 Welcome to Talk Story with John Wahey. I just came back from the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia, and I hope that a bunch of you have been watching us on television and might be a little interested in what was going on up there. I know I've gotten a lot of remarks about this speaker or that speaker, and I thought that today would be interesting if we took a little walk through the week and see how things evolved. So I invited one of the youngest members of the Hawaii delegation to the National Democratic Convention. His name is Jaren McCarthy, and he is here with us today. And Jaren, it wasn't exactly a delegate. No, that's correct. I actually went up as staff to the delegation. Yeah, so you were the person who actually did the work. You could say that. Yeah, the delegates sat in chairs and listened to speeches. You had to run around, make sure that, you know, all of that. So you got what might be called an insider's look at the National Convention. So that's the reason why you're here today. But before we go on, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, my name is Jaren McCarthy. I am a senior at Sonoma State University, political science major. And for the summer, I'm interning at the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Interning at the Chamber of Commerce? But what a lesson in political science you just had this past week. Yeah, definitely. You got to see the ins and outs. And definitely got to take a lot in. Well, maybe I shouldn't be saying this. But you do, you come from a line of politicians. I know, your dad was Michael McCarthy, right? Yeah. Who was a senator from the Winwood side many years in the Hawaii State Senate. And now is the chief of staff for Copenhagen. So you know a little bit about politics to start. Yeah, I hear things here and there, little stories. But yeah, I still feel like an outsider in Hawaii politics, still trying to learn as much as I can. So this was a great opportunity to hang out with the delegation. Yeah, definitely. Well, tell us a little bit about the delegation. 70% of the delegation were people who had supported the Senate to send this. Yes. So what was there? I mean, how many people would that be like about? That would be, so it was over 15 people, closer to 20, I would say. And the other group with those that had supported Secretary Clinton. You know, the final vote from Hawaii was 19 members of the delegation voted for Senator Sanders. And if I'm correct, 15 voted for Secretary Clinton. And so that was, you know, the mixture of the delegation. Now, what was it like to work for a mixed delegation like this? Oh, there was some tough times. But I mean, going into it, we knew that Hillary and or the Senator Sanders and the Hillary delegates had some, had some differences that we needed to work out. But I think it was a great venue to work out those differences. And I think towards the end, you kind of saw them growing to become closer together after hearing all the speeches, after really listening to what Senator Sanders said, I think unity in the party is a reachable goal for sure. No, no, did you have an affiliation yourself prior to going to the? Well, I've been a Sanders supporter for over a year. But going into the election from over a year ago, I knew that no matter what, I would support the Democratic nominee. But what attracted you to Senator Sanders? I knew he was a really progressive Senator to begin with. But what really attracted me was his stance on Citizens United. I mean, Hillary has the same stance. But on Citizens United, he really makes it more of an issue. Like he makes it more, how do I say, he just puts it out there for everybody to know more so than Hillary, I believe. And for people who may not be aware of what Citizens United was all about, that was a Supreme, United States Supreme Court decision that allowed, removed any limitation on the amount of dollars that could be spent on an election. So basically, they said that money was speech. And through the First Amendment, through the ruling, they said that you can spend any amount of money based on the First Amendment. And why was that a particular concern to you? That's what really got me into politics, that's what got me interested. And I just don't think it's right that millionaires and billionaires can spend as much money as they want on elections. And I mean, statistics show that money plays a huge role in who wins an election. I think every president who spent more money has won an election. And I just think that it has to be more the politicians need to be catered more towards the people rather than the 1% as Bernie would say. Fantastic. Well, was there any opposition to changing that rule at the Democratic Convention? I believe it wasn't a platform. I don't know if it wasn't a platform or not, but I think all the Democrats kind of agree on that issue. On that issue, that was pretty universally accepted. Okay, you were there, and your job was to make all these delegates happy, right? Correct, correct. What does that involve? Well, we, that involves having, well, we have a limited amount of passes to actually get into the convention. And so, you know, delegates bring spouses, friends, or just people maybe they don't even know that comes until the day of the convention. And so it's kind of, it's difficult to accommodate all the delegates, I guess, requests when it comes to passes, because there's such a limited number of those. But other than that, I don't know, just serve Hawaii and just keep the delegates happy and make sure they get to where they need to be. And, well, did you make those little gift things that people are giving away to? So we put together the Omiyagi bags so that we could give to the other delegations to, you know, show our aloha to the other states. Yeah, I heard a lot of people giving, I would say, lessons in Omiyagi. Omiyagi, okay, this is my Omiyagi, and, you know, then you would have to explain to them what that was. Yeah, now go ahead. Well, no, I was going to say, was there anything particularly from Hawaii that was popular with the other states? Oh, definitely, I mean, we had to put the macadamia nuts, the chocolates in there. But we also put in the livaloha stickers to kind of explain to them what the placker that explains like what livaloha really stands for. And so I think that was kind of a special moment for us to kind of explain to them what it really means. Was that pretty much, would you say that pretty much the delegations were committed to the idea of spreading aloha? Yeah, I believe so. As a whole, the delegation was definitely trying to spread the aloha spirit. And by the way, just out of curiosity, who thought up that bumper sticker that said livaloha on it? I believe my dad was a part of that. And so was Robby Aum. Robby Aum actually was the one who gave us those stickers. And so, yeah, it was them two, I believe. So it's a little bit of your heritage running around the convention. And I'm assuming that because we were giving Omiyagi, there were others that were giving the various delegates Omiyagi as well, right? Yes. OK, so now the convention has started. And you've got all these people, their passes and so forth. Tell me some of the high points from your point of view. I mean, did you have an opportunity to actually go on the convention floor and listen to the people that were making speeches and participating? Yeah, I felt really fortunate because going into the convention, I didn't expect to even go into the arena just because being staff, we don't have passes. But I was fortunate enough to be able to sit on the floor for three out of the four nights. And so, yeah, I felt really lucky, really blessed, and just soaked it all in. But as far as the highlights go, I think, you know, being a Punahograd, Barak, that was the first time I ever saw Barak. And so that was really special for me. Just, yeah, just taking it all in. It was awesome. Did you hear Michelle speak? Oh, yeah, Michelle, I mean, Michelle's speech was, yeah, it was awesome. I couldn't, there wasn't a better speaker I thought than Michelle. And now you think your father spent his money wisely by sending you to the hold? I hope so. I think so, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, well, Barak was up there. He gave a great speech, as you know, he always does that. What about some of the other speakers? Yeah, the other one that hit home really hard was Joe Biden. It was really passion-filled and it really hit home of what he was saying. What about him that excited you? Well, just the way he spoke and his message about Trump and his line about, I forget what he said, but his line calling Trump's views on stuff, you know, he said, that's malarkey. I just, I love that line. That was so great to hear. That was a good night. It was a good night. Yeah, it was a great night. And that was as President Obama. Did you have a chance to see the parents of the Muslim soldier that was killed? No, that was the one night I didn't get to go onto the floor, but I was watching the speech from just outside the venue and that was a really touching speech. I wish I could have seen it live. Yeah, and then, as you know, there's been some recent controversy about that. Donald Trump was saying something about it. And I don't know, from a young person's perspective, what do you think about his remarks regarding that grieving family? I think it's just like all his remarks. Malarkey? It's ridiculous. Yeah, malarkey's a good word for it. I mean, he's just nitpicking at things that aren't even, he's trying to find things like a needle in a haystack that's not even there, you know? I don't know how to explain it, he's just... Now, there were a lot of young people at this convention, which in my experience was a new thing to have that many young people. Did you have a chance to interact with some of your colleagues? I got to interact a lot with the younger Hawaii delegates, but not so much from other states because I was running around so much. But yeah, the younger delegates from Hawaii were equally enthusiastic about just being there and letting their voices be heard. And they were pretty passionate about what they believed. Definitely passionate. They flew all the way to Philly and they knew they were going to somehow let their voices be heard. Now, most of them were Sanders delegates, right? Yeah, yes. And do you think that after they left the convention, they were as committed to doing something about the state of political affairs in America as they were when they landed there? Yeah, I think when they left, I think they realized that, well, if you truly listen to what Bernie says, the revolution is... You could say it hasn't even started. Maybe it started right after the convention ended, and so that's... I think they, after listening to... So they're in it for the long haul? I believe so. There are a few maybe that unfortunately maybe will not be in it for the long haul, but overwhelmingly I believe so. Yeah, I heard some... I heard a television commentator make the comment that the thing about the left or the progressives is that they have this tendency to be very good from the outside, challenging institutions, but they don't necessarily stick around. And whereas the thing about the right or the conservative, like the Tea Party people, they continue and they win elections on the local level, and governorships and all of that. The youth's envision that the people who went there that were supporters, they envisioned them continuing. Is that what Bernie meant about the revolution continues? It's hard to say, but I actually think they will stay because we see in elections now there's, I don't know what people are calling them, Bernie crats, who are running for office now. And so I don't think we've seen that... I'm not sure, but I don't think we've seen that before. And so I don't know, I think they had the opportunity to really listen to what Bernie was saying. If they really took it to heart, which I think most of them did, they're going to be in it for the long haul. All right. Well, we're going to be back in a short time, and we want to follow up with you as to what happens post-convention. And so at this time, we are going on a break. Hi. My name is Aaron Wills. You are watching ThinkTechHawaii.com. I am the host of the show Rehabilitation Coming Soon. You can catch us live on ThinkTechHawaii.com at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays. I will see you there. For a very healthy summer, watch Viva Hawaii. We are here live on Mondays at 3 p.m. And we bring guests like our best health coach, Elena Maganto, eat well and follow her tips. Viva la comida saludable. Aloha. I'm State Senator Russell Ruderman. I represent the Pune and Kau district on the Big Island. And the host of Ruderman Roundtable. We're here on ThinkTechHawaii every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. You can join us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. You can find a link there to a page where you can see past episodes. And we talk here about good government, environmental issues, and issues of the day facing the state of Hawaii. I'm Russell Ruderman. Please join us for the Ruderman Roundtable. Mahalo. Welcome back to Talk Story with John Waheed. Today we have with us one of the youngest members of the Hawaii delegation to the Democratic National Convention, Jared Jaren McCarthy, who's he was there as a volunteer, right? Yes. And it was his job to make sure that everybody went to the right places, did the right things, and so forth. We're discussing the fact that yourself and a number of the younger members of the delegation were Sanders supporters. Now, having gone through the whole convention, you heard the speeches. You heard the speech from Secretary Clinton, who got nominated. What is your, if you don't mind me asking, are you intending to support the Democratic ticket and work for Secretary Clinton? Yeah, definitely. I think we need to do all we can not to let Donald Trump win the election. And either way, I would have supported the Democratic nominee. But I think it was really cool to hear Hillary Clinton mention Bernie in her speech when she was talking about college tuition, and she even mentioned Bernie's name and the really progressive platform that was laid out by all the Democrats. That was really cool to hear. I think that you would be interested, I suspect that you would be interested in what's being done about college tuition. But I want to assure you your dad and mom are probably just as interested as you are. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. So what happens now? I mean, what do you do now? We come home, we pick up the pieces, and I guess we start campaigning. Do you think that for the most part, the other young people from the delegation will get involved in the campaign as well? I believe so. Not only because of Trump, but because I think they truly believe that the revolution, the best way to keep the revolution going, because Bernie was just like the kindle to the fire. It was only just the start. But the best way to keep the revolution going is through electing Hillary Clinton. And by the way, just for those that may not have known this, Bernie actually came to the hotel where the Hawaii delegation was staying and spoke to the delegation, well, not only ours, but a number of delegations at the hotel. Yeah, so we were staying with the delegates from North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, West Virginia, and Utah. And it just so happened that Thursday, with all the other chairs, we decided that Thursday would be Hawaii Day. And so we did the Hawaiian doxology before breakfast. We had Governor Ige speak, and we sang. I already did a great speech. Oh, yeah, it was awesome. We got the crowd going and everybody was cheering for him. It was really cool to watch. But yeah, we did a bunch of things to put the Hawaii touch on the breakfast, and it just so happened that we were able to get Bernie Sanders to come and speak to the delegates. And so that must have been pretty fun. I mean, did you get a chance to shake his hand? No, I didn't get a chance to shake his hand because there's so much security and he kind of jetted out of there because any people were probably going to mob him, but I got to sit right up close and hear him speak. And also came to speak on Hawaii Day was a Martin O'Malley, which was really cool. Yeah, Martin O'Malley was the former governor of Pennsylvania. Yes, I think I believe so. Yeah, was it Pennsylvania? Yeah, I think so. Oh, Maryland, I'm sorry. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was the former and actually one of the early candidates in the top three. Yeah, right. He and Semetha Sanders and Secretary Clinton. So so this that must have been a high point of the of the session. Definitely, because, you know, just seeing Bernie up close, that was the first time I ever got to see him speak. And I mean, Martin O'Malley's speech was equally as Rala got me equally riled up because of what what his message was about not not letting Trump win the office and keeping the revolution going. Well, it sounds great. Now, that would you consider that one of the high points of there? Yeah, for me, it definitely was. There was a low point as well. Yeah. Right. I mean, we people in Hawaii saw the picture. And that was probably one of the low points of the deal. Well, what do you think of all the moment when here we are standing as a delegation for Hawaii, same devotes, and somebody makes a gesture that an inappropriate gesture that apparently made its way around the world. Yeah, it was it was just really unfortunate. I mean, I know a way sympathize with her, but at the same time, you know, all the Bernie people there, they're hurting right now. They put their heart and soul into this campaign, you know, 110 percent. And the fact that you didn't get the nomination is tough. But I mean, that's politics. Somebody wins and somebody loses. So it was just a really unfortunate event. And it didn't last that long. Yeah, I mean, it was like most people didn't even know it had occurred. Yeah, I was standing. I was standing maybe 10 feet behind her, and I had no idea that it happened. And I was standing in front of her and I had no idea it happened. In fact, it seemed like more people back home saw it than the delegation. And I know that she has, you know, sent and steps were taken to make sure that at least the feeling of the delegation was expressed. But except for that incident, I cannot think of anything that would have marred the whole experience. Yeah, I mean, it was an unfortunate event, but in no way does it represent the Hawaii delegation, I believe. And, you know, we I think we did a good job of emitting our aloha spirit to all the other states. And so and then you have that beautiful, almost flowers. Yeah, that was Florence Conkey's idea. That was I was just there to help. I think that was an excellent touch. Yeah, everybody can see the flowers. And for the most part, most of them, most of us wore all the shirts. Yeah, a massive amount of people came and talked to us about the flowers, which is really nice. And there was this great little buttons. I remember people were handing out saying Barack Obama made in Hawaii. Yeah, that was great. So would you say that it's an experience that every young person ought to try? Yeah, definitely. I know it's I was just so fortunate to be able to go. And if anybody gets the chance to go to a convention, it's really tiring. It's exhausting. The days are long, but it's definitely worth the experience. And your favorite speaker was Barack. Yeah, I would have to say so. OK, great. And let me ask you so now you're home now, you're back. You're going to go to college. Yes. And you're going to try and pick up some of this. Well, you're going to go to finish off college again. And are you intending to sort of pick up all of this left off and continue being a political activist or something? Yeah, I'm going to try and do my best to balance schoolwork and try and get Hillary Clinton into the Oval Office because I just we just can't allow Trump to get anywhere near the White House. And what about Jaren McCarthy? Or Bryson. No, what are you, what are you, is there politics in? Well, for me, I'm just I know your brother, OK, your brother Bryson is that's another McCartney. There are two of you running around. But what about you? What are you going to? Well, I'm just trying to learn right now. Like I said, just trying to keep learning and keep growing. And right now to know if I have too much to offer. But maybe in the future, if I have something to offer, the great state of Hawaii, then I would love to help out any way I could. And if that means running for office, then that means running for office. But if not fantastic, I mean, absolutely. Is there anything in particular that that you learn from this convention that you want to share with others? I mean, it doesn't even have to be, you know, for this person or that person or related, but, you know, anything. Well, I got to kind of shadow around with Flow Conkey. And Flow Conkey was the chief page. Yeah, she was she was pretty much the acting executive director. And I don't know, I learned a pretty deep lesson from her. It was just do the right thing. And if you always do the right thing, things kind of just fall together and come into place, even if you don't see it at first. She did an amazing job. You know, they did both. She and Heather Murakami, I guess, and yourself and Jane Sugimura. And Jane Sugimura with the Ben Schaefer and Schaefer with the staffers. And you had to put up with at least 35 Eagles. So that must have been a trip. No, it was it was good, though. It was good. I just try to work hard and do it, represent Hawaii. Well, well, you know, I want to tell the people in the audience that they can call and have any questions that you might have for for Jaren, and you can call in on 415-871-2474. 415-871-2474. So what happens now, Jaren? What happens now is keep the revolution going. Hopefully that's the idea. Well, I mean, do you and I am interested in that. I mean, is there like a time when you all going to meet? Is it sort of looser or how does this all how does it all work? You know what? I'm not too sure. But I guess the better the most the more organized we can be, the better. But I think right now, the most important thing for the Bernie supporters is just for them to to heal and to get involved, to stay involved, kind of accept the fact that Hillary is a nomination, which is going to be tough. What about the Bernie or Buff people or bus people? I think Sarah Silverman said it best. Wasn't she great? She was awesome. Yeah. Oh, yeah. For those of you that missed it, Sarah Silverman stated, she said, I can't say it as good as her. She just did well. But it's basically, you know, if you get you carry on too much, it gets ridiculous, right? Because, I mean, there's danger in allowing Trump to win the office and by, you know, by working against or by not voting or going with the Green Party or your basic, I don't know, you're working against Hillary, which is in my mind pretty dangerous. Well, Jared, I want to thank you so much for joining me today. And I hope the audience out there, you've got a sense of the good hands. Hawaii are, you know, Hawaii is in for the future. Young people participating in the political process. I mean, it's always exciting to me. And I hope it is as interesting for you as well. So thank you for joining. Talk story with John Wahey and thank you very much, Jared.