”.
Avoiding the political conversation, staying home, hanging out with similarly disengaged friends at the beach, bar, or coffee shop – is not going to change the world and in fact contributes to its demise.
Eldridge Cleaver said “You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem.”
You don’t have to give up family, hobby’s, or health. But you do have to show up – at least virtually “online”, and sometimes in person at a community meeting or public hearing.
If you’re serious about making our world a better place, learning more, doing more, and increasing your effectiveness in the political process – here are some key steps to getting there.
Step #1 – Identify a nonprofit organization involved in issues relating to your “subject matter interest” (economic, environment, cultural, education, etc). Get on their email list and receive “action alerts”. Subscribe also please to my “info/action email” https://policy-and-politics.mailchimpsites.com/
Step #2 – Know who represents you at the Federal, State, and County levels. Know their names. Have their contact information in your phone and on your refrigerator.
It’s critically important that you communicate directly with the elected official that represents you, in your home district.
When the elected policy-maker knows the person behind the email or phone call to their office actually lives in the district they represent, they pay attention.
As a constituent living in the district, you must share your concerns and hopes regularly with your elected representatives via email and occasionally by telephone. Short and on-point messages are best. Always request “the courtesy of response”, and always let them know you’re a constituent who lives in their district.
A primary (pun intended) goal of every elected official is to be re-elected. Consequently they’ll normally seek to please constituents who live and vote in their district.
At the State Legislative and County Council level, the districts are small enough to actually meet your elected officials in person.
Do it. Meet with them. Call and request a meeting to share your thoughts and concerns, and to hear theirs.
Constituents living and voting in the district control the political future of every elected official in that district, and they’re keenly aware of this fact.
Step #3 – Support others who’re doing the heavy lifting.
Even if you don’t testify at the microphone, it’s important to be “in the room” and at the public meeting in person. The number of people in the room, by itself, sends a message.
“Like and share” social media posts and “action alerts” that reflect your values. This will impact algorithms helping those posts to show up more frequently.
Show up at protest gatherings happening regularly and everywhere – march, hold signs, speak out.
Other key elements of effective advocacy:
* Think globally; act locally. Focus first on local issues and actions where your voice and participation will have the most impact.
* Help and support elected officials who do the right thing.
* Oppose elected officials who act contrary to your values.
Show up. Speak out. Send that email. Make those calls. Attend the public hearing and write that letter to the editor.
Change happens when regular people pay attention, get involved, and take ownership of their own government.
If you want to learn more about how to get more involved, and how to be more effective, please join Co-host Aria Juliet Castillo and I tomorrow, Monday June 2 at 5pm on YouTube and streaming live on FaceBook our new Policy + Politics “video podcast” https://m.youtube.com/@PolicyandPoliticsHI – talking story and sharing ideas – on how the average person can influence the political process.
Gary Hooser
garyhooser.com
GaryHooser's Blog 
Politicians focus their attentions on their donors/owners and the 1/3 of voters who show up.
To affect real change, we need to focus our attention on the 2/3 who don’t. We need to understand why and then provide them with candidates and solutions that inspire a pathway to participation.
The Democratic Part is a corrupt party of control and oppression. The Republican Party is a party corrupted by its desire to control and oppress. The Sovereignty movement, Aloha Aina, Greens, et al. have no momentum.
Where is the leader to focus our attentions on the real needs of the aina and its people?
Where is the party to lead us out of the stranglehold of the wealthy?
It is not enough to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
A new approach is required.
Thanks for the note Richard. I agree we need to focus on the 2/3…understand why they don’t vote/participate…and then work to inspire them to do so. I disagree somewhat but am open to the discussion…as to the “power of the party” as you describe it. In my experience the Democratic Party has excellent “foundational principles”…Platform etc…But is managed by centrists, establishment, corporatists…because that is who “shows up”. It is not just the 2/3 not showing up to vote but they are also not showing up to participate in the Party…any Party…Dem Repub Green or whatever. It’s the 80/20 rule all over again. I agree 100% that the Dem Party is “not what it could/should be” but am thinking at this moment in time that the best path forward is to “rebuild the Party” and revitalize participation in the Party…and thus change the Party from within…rather than create a entire new Party with a new statewide infrastructure and all that comes with that. Perhaps there could be a “wing” of the Party (as in socialist democrats or workers party democrats…or whatever… that grows in influence within the Party…This “movement” from within the Party could perhaps start with a single “district” and grow to represent multiple districts and islands etc…But to make this or any Party work and grow…requires people showing up and participating and actually joining the Party. I’ve found many/most critics of the Party are not themselves members and nor do they participate in the Party. Apologies for my ramble…lots to think about…Ah…one more thing. In my experience…in Hawaii…the Dem Party is not in control of our government or the politicians. People that run for office and get elected may carry the D as a “brand” but the Party does not tell them what to do or say. The Party has a good “platform” of values and goals…but does not force, require, or demand that anyone follow or support that platform. My hope is the Party would be more assertive in holding those candidates who want to utilize the Party Brand and use the D…accountable for supporting the values and principles of the Party. I can’t speak for the national level or other State Party’s…but here in Hawaii…I am certain the Party does not “call the shots” and does not direct from behind the scenes or otherwise…what’s going on. Different “power factions” (labor groups, contractor/development interests, big landowners, banks, corporate) definitely “back candidates” and “push legislation”…etc…but there is no central power structure under Party control…nothing like that at all. In my experience.
The Party Is the Problem: Values Matter
It’s time to stop pretending the Democratic Party is something it’s not—or ever was. The idea that we can somehow “rebuild the party from within” in Hawaiʻi, or anywhere else, is a well-worn fantasy that obscures a harsher truth: the Democratic Party, like the Republican Party, is a product of empire. It exists to manage empire—not to dismantle it. And in Hawaiʻi, an illegally occupied nation, that matters.
Let’s start with the foundation. The values embedded in the Democratic Party platform—“equality,” “opportunity,” “security,” “growth”—are not Hawaiian values. They are the values of a settler state. They are rooted in Christian moralism, capitalist assumptions, and a colonial understanding of “progress.” They speak the language of rights, not relationships. Of policy, not kuleana. Of control, not aloha ʻāina.
The Party may not be a monolith, but its function is clear: to absorb dissent, pacify movements, and keep the machine running. Yes, there are well-meaning individuals. Yes, the platform reads beautifully. But platforms don’t matter if the structure itself is designed to serve capital.
Hawaiian values—true kānaka values—do not fit neatly into platforms written in Washington, D.C. They are rooted in genealogy, land, ancestry, and the sacred. In pono over policy. In resistance to privatization, not just regulation of it. The Democratic Party will never prioritize those values because it is structurally incapable of doing so. It serves the United States of America. Not Hawaiʻi.
Even in Hawaiʻi, where the Party is dominant, it acts more like a shell company for the construction lobby, tourism industry, agribusiness, and military expansion than any force for justice. The fact that “the Party doesn’t call the shots” isn’t a defense—it’s an indictment. It means the Party has become little more than a branding tool, a pipeline for candidates backed by capital and consultants. If it can’t enforce its own platform, what good is it?
Reforming it from within? That’s a strategy built on inertia and nostalgia. It assumes the Party is neutral ground when it is anything but. It was never ours. It was never built to uplift Indigenous sovereignty, to challenge corporate power, or to end settler colonialism. Its very structure—committees, endorsements, hierarchies, access games—is alien to kanaka governance and communal decision-making.
To truly restore justice in Hawaiʻi, we need something entirely different. Something grounded in ea, in land, in truth. That won’t come from a wing of the party. It will come from outside it—from the grassroots, from the land back movements, from those who refuse to assimilate their values to a broken system.
We don’t need to reclaim the Party. We need to leave it behind. Because Hawaiian values don’t fit inside American boxes.
I admire the thought and commitment you’ve put into this and encourage you to go for it Richard. I’d love to see a strong, vibrant Party based on the values you describe, with the support and participation ultimately of residents across the archipelago. There’s no question our community would be better off with such a Party competing with and or replacing some of the others. Forming such a Party of course requires a huge sustained effort by a dedicated core group of community leaders and grass-roots advocates, with the time, values, and commitment to see this through. I wish you all the best as you move forward with this and happy to continue our conversation down the road also. gh