 Aloha. I'm Marsha Joyner and we are navigating the journey. Navigating the journey is dedicated to exploring the options and choices for the end of life care and to assist people to talk about their wishes. It's time to transform our culture so we shift from not talking about dying to talking about it. It's time to share the way we want to live our lives at the end of our lives. And it's time to communicate about the kind of care we want and don't want for ourselves. We believe that the place for this to begin is not in the intensive care unit. Together we explore the various paths to life's ending. Together we can make these difficult conversations easier. Together we can make sure that our own wishes and those of our loved ones are expressed and respected. If you're ready to join us we ask. Navigate the journey. We have invited people from various religious and traditions to talk about the end of life in their culture. Today I'm delighted to talk with Dylan Armstrong, the vice chair of the Oahu County Democratic Party. As you know we have been supporting the medical aid and dying bill through the legislature. This bill is one of the many included in the Democratic Party's platform. Therefore today we will talk to vice chair Dylan Armstrong and what all of that means. Aloha Dylan. Aloha. Welcome. Welcome. We're so glad you're here. Oh I'm very grateful to be here. Thank you for inviting me. So vice chair of the party. Okay so we know that doesn't pay you anything. So true. So tell us about your paid gig and the rest of you. Let's start with you first. Sure. By background I'm an environmental scientist. I currently work as a transportation planner full-time and I work specifically on transportation projects on this island that are done by local government and are seeking federal monies. So as a result I help the city and the state procure federal grant monies. That's what I do. I facilitate and there's obviously a great need and a lot of the stories that have been in the newspaper about transportation for the last, well ever since I joined the organization currently with, I have to do with subjects like local match which is the feds require a certain amount of money be raised by the state or various municipal entities that are seeking to use federal monies and a lot of that stuff is my day to day that is my bread and butter and it's boring but it's important. Yeah and so that's the match is the tax money. Match is that is the local money that is being raised by GET by whatever means that the city or the state is seeking to match federal monies to build a highway or refurbish a bridge you know whatever the project is. What about the rail? Yeah that's true. That is certainly. That is certainly. That is certainly. That's don't even go down there though. That that sickens me so. No comment. So how did you go from being a major major science environmentalist to the vice chair of the Democratic Party? Yeah that's a that's a great question. So last year I was a precinct president which is sort of the lowest level officer in the Democratic Party's organization. A precinct being something that is displayed and disseminated through the office of elections so we have precincts all across this island all across the state within various house districts and so for the Democratic Party's purposes I was a precinct officer. Well I was very very very tired after the the PPP last year which was the event that all of the Democrats went to to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and there was a caucus. Yeah that's right. We don't have a true caucus and we don't have a true primary in terms of what the PPP is. We have a PPP presidential preference poll. Okay and thousands of people were there. It was it was huge turnout. It was a little bit chaotic but it was democracy also at its finest. Well democracy is not the prettiest thing in the world. That's right. So I was debating moving out of the district and even out of the state and I ended up not doing that but I didn't run for reelection as a precinct president and so I had some time on my hands in terms of volunteer activities. I helped out local campaigns. People who were first-time candidates for office. People who were returning candidates and I helped at least half a dozen campaigns in some capacity last year. That is campaigns that were on this island and some of them were successful in some work but the point being that for a lot of elections in Hawaii the Democratic primary is the goal. It is. Once you get through the primary you may not even have a Republican or Libertarian or other third-party challenger. It may be that the Democratic Party primary is the most intense you know vigorous competition you're gonna face as a candidate. So when that ended in August that's when our primary was last year. I again had a little bit more free time for my volunteer activities. A sudden vacancy happened with the vice chair of the Oahu County Party and there was a special election and in a four-way race I ran and I won. Oh very good. So what does a vice chair of Oahu County do? Right. Excellent question. So first off a vice chair sort of like a vice president would be a second line. Now as a vice president that's the best job in the world because you don't do anything and you get paid but I think your vice chair is a little different. You do a lot don't you? Well according to the Oahu County bylaws the vice chair is the main convention planner. We have an annual party convention and I am the planning committee co-chair along with another Democrat and good-standing and I also sit on the Oahu Executive Committee. So all of the executive officers there are 17 of us including the chair and the vice chair. We have regular executive meetings and there are special meetings as well that I sit on and if the chair were in any way to be incapacitated or to resign unexpectedly I would be acting chair. So it's very important for the vice chair to be prepared to serve in the capacity of chair but not necessarily to be chair. And this has come up in on multiple occasions in our relatively short history as a state Democratic Party. Oh yeah. Not that long ago was the last iteration of it. So whoever's running to be vice chair is stepping forward to serve. They're offering to dedicate a lot of time and a willingness to at least learn about parliamentary procedure. It's important and learn how to work with the different stakeholders in the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party on this island has over 35,000 members on this island. On this island that comes out to something over 3% of the population. For anybody that doesn't know and most of people say oh it's a Democratic state and people vote. But I don't think they know the difference in just voting as a Democrat and being a part of the Party which is a corporation with bylaws and all regulations and all of the kinds of things that any corporation has. That's true. So let's talk about let's get it clear the definition so people know what we're talking about as opposed to just I show up the polls and I vote as a Democrat or I put a D behind my name and that makes me a Democrat. Yeah. So let's look at the quote party. Sure. The party structure. What is the big party and then the county? Yeah. The United States Democratic Party has had 15 presidents of the United States elected under that that party banner. We currently have a majority of state legislative seats in Hawaii including the entire Hawaii Senate. We hold the governor's ship. We hold the lieutenant governor's ship. Even nonpartisan offices throughout Hawaii including the city and county of Honolulu are dominated by registered Democrats and people who have run for offices for partisan offices as a Democrat. So the Democratic Party is dominant in that sense nationwide. Parties as institutions are relatively weak. I'm not talking about partisan identification on the part of the voters. I'm talking about as an institution. The Democratic Party. Yeah. That's right. The Democratic Party is a private group. So one thing that throws off a lot of voters who relocate to Hawaii is they check that they're a Democrat on their voter registration and then when they want to vote in a Democratic through the Democratic Party process in a primary, for instance, they're surprised to learn that they're not Democrats. But I check the form. Well, you have to register with us, the group. You have to do a separate registration in Hawaii. And there's a lot of discussion about who gets to vote in the party primaries, who gets to be included as a member. It's often a contentious or spirited conversation. But nationally, there's a Democratic National Committee. That's the DNC that we heard so much about. That's right. And there are state parties. And then we are a municipal or a county party. And the way that all works is somewhat similar to the levels of government, right? So the National Party coordinates efforts all across the United States, including the territories to elect Democrats, particularly to US or rather federal positions. So US representative, US Senate, and of course, president. Right. So we currently have a handful of the members of the DNC here from Hawaii. We have our state party chair, we have our vice chair, we have a DNC committee man, we have a DNC committee woman. Those people go and join a much larger body in Washington DC to participate in the DNC. So they they vote on our behalf is that there are representatives. There are representatives. It's a representative form of government, that is to say. So so those people are elected by the the card carrying Democrats. That's right. You have to be a member in good standing in order to participate in our decision to vote for them. We do they in turn go to DC and do whatever party people do. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And so we in Hawaii have conventions both at the county level and the state level that are fairly open in that we allow everyone who is signed up as a delegate. So any party member in good standing who gets to register as a delegate, and there's a process for that. But it's pretty open gets to come and voice their opinion for who they want to be their county chair, their state chair, you know, and so on, including for positions like county vice chair. There is a state central committee, just like there's a Democratic National Committee. So that's a smaller closed group that makes a lot of the parties decisions here in Hawaii. But we try to involve our party members as much as possible. Our party members at the county and the state level make changes to our by laws, make changes to our platform and can adopt resolutions. So we empower our members quite a bit. And because the Democratic Party is so diverse in terms of its ideology in terms of the ethnic and racial composition, the gender identity and expression, the religious affiliation and the age and all sorts of other metrics of diversity. We have very interesting discussions about what does it mean to be a Democrat? And what is it we want our party to do? Where do we want to go? Well, we are going to take a break. And when we come back, I want to talk about the platform about our bill that we have been following medical aid and dying, being on the platform, other bills that are on a platform. And what what does that mean? What does it get weight? Does it what does it mean? So when we come back, let's talk about it. Thank you. Aloha, my name is Justine Espiritu. This is my co host, Matthew Johnson. Every Thursday at 4pm on theme tech, we host the Hawaii Food and Farmers series. We like to bring in folks from the whole realm of the local food supply and agriculture, anyone working on these issues, any organization or individual that has plans or projects. What kind of people have we had on us? We've had farmers, we've had chefs, we've had people from government, larger institutions, everyone who's working to help make Hawaii's local food system that much better. So you can see us every Thursday and join the conversation on Twitter. And we hope to see you there. Hello, this is Martin Despeng. Please join me on my new show, humane architecture like the one in the back that you see of architect David Rockwood. The show is going to be on Tuesdays, 5pm here on think tech Hawaii in downtown Honolulu. See you then. And we're back. And we're talking with a beautiful young man, Dylan Armstrong. Oh my goodness, I have grandchildren older than this job. Anyway, Dylan is the vice chair of the Oahu County Democratic Party. And for those of you that follow us, you know, we have been supporting a medical aid and dying bill. And it was one of the issues on the platform for the Democratic Party. That's right. What does that mean being in the platform? And does it carry weight? What happens? How does that work? Yeah, that's a great question. Anyone who's curious what the Democratic Party on Oahu County has for his platform can look it up at OahuDemocrats.org. It's right there. And it's a relatively short document. It's not the most painful reading out there at all. But there are some general aspirational principles where we want to be on the environment, on personal liberty, on the economy, on jobs, so on. So we convene an annual county convention. Our next one is this Saturday, the 22nd. And we make changes to the platform. We say what is it that this body of convention delegates as representatives of the countywide party? What is it that we want our party to stand for? And now that's a very interesting discussion because we have a plurality or a majority of Democrats on this island who are progressives, definitely a broad majority who are liberals. And then we also have a significant and robust minority who are more conservative. And I'm using those terms very loosely because how you define them varies. But the point being, we have a very progressive platform overall. And what does it mean in terms of our legislative agenda? Yes, we have so many Democrats elected to the state house and all of the state Senate. So do they do they in turn reciprocate what what we believe in the platform? And the answer is, I would say that there are a lot of different stakeholders in the legislature right now. And many of them are opposed to elements of our our platform, we have very strong organization from particularly the religious right groups who do not agree with the Democratic Party's stance on medical aid and dying. So there was a consistent messaging that I noticed from people who were opposed, both at the community level and lobbying at the state legislature. And it's very interesting to see them use the same language. So there was fear and concern. And, you know, I, I'm not going to speak to what I think of it, but I am going to speak to the fact that I heard it, that there was a concern over are people going to be protected when family members are making decisions about the end of life. And that was the messaging that came up over and over again that there was a fear about a lack of protection for loopholes as seen in the bill. Then obviously they didn't read the bill. But that's number one. But the bill did not pass. Well, it's dormant, deferred. And it was because they didn't read the bill. Representative Todd, what's his name? The new kid. Oh, Chris Todd, Chris Todd. What he said was clear that he had not read the bill. Because the bill says that there is, in one clause, coercion is a class A felony. So obviously he didn't read it. And then when the patient is making the decision, the family, the heirs cannot be a part of the decision. So it was obvious that they didn't read the bill. And I heard people testifying about the handicap and they all people will the bill isn't about them. It is only about people terminally ill and old age, obviously 79 next month. Old age is not a terminal disease. Terminal ill patients with less than six months with cancer, something that's not going to get well. But they're still cognitive they're still sharp. They can make the decision. Yeah, it's so it was so obvious listening to the testimony. Yeah, that they didn't read the bill. But that's okay. Right. That's what happens. So in terms of now, the legislators look at, or do they read the platform? Do they participate in the building of the platform? Do they have any do they show up? Do they have any input into what goes in the platform? Yeah. And you know, anything at the Democratic Party level locally is going to be a personal initiative with the exception of a statewide executive director who has a salary job. All of us are otherwise volunteers. And many state legislators are in fact very involved. In fact, Congresswoman Colleen Hanna Busse is known for her long time and thoroughly dedicated involvement in the Democratic Party throughout its various levels. We have representatives and senators currently signed up to attend convention as delegates who bread and butter of the convention. You see them every year. They care a lot. And they put in they put in time. Yeah, they vote. And Senator Schatz was chair of the party of the state party. That's right. That's right. And which he reminded me of at the town meeting last week, right? Right. Yeah, he has a long history of dedication and service to the party. And so do many other elected officials. So how much they're able to dedicate time varies. But I would argue that, you know, there's a reciprocal relationship. If you go back to the Democratic Revolution of 1954, John Burns, what you saw from both the side of people who are in the public office sphere and people who are volunteering at the party was way more coordination, way more organization. So down to the precinct level where there were precincts having their own separate meetings versus a house district or versus a region. And there are nine regions for the Democratic Party on this island. State representative at one of his recent precinct meetings in East Honolulu side had said to his fellow members, you know, we are quite, you know, in essence, the shade of what we used to be in 1954. So this was someone who was in power and wants the Democratic Party to succeed as a volunteer initiative of members across this island. So I think that building a relationship, a better relationship with the state legislature is not so much contingent on us flexing or showing force in and of itself so much as actually building a presence, right? If we turn out 0.3% of our members, and we have many members who are retired or have flexible schedules out of 35,000. If we turn out 0.3% for a hearing, we can out organize the groups that oppose our platform. But we have to begin to reach out to people who maybe haven't heard from the Democratic Party in years. And that I like that idea. How do you reach out to these so many now, of course, there's email. But what about all folks that don't do email? I mean, they still exist. They do. So how do you reach them? Yeah, it's a great question because we rely on voter registration information. So we know where voters live. We know, generally speaking, what the voter's phone number is, they may not have an email address, but we can find a way of contacting them. In fact, many of these people are our neighbors and friends. So often Democratic Party officers have a good sense of who the movers and shakers in the community already are. So it's about engaging those people. If you were able to, you know, if every precinct on this island had an average of four people, four reliable people you could count on, who would turn out for a meeting, that would be a game changer. You wouldn't have to have, you know, all 35,000. But a lot of these people do join the Democratic Party because they do want to help. I mean, we are as volunteers who help the Democratic Party, we're helping the Democratic Party because it's something we believe in because we ain't getting paid. And, you know, likewise, we're Democrats because we're people who want to make the world a better place. Not everyone is a volunteer Democrat by day, but a lot of our Democrats are involved in government or involved in nonprofits or involved in business in ways that make society better. So that's who we are. So no one's getting into this for the wrong reasons. Everyone's trying to make, you know, Hawaii a better place. And we need to find ways to include those people. What about the Republicans that run as take the little deep, because they know that's the only way to get elected? What about that? I mean, I'm all in favor of a two-party system. I believe in a two-party system. What would it take for them to be stronger so that their candidates would not run as Democrats? And then you watch them vote as Republicans. You can tell who they are. Because their soul is a Republican. Right. So what, how do we do? Well, not me, but how do you work that out? So how does it that the Republican body will be stronger? So their people would run on their ideology and on their issues, rather than take a D and then do something different? Well, there's a lot of discussion within the Democratic Party about what we expect from people who run with a D on their name on the ballot. Now, some of those questions are going to be resolved in the coming months. But this is something that has happened repeatedly in terms of a continuing discussion. We have at least six members of various elected legislative bodies right now who used to be card-carrying Republicans. Right. And they got special permission from the Democratic Party to become Democrats. So we need to do this in a way that's fair and transparent to people. And we need to listen. Because if people are making a change like that, we want to know why do they want to make that change? You know, what do they intend to do? What is it about the party that they are identifying with? And for the record, I've supported a Republican who came over to the Democratic Party. I'm glad I did that. I was speaking earlier to the ideological diversity in the Democratic Party. We are diverse because that's who we are as Democrats. We want everyone to get there. You know, I think I remember reading just this morning that the California Republican Party is something like 77% white in a state that's 40 plus percent white. But we're not like that. We have every group. Yeah. Well, I just need to leave you with this one comment. Hono Shim said one day, I was listening to his testimony and he was telling this international group that we're not diverse. We're married. And I think that's the best thing that says about Hawaii. We're married. Thank you so much for coming. It's been a pleasure talking with you. And good luck with your coming, whatever it is you're doing this weekend. So good luck. Thank you very much. Thank you. Aloha.