Maverick Candidate Mike Gravel (a Truthdig interview)

[marmar]

Maverick Candidate Mike Gravel


Posted on May 4, 2007


Elder Statesman and presidential candidate Mike Gravel’s performance in the first Democratic debate took him from off the radar to Truthdigger of the week. Naturally we just had to pick his brain. The former senator from Alaska who helped end the draft tells Truthdig why he’s running, why there are so few mavericks in politics these days and why war makes him angry.


Transcript:

James Harris: This is Truthdig. James Harris, Josh Scheer. On the phone: special guest, presidential candidate for 2008, Mike Gravel. Let me start by saying a few things about this. In doing the research after that very spicy debate you were engaged in last Thursday, I found out that you published one of the exclusive issues of the Pentagon Papers. You also helped end the draft following the Vietnam War. Mr. Gravel, I want to ask you—the way you were treated by the media after that Democratic presidential debate seemed to me—they seemed to vilify you, they seemed to paint you as a lunatic, though you stand on the side of issues that a lot of Americans believed in. How do you feel about the way you were treated after that debate?

Mike Gravel: First off, having been in politics for a number of years, and being what I would call an elder statesman of some maturity, I understand some of these pundits. You can say they’ve got their own shtick. Some are pretty dumb, some lack good perception, and some are carried away with their own celebrity-ness and they don’t really understand the issues, so I accept it in that vein. Some are very good, some are really good, and so I accept it in that vein. I realize that when somebody comes out of the box that they did not anticipate, and you put out some ideas that are outside of the box, they can’t comprehend it; it’s beyond their experience to comprehend it. What happens, though, is you get the alternative, like you two fellas, that are fascinated by “Hey! We’ve never heard of this guy. What’s he about? What’s his background?” We’re in a culture that just reveres youth, and I’m coming in as an elder statesman to be president. I’ll be the oldest one ever sworn into office. But what I bring to the table is what some pundits have a tough time understanding, and that is, I bring judgment to the table based upon a varied background of experience and accomplishment. My legislative accomplishments, what I did in four years is more than all the other candidates put together in all their career. That’s tough to understand and to piece together.

Harris: How will you win this election? What will distinguish you in the eyes of the American people?

Gravel: Telling the truth.

Harris: What’s truth right now? What’s true for America right now?

Gravel: Truth for America is that we think that we’re so much better than anyone else in the world, and we’re not. We’re no better than anybody else in the world. The truth is, we squander our wealth on the military-industrial complex for a defense that is totally inadequate. The truth is that 30 percent of our children do not graduate from high school. The truth is that one-fifth of the nation is functionally illiterate and in Washington, D.C., it’s 36 percent. I could go on. The truth is, there’s only two industrialized nations in the world that do not have healthcare for all their people. One is the United States, and the other is South Africa. These are the things that have to be told. And so we have to tell Americans, “Look-it. Our nation is in trouble. We’re spending more than we earn. You can’t do that individually, and you can’t do that with a nation, and that means we are headed towards an economic catastrophe.” And people are whistling in the cemetery. ... All the Wall Street guys are just making pigs of themselves with the amount of money they are able to rip out of the system at the expense of the average American. Average Americans know intuitively that something is very wrong, that the parties won’t solve the problem, that politicians the way they presently exist won’t solve the problem, and so with somebody coming out and saying that to the leaders who live off of their leadership position, they look at this guy and say, “My God, this guy is crazy!”

I had the same problem in the Senate. I was a maverick. And other colleagues—some loved me. Most of them didn’t understand me and were resentful of me. Why? Because you get to the U.S. Senate and you’re in the cathedral of power. And some young guy comes in and he doesn’t care about the power; he cares about trying to make a change. You don’t think that doesn’t disturb the other guys? That’s what I lived through, and that’s what I’m living through right now, and you’re a witness to it.

...(snip)...

Scheer: When the debate happened, everyone else was sitting there, and I was with three friends. We were all kind of going, “Oh, it’s the same old thing,” and then you came on and woke ’em up, and two people who weren’t even going to vote now have decided to vote for you. And the minute I saw you I said we have to get this guy on Truthdig, so I’m glad you came here today.

Gravel: Thank you for having me, very, very much. We’re all pulling on the same thing. We want a better life for everybody and we have the capacity to do that. Putting the tool in the hands of the people to make laws will bring about explosive creativity and advancement. Here. It’s not trite. The people can make better decisions than leaders because they don’t have the same barriers. The people, the constituency. Now, you’ve got to understand this. A person could say, “Yes, empower the people. ... I know that guy down the street and he’s a jerk. I wouldn’t want to see him make laws.” But that’s not the way it works. It’s the constituency of the whole. Right now our national constituency is around 130 million Americans registered to vote, and so decisions will be made by the majority of that. You won’t have a turnout of that all the time, but just stop and think. If you had 50 million people voting on issues, on policy issues—they’re not going to get involved with the day-to-day operation; it’s the policy issues. And so what happens. ... Where are you going to get the best decision? The majority of 50 million people or the majority of 535 people and nine people in black robes? You’re going to get the best decisions from the people every time. If the people had the law, the national initiative, the federal ballot initiative that I’m putting forth, which goes around the Congress, the people have to vote for this directly. If the people had that, we’d get out of Iraq in the next 60 days. Because the people—you can tell by the polls—they want out. What’s wrong with the leadership that can’t comply with the will of the majority? ......(more)

The complete piece, in transcript and audio forms, is at: http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/20070504_maverick_candidate_mike_gravel/

[Sentath]

1. Nice .. This should be read.

I personally (as a glbtqq) have my doubts about direct democracy at the federal level, but with proper protections for the minority I'd like to see him get to try it.