Rob: We need to wrap up in a couple minutes.
MW: Okay.
Rob: What else do you want to tell us about -- what is happening with you and how...
MW: I am...I committed to the state party and to the marijuana movement in Arizona to be a candidate and a leader in the 2016 cycle so I'm going to be continuing with this for the foreseeable...you know, I want things to change and to have it changed enough. My long run goals in my life are to be remembered as a writer; this activity that I've been doing during this period is an extension of the columns I would write for OpEdNews; it's an extension of when I was 10 years old and my dad said I couldn't have black kids at my birthday party -- so my mom and I threw the birthday party while he was out of town and had black kids there...you know, just like self-continuing with the same direction. So I hope that in the long run people will see Mikel Weisser as a writer. Not this past Saturday, but a week ago I was at the world poetry slam championships; I was asked to give the opening remarks (luckily it was in Arizona) because I have 7 books of poetry and spent 5 years touring the country as a performing poet. So...again, advance myself as a writer in the long run.
If I only have a couple of minutes to wrap up, let me put a couple of ideas in. When it comes to education, right now we're suffering from a mentality that's not designed to educate people, but to enrich consultants and textbook suppliers.
When it comes to immigration, a hundred years ago my grandparents were able to immigrate through Ellis Island to the tune of thousands of people a day...and they were poor, and they were young, and they were uneducated, they didn't speak English, and they didn't have documentation -- so a hundred years later we can't do the same for these Guatemalan immigrants that are trying to emigrate? That's b.s. -- that's people making a system that's designed to not work. So in immigration I propose that we have processes -- like we did a hundred years ago -- that will let immigrants come into the United States and become productive members of society instead of them having to spend $15,000 to get lost in the desert or become slave labor.
And then when it comes to marijuana -- these are my 3 main issues -- medicine is leading the way. Nowadays, all over the country people are recognizing hemp-derived medicine is efficacious, as desirable, as a breakthrough that has hidden from us for seventy years; people are becoming aware of the fact that the illegalization -- first in the 30s and then reinforced by Richard Nixon in the 70s -- was a political maneuver, crony capitalism at its worse, and so the longer we perpetuate that the more we'll have our society built on cruel falsehoods. So we've been working in our state to create something that will offer, not just some equality and justice when it comes to cannabis law, but also the economic boom that is waiting to happen -- in 20 years marijuana is going to be legal all over the US; it's a matter of how we approach it -- do we embrace it or do we run away from it? And the people who embrace it are the ones who will make the positive; and the people who run away from it will be like these 20th century politicians who are still trying to control 21st century America. So those are my 3 big issues. I was able to refer back to that...make sure I got that in the tape.
Other things that I work on extensively are water, rural electrification, minority rights; I had initially hoped to make wall street regulation and the mortgage fraud a bigger issue but I couldn't get traction on that from my district -- people didn't understand the issue enough or didn't care enough so that sort of fell out of my top group but it's still something that I'd like to see.
I am working as well with a couple of different groups on constitutional amendment and corporate personhood, and on financing of federal campaigns in much the same way that Arizona has state financing of our state campaigns -- you know we've got to get the money out of politics; as the guy who is intentionally not making a lot of money in politics, you can see the corrosive effect and so I'm not just, you know, one of those people who's running to change the system and then becoming part of the system, so we've got to change this. So those are some of my additional issues besides the top 3.
Rob: Alright. Well, without being partisan, I wish you success in your endeavors and I'm proud to have a regular contributed to OpEdNews running for congress.
MW: Well let me note that you and your readership are the future of America if not the world. A community of progressive values, of the people who are looking for -- how to make society better -- that's what's always led the way. And your recognizing my intentions as a writer -- it was about 7 years ago that I started writing with you guys -- has been, I feel, validated by the fact that, you know, I won my primary; that I'm now making this congressional effort, homespun as it is. The people that would want to read OpEdNews are the kind of people that will make the next century better. So I'm glad to be part of your crowd.
Rob: Amen.
MW: It's like I get to go to TED Talks or something! You know?
Rob: (Laughs) Thanks so much...
MW: Thank you so much.
Rob: The Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show. Go to opednews.com/podcasts to get this...to get more interviews, and we'll be doing a transcript of this very soon.
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