http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPtFotCHHhc Transcript of speech:
"Thanks for sticking around, I am the closing act...tonight. Thanks everyone for being here.
I'm David Curtis and I’m a dad, primarily, to three children...and a Green Party candidate for Sec. of State in California.
I've been gearing up for this about a year now, we've done advance work for a year, with about 75 people for the initial team, California is a big state, you've probably noticed...40 million of us, 39 million plus.
(So) I have a msg for you tonight, the Green Party is (basically) an act of defiance, at this point.
Defiance of a government that isn't doing what we want. Big money stole our government. Big money runs the elections. Big money selects candidates who serve big money agenda-- not the will of Californians.
Big money prevents democracy. We don't have democracy. Californians are shut out of the decision making process. Our representatives don’t represent us.
The results are: a corporate takeover of California, an endless drug war, fracking, nuclear power accidents, GMO frankenfood and fake democracy.
Corporations that break the law and endanger human life will not see their business licenses renewed by my office.
We can end the drug war. Police are arresting non-violent drug users who then face mandatory sentences and our tax dollars get burned on more prison planet. Meanwhile tv shows you ads for the latest anti-depression drugs, and that is ok, somehow. It’s time to end the classist, racist, and FAILING drug war and focus on the real criminals, the corporate criminals!
...and how about our water supply? I keep hearing about Washington's "all of the above" energy plans, well...fracking poisons our drinking water. The companies doing fracking won't even tell us all the ingredients they are injecting into our ground water. Perhaps you have seen video of folks holding a match to their kitchen faucet and the water catching flame. (and we're supposed to be drinking that stuff) that is why I will revoke the licenses of businesses that engage in fracking.
Thanks to multiple radioactive leaks at Fukushima (that we've seen on internet leaks, you know,nowhere else, fortunately we have whistleblowers around) and the recent closure of san onofre after spending 400 million dollars on faulty replacement designs, nuclear power is done. As Secretary of State, I will suspend the state licenses of companies that engage in any aspect of nuclear power generation and transmission.
And what about GMOs? We tried to label them recently and somehow as voters in a free society we aren't even able to label our products anymore. Labeling GMOs is not enough. Let’s suspend the state licenses of Monsanto and other GMO hucksters. (people are kind of asleep about the Sec. of State's role, but the Sec. of State issues all the state licenses and decides who gets to renew those licenses. So it's a powerful point position for that. Let's just suspend their licenses) GMOs are not safe, Don’t let Monsanto shovel their frankenfoods down our children’s throats.
California needs the precautionary principle-- businesses must prove their services and products are SAFE! I will not let Monsanto, PG&E, the fossil fuel industries and other corporate crooks use our kids as science experiments.
I will do more than just crack down on how many business licenses are issued to corporate crooks. I will reboot California’s democracy by reducing the influence of those same corporate crooks in our government.
Who here has $1.5 million to run for State Assembly? Anybody? (I don't want to point anybody out but, most of us don't) Californians LITERALLY cannot afford to have our government run this way. (We can't afford it)
Candidates funded by the corporate elite gives us a government that serves-- (only) the corporate elite.
I’m going to end the era of Big Money’s control over California’s elections. The pay to play system must go. I will enact a Public Campaign Financing System like the states of Maine and Arizona have already done.
If we want a government that serves the public, we need candidates who are publicly funded. It’s as simple as that.
California has the biggest legislative districts in the United States. Our State Senators represent more people than our US Congressional reps. There are only 80 State Reps, and only 40 State Senators for nearly 40 million of us. We need smaller districts for more accountable representation, (for functional representation. That is what government is supposed to be)
We're kept out at every point. We are kept out of the private debates. The debates have been made into private events.
If we send our candidates to debates they get arrested & chained to chairs for hours, we're excluded from TV, we're cut off.
Debates must include all candidates on the ballot. Candidates deserve equal airtime, and it’s not just in the debates that the diversity of viewpoints are absent. The legislature must be a truly representative body. If a party can get 3% of the vote, they deserve 3% of the seats!
Our top two primary needlessly reduces voter choice. They are trying to predict the outcome of our democracy for us.
I would not only advocate for the repeal of the top-two primary, I would use special elections as a proving ground to move forward on ALL these much-needed election reforms: Instant Runoff Voting, Public Financing, Proportional Representation and abandoning the top two primary.
We can do all of this and more, but I need your help. You can sign up to join the campaign on these signup sheets, and please give generously- we don’t have any PACs or corporations funding this campaign!
I have to reach 1.5 million of you and it's really hard to do that when I'm not sponsored by Monsanto or GE or something...it's hard to do that, but I'm going to do it regardless, because I don't care, it is an act of defiance.
Again, please give generously, we don’t have any PACs or corporations funding this campaign
That's what distinguishes the Green Party, and what validates what we are doing, we don't take that corporate money.
That is (a) core difference, we don't take that money. We're all grown ups here, with money comes strings, they are told what to do with that money. We don't take it.
I hope you will engage with this campaign and help me reach the 1.5 million voters I will need to make it through the primary.
You deserve a government that represents you
Please take a look at what I'm going to be doing over the next coming months. I'm going to be running for a year. I'm not going to be on television, they don't even put our governor candidates on television. I'll be lucky to get some radio spots.
And I'll just be earning as much media as I can. I'll be doing whatever it takes to earn some media. I'm not afraid of getting arrested. (Some of my) family (members were in) law enforcement, I'm really comfortable dealing with police officers, I can bring some of that to the game with me,
They are excluding us from the debates, they are hiring rent-a-cops, private security, well I can rent some cops too.
So thanks for coming, thanks for sticking it out and let's go get 'em."
-David Curtis
