The Hawaii governor’s race is beginning to take shape, with several notable personalities either expressing interest or positioning themselves to run in 2022.
But voters should approach this developing race with a discerning attitude of “observe everything, admire nothing,” because there are still many important questions we need to consider for Hawaii’s future.
Those of you who have spent a lot of time working in local government are probably familiar with the term “key stakeholders.” We use it to describe community leaders, business people, nonprofit organizations, experts and other types generally considered vital for buy-in to the policymaking process. These are the go-to types anytime politicians want anything done in Hawaii.
It is important to note that the opinions of key stakeholders are given greater weight than those of the general public, or, as insiders call it, “the population.” In Hawaii, local government and key stakeholders come up with a plan, and, when they are ready, tell the public, “This is the way it’s going to be!” One can either accept it, or spend the rest of one’s days protesting it in vain, as is so common these days.
If you feel insulted by this peek into politics, then good for you. Because voters need to understand that elected officials and the governments they form only respect those who are actively engaged in either bringing something productive to the table or holding them accountable for mistakes in office, not those who give them a free pass to a rise to power.
In recent years, we’ve done a terrible job when it comes to electing people to office. Instead of making ourselves familiar with the candidates and the issues, we’ve reduced ourselves to what I call the “AB” method of voting. “AB” or “anyone but …” basically is a style of voting where we go to the polls based on eliminating people we don’t like, rather than electing quality candidates.
Think about it for a moment. Poor Gov. David Ige. The last time Morning Consult conducted a poll, they ranked him most unpopular governor in the United States. To listen to locals talk about Ige, one wonders how he even got elected in the first place. Except we do know how he got elected, and it was because he was recruited out of the state senate by people who wanted anyone but Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
And how did Abercrombie get into office? He was elected because people wanted anyone but Mufi Hannemann, prior to that. How many times are we going to go through this gubernatorial circus before we realize our method of supporting candidates like they were football teams going to the Super Bowl isn’t working?
If we approach the 2022 election with an attitude of, “I don’t want Kirk Caldwell to win, so I’m going to back so-and-so” or “I don’t want Josh Green to win, so I’m going to back this person,” we have already reduced an important executive leadership decision to being about personality rather than issues.
Elections need to be about picking the vision of the future we want, not opposing the candidate we don’t like. When you knee-jerk vote, you disempower yourself by electing officials whose only real qualification is that they aren’t someone else.
We need to think and vote like key stakeholders. “Anyone but …” may eliminate the candidates you don’t like in the election, but in the end, it is a fatal conceit because the people you do elect will represent anyone but you once in office.
My advice to local voters is not to commit to any one candidate or party in this developing race just yet. Resist the fever of picking horses in a race and actually think about the issues, qualifications, and even the moment in time we are living in. Think about how much we have gone through and how much worse we could possibly endure if our next governor is simply some person chosen by knee-jerk, rather than by careful discernment.
It’s early yet for the 2022 election season, and we need to use this time wisely. Hawaii needs a paradigm shift, not just a personality shift. To do this, we need to get informed, get involved, and be relentlessly thorough in the way we sift through the candidates who want to occupy the most powerful office in our state. We need to talk less about political ambitions and more about practical applications of how we can fix Hawaii, because this state is getting worse with every new election.
Our political class has come to believe that Hawaii voters are a bunch of pushovers who can be easily jerked around and enticed with new shiny things while old failures persist. My advice to you is no matter who announces they’re running for office, focus on issues, not personalities, and let’s identify who will actually fix Hawaii, not just talk about it. Let’s get it right this time.
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Danny De Gracia: This Time, Don't Throw Away Your Vote For Governor - Honolulu Civil Beat
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