Jesse Ventura and the Green Party...

The candidate the Green Party needed, but perhaps did not deserve.

UPDATE: I am no longer personally advocating for engaging with the Green Party. Upon intense scrutiny I have determined they have all of the same issues with corruption that the Democratic party does, coupled with the same self destructive behaviors that frequently plague 3rd parties. As such I have walked away. There is still an effort to write in Jesse Ventura in their primary, and he has stated he will re-consider running for President if they nominate him. I encourage you to do so if you feel compelled as it is really the only hope that party has of being relevant this year. what follows is the article I wrote while actively working for the exploratory committee for Jess Ventura. I felt the need to leave it here as it will help the people still working towards getting a viable candidate nominated, and to stand as a counter testament to the absurd lies that were told about Jesse Ventura. 

I had Howie Hawkins on my show some time ago and he seemed like a decent guy. But I couldn't shake the feeling that supporting him was just going to be little more than a protest vote to the DNC. 

Shortly after I joined the party I was approached by the exploratory committee that was working for Jesse to help him "test the waters" as he put in a tweet some time ago. Given that I had considerable past experience in campaigns and political analysis as it was the job I did for Senator Mike Gravel in 2008 I was hoping I could bring my skills and talents to bear to help a candidate I had been following Jesse Ventura on and off since 2008 when he spoke at a Ron Paul rally. 

It was rough going and there was certainly a lot of pushback on the idea from the Hawkins wing of the party. But outside of the Green circles when I asked about this in Bernie groups, Tulsi Groups and Yang groups it was near unanimous support for the idea. The Facebook group I started for that purpose shot up to almost 1000 people in under 24 hours. Eventually however it was revealed that Jesse has a health concern, and he will not know the results of the tests that are being performed until sometime in June. 

You can join the Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Jesse2020/

In light of this, Jesse decided to say that he cannot actively seek the nomination at this time. HOWEVER he also said that he would be open to re-evaulate the situation and decide if he can accept the nomination of the Green Party. It is somewhat of a longshot but there is a possibility that enough Greens "write in" his name on their primary ballots, and/or contact the national and state parties that during a brokered convention he could be the nominee. He stated this at the press conference hosted by the Minnesota Green party which he joined recently. Video below. 

But is Jesse Ventura a good fit for the Green party? 

This is a fair question. I wish however it was getting fair answers. I have been involved in Facebook and Twitter conversations all over the place and even the possibility of Jesse running has supporters of Howie Hawkins and Dario Hunter scrambling to find a way to discredit Jesse or suggest that he is not. It is only natural to expect that people should advocate for their candidate. What bothers me is that people are often outright lying about him. Let me start out first by pointing out that Jesse Ventura like most Independents does not fit his ideology into a little box. I understand this mentality as it is the reason why I for most of my life have never joined a political party aside from a brief time period with Senator Mike Gravel (a progressive) when he sought the Libertarian nomination. People who oppose Jesse Ventura for the nomination of the Green Party have frequently pointed to videos or actions he took many years ago as Governor. But there is plenty of evidence that Jesse Ventura has become a progressive on what I would say are the critical issues that are important to people in the Green Party, and supporters of Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, and Andrew Yang. 

Wait...isn't he a Libertarian?

Some politicians have an issue that is at the core of their beliefs. For Jesse Ventura, it is breaking the 2 party duopoly system. For that reason alone he will support any 3rd party candidate. And yes it is true that he at one time supported Gary Johnson. But to be somewhat fair to him, Gary Johnson was not your run of the mill ruthless minded Libertarian Capitalist. I don't agree with him on many things and I would not expect many members of the Green Party would either. But it is critical to point out that Jesse Ventura also has even more history supporting candidates of the Green Party. 

Jesse Ventura is a good friend and supporter of Ralph Nader. He voted for him in 2008. And helped him with his campaign when he was a Green Party candidate. Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96501&page=1

He also hosted Jill Stein on his "Off the Grid" show and showed support for her, and the views of the Green Party. The video is still hosted on her campaign website from 2016. 

https://www.jill2016.com/jill_with_jesse_v

Having gone from the Ron Paul revolution and having been a Libertarian party member I can say that while Libertarians would admire Jesse's point of view on many issues, they would also be diametrically opposed to him on many more that are critical to Progressive thinking voters. Over the course of the time I have debated this issue on Facebook it seemed to me that for one, people don't even understand what a Libertarian is in the Green Party, and for two even when they are presented with the evidence they simply ignore it. But here goes: 

1. Medicare for all. 

2. No PAC money. Jesse is not for sale. 

3. Workers rights, economics: 

4. Gay Rights: 

5. Racism: 

6. The Environment:

7. Get out of war to pay for free college:

8. Anti-war.

9. Israel/Palestine:

10. War on Drugs:

11. Criminal Justice Reform:

12. Immigration/Deportation

I could literally go on for hours posting these videos. Jesse's "Off the Grid" show is still on Youtube and OraTV. Here is his episode on Socialism. He advocates a hybrid socialist/capitalist economy that basically amounts to the Democratic Socialism proposed by Bernie Sanders: 

Socialism:

http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/2015/11/4/would-socialism-be-bad-for-america-jesse-ventura-on-the-dirtiest-word-in-us-politics

Fighting for workers:

http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/2015/10/30/how-do-we-save-the-worker-jesse-ventura-takes-on-americas-wage-crisis

NOTE: NO RIGHT WING LIBERTARIAN WOULD EVER APPROVE OF ANY OF THE ECONOMIC AND WELFARE POLICIES I LINKED ABOVE. WHICH IS WHY THE SUGGESTION THAT JESSE VENTURA IS A RIGHT WING LIBERTARIAN IS SIMPLY ASININE. 

Wait, wasn't he buddies with Trump?

It's true that they were friends, but he still wanted to run against him. And he supported impeachment. 

Conclusion:

People talk about how only people who "put in the work" deserve the nomination of the Green Party. I value the work that all of the activists did for ballot access. 

How much value does the 5% of the vote that Jesse Ventura could bring us have towards the issue of ballot access? It would end all of our issues with that. 

If he got us into the debates, which he is also FAR more likely to do then any of our current candidates it would be huge for our party.

People are fighting for the right of candidates to run for President who have no executive experience. Who have no electability. And the Green Party if they miss this chance will be irrelevant in another election. 

What is the point of all that work if it literally accomplishes nothing? This is a blunt honest truth but it is still absolutely the truth. If we can get our 5% for matching funds, ballot access, etc you can run all the Howie Hawkins and Dario Hunters you want. 

Some of you accuse Jesse Ventura of trying to "use" the Green Party. If that is how you see it, you should look at it like this. Fine. Why don't you use him? He won't be President forever and he will lay the groundwork to crush the two party duopoly. And he will do a hell of a lot more for that then any of our current candidates ever could. It's just that simple. 

DO YOU WANT JESSE?

Many of the remaining primaries for the green party have write ins. Write in Jesse Ventura. He IS a member of the Green Party of Minnesota. 

If your state has already held their primary, write an email to the national party and let them know you would support Jesse Ventura for President, and would prefer the vote you cast before we knew he was an option be cast for him. I don't expect them to change the votes. But if we get to a brokered convention the possibility exists. There has been a precedent set where the Green Party has nominated a candidate who was not actively seeking the nomination of our party.