Right: Butch Ware, his mother Christine, and Travis Smiley. Christine is a friend of mine and fellow consociate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet – St. Paul.
During their conversation Butch discusses the record low approval for Democrats and Republicans, and makes the case for an independent, non-corporate politics as the way forward in the Golden State and ultimately the nation.
Following is an 8-minute clip from Travis Smiley’s conversation with Butch Ware.
Says Butch Ware about the “real crisis in the political status quo” . . .
Both [major corporate-backed] parties are at record low approval rates right now. And it just shows that there’s a real crisis in the political status quo. So there's definitely an opportunity for somebody that’s coming from outside the system to make a difference and an impact in this moment.
Forty percent of American voters identify themselves as independents. Only 30% identify as Democrat; 25% identify as Republican. And when you poll registered Democrats, 53% of them say both parties do such a “poor job” that we need an independent third party. Forty-eight percent of Republicans say the same thing, and 70% of independents say this as well.
So the reality is that the talking points in the corporate-controlled media are going to be about blue various red. But on the ground, people are fed-up with Team Blue Genocide and Team Red Fascism because they both work for the same corporations, and people really want new options in politics.
[Independents parties have a hard time getting established] because we’re competing uphill against people that are swimming in blood money. Kamala Harris was able to spend $1.5 billion whereas we [the Jill Stein / Butch Ware Green Party presidential ticket] were being outspent a thousand to one. So they control most of the media outlets and are able to shape the conversation in significant ways.
But I will say this: a Green Party candidate almost ended Gavin Newsome’s political career before it started. Matt Gonzalez got 47% of the vote for mayor in San Francisco despite the fact that he was outspent 30 to 1. And right now, we just had polling come out that shows that I’m running even with a bunch of establishment Democratic candidates and ahead of some of the other Democrat candidates despite the fact that we’re being massively outspent. [And that’s] because we’re doing the work on the ground and we’re responding to this moment by not doing a fake culture war between, you know, so-called left and so-called right, and instead focusing on universal single-payer healthcare, affordable housing, taxing the billionaires, and taking the pressure off of working class families in the state of California. And everywhere I go, up and doen this state, people are responding to that message. And now we’re starting to see it reflected in the polls as well.
Butch is opposed to Prop 50 (a Democratic measure to counter Republican gerrymandering in California), saying . . .
[Activist and revolutionary socialist] Fred Hampton said it best. He said we don’t believe you fight fire with fire best, we believe you fight fire with water best. You do not fight disenfranchisement with disenfranchisement. You fight it with ranked choice voting, multi-member districts, and proportional representation. And the Democrats have fought those things tooth and nail, the same way that the Republicans have because their goal is not actually to restore democracy to the people. Their goal is to consolidate their own power. And they don’t want things that make the political process more open because as soon as you [embrace] proportional representation then winner-takes-all is out of the equation and they can no longer do the “lesser of two evils” argument; thety can no longer be a corporate party that is just a little to the left of the Republicans and then say, “Well, you can’t vote for those [third party] guys” because [with proportional representation] you can actually vote your conscience and make sound choices.
Related Off-site Link:
Butch Ware for Governor: Strengthening California Together – Official Campaign Website.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
BUTCH WARE
• Butch Ware on “Red & Blue vs Green Politics”
• Butch Ware: “We Have the Power to Stop the Flow of Money and the False Legitimacy Upon Which Empire Depends”
• Meet Some of the “People-Powered” Green Party Candidates for 2026
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – November 26, 2025
• Butch Ware: Quote of the Day – October 6, 2025
• Butch Ware on His Run for California Governor and the Wider Goal of Disrupting the Duopoly
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Quote of the Day – September 12, 2024
• Butch Ware in Minneapolis – September 2024
• “I’m Not Here as a Spoiler”
JILL STEIN
• Jill Stein on What the Green Party Is All About
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• Jill Stein in the Twin Cities – October 2024
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Anti-Genocide Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Reflects on the First Anniversary of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein: Is a “Historic Collaboration” in the Making? (2016)
• Demolishing the False Narrative About Jill Stein and the 2016 Election
GREEN PARTY
• Meet Some of the “People-Powered” Green Party Candidates for 2026
• An Opportunity for Organizing Against Duopoly
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• Something to Think About – December 8, 2024
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Howie Hawkins: “The Democrats Are Not the Answer to the Trump/Fascism Problem”
• Voting Green: Hope Over Fear
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