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Jerry, I didn't intend my post to be facetious. I placed it as a question here as it's the only thread about District 4. I see a lot of the local politics as people promising to bring money from the state or federal .gov, and others asking for the same for their specific project/situation. As I'm new in the community I was curious if that was the extent of local politics.
My personal ideology is a dislike for a centralized .gov (federal and state) and looking more heavily on what we can do in the community (where I think the power of government should be). I realize with the top heavy (most joe-six-pack pay the majority of their taxes to the federal government) tax burden system this may not be realistic in affecting day to day life, but was curious if any District 4 candidates (or even any Puna candidates) where giving any thought to this.
http://www.wedekingphotography.com
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Hawaii is unusually centralized, probably the most centralized state in the Union. We have the only state wide school district in the country, only one incorporated city (Honolulu) in the state, and no elected local government closer to the communities people identify themselves with, than county councilor. All those lower rungs to the political ladder that normally attract regular citizens to entry level offices and civic involvement are completely missing in Hawaii: local water board, small town city councilor or mayor (Fred would make a much better mayor of Pahoa than Hawaii county councilor) school or library board member, etc. just don't exist here. So we get a deeply entrenched networked professional politicians who just get on the Hawaii political assembly line to ever higher office, starting in college as UHH or UH-Manoa student body presidents in some cases, and barring some major scandal, they just stay on the ride until they end up running for Congress or Governor.
It took me awhile to figure out how Hawaii's history has shaped local politics, I didn't really comprehend the historic legacy until I started teaching History of the Hawaiian Kingdom and learned in detail how Hawaii went from being a feudal society, to an absolute monarchy, to elected monarch mixed with a plantation system of large land holders who get to vote and workers who don't, and then to a period of fluidity and change that had only one central theme: centralized control that eventually turned into statehood. Those stages of political development here all have left their imprint, and there are two sides to the coin of highly centralized government: one is that it is very hard to make changes at a local level, the other side is that if you just want to hunker down and try to ignore the government there are a lot of ways and places in Hawaii to do that. Those of us who are in the middle of that coin, we want to serve our communities and have our government serve the people, are left out of this dynamic.
Greggor (see I am bringing this back to this thread) doesn't seem to be part of that groomed from college days Big Island elite, and James Weatherford certainly isn't. Fred Blas hasn't shown much desire to listen to the concerns of citizens, and seems to only want to communicate with a narrow band of his constituents, but he sure looked pretty comfortable rubbing shoulders with Hanohano and the other movers and shakers of Hawaii politics at Luquins, instead of voting on a bill that directly impacted Pahoa downtown at the council meeting a few weeks ago.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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This article showed up in West Hawaiii Today.
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/sections/...-puna.html
Like most young people he does not have a long list of "that's how we always do it" experience to limit him.
How refreshing!
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Having spoken to Greggor on three separate occasions, I have been very impressed on several accounts. First, he has shown a remarkable learning curve since beginning his candidacy. His policy positions have become well thought out and in tune with the district needs. Second, if you ask him a straightforward question, you get a straightforward answer. No long polemics or carefully parsed political speeches, just straight answers. And finally, he doesn't have the baggage of the two other candidates. Some people see his lack of poltical experience and thinking as a negative. I see it as a positive. He has won my vote.
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Compliments to Carol on her nice, though too brief, summary of how Hawaiian politics has evolved from the interaction of cultures. Undoubtedly worth its own thread to expand the topic!
