 This is Beatrice Cantelvo, your host of Perspectives on Global Justice. We had a rough week for civil and human rights in our state and in this country. And today we're going to cover a little bit of that and in perspective also thinking of Cinco de Mayo to help us digest some of the news that we had. So I think the biggest concern for most Americans this week at a domestic level was the surprising passing on the housing on a affordable act with Trump Care, which hopefully will not pass at the Senate. And we're going to talk about that a little bit today. And also we're going to talk about the end of our legislative session for the state of Hawaii, which just happened. And we have a very special guest with us, which is Ian Davidson. He walks here, take back with us. But he also is the owner of Minersons Productions. So Ian, welcome to our show. Thank you. I'm excited to be on this side of the table. Actually, you know, it was not too long ago that they was what turned it. Indeed they were. It was a pretty good show. You can find that on YouTube. See, what did you talk me to? You're amazing. You come on one show and then boom, you have your whole sort of thing laid out for you. It's super cool. That's one of the cool things about think tech is someone can come in here, give their opinion, say stuff, talk about the things that they're into and find themselves with the ability to get that message out more. It's pretty cool. I agree. And I think that it's really nice to be able to be at the other end, receive and to be a little bit more thoughtful about matters that impact all of us and to hear the perspective of so many different individuals too. So on that note, I know you have a lot on your mind and that we would like to cover a little bit of what has happened this week with Affordable Care Act. Absolutely nothing happened. I'm sort of a political junkie. I stay in touch with what's going on. I like to see what our government is doing. It's one of my sort of things. At this point in my life, I've figured it out like how this sort of works and really what we watched was a bunch of Republicans voting just to look as if they're doing something for themselves, like for their constituents that voted them in. They're trying to secure their jobs is all it is. You clearly can see that when it gets to the Senate, it's going to change. Nobody has the stomach to take away all of that stuff. All those benefits from people the way that this House sort of built has moved into the process. It's so amusing to me actually. It's sort of theater. What were your thoughts? I mean it was a very thin margin. It was like 217 votes in favor of the bill passing to the Senate versus 213. So four votes made a difference. But in terms of the content of the bill, I think a lot of people, I think the good news of it is that a lot of people are calling their Senators and saying even if you are a Republican supporter, please do not support this bill in the Senate because it will impact me personally with all of the pre-existing conditions that wouldn't cover individuals and also just to think about it by 2025, 25 million people would be uninsured. It doesn't make much sense. But were there any parts of the bills that you were like shocked to hear? No, it's Republicans. It's a Republican. They have all the power. As far as that number, it's the number that they needed to reach to give their President or all of our President, I guess, a win so they can go out on TV and smile and say, look, we did what we said we would do, which they've all done a million times all along with the President. They did all this. This is nothing new. We've seen where that went. If it gets to the President's desk for him to sign it, it will be a completely different thing. I suspect that the Senate will do something about it or tiptoe around it and try to avoid making the mistakes that the House did. As far as stuff in it, have we been able to see it? I'm under the impression that nobody's read this thing, that they rushed it through. My guess is all the things that people have screamed about, Obamacare, all the sort of frightening stuff. I'm sure people are saying that kind of thing. But ultimately, it's just sort of part of the process. You kind of have to wait and see. So to wig out about certain things, it's premature, I think, at this point. You can call it Trumpcare, but no law has been changed. Obamacare is still intact. At this point, I understand why people get all hopped up about it, like they want to scream and shout, because that's how you motivate a politician to do what you want to do, want them to do for you. So a lot of this is all theater to me. I'd like to think that this is all sort of a movement towards what ultimately should be. Everybody just gets health insurance. So universal health insurance. I feel pretty firm that we're heading in that direction. I'm just going to take some time. Well, one of the provisions of this new bill that really shocked me, aside from all of the lists of the pre-existing conditions from asthma to HIV to any kind of brain disorder to angioplasty, was rape being considered a pre-existing condition, which if you would go through, somebody who'd be raped would have to choose between seeking medical coverage for that immediate need, whose most people have to be screened for STIs, HIV, pregnancy, also the lacerations that occurs during rape is not pretty, not to mention the mental health support that's necessary to recover from such trauma. That would not be really services available to someone who'd find themselves in that kind of circumstances, because they would fear not being covered later on because of that pre-existing condition. So I think that even though we hope, that this does not go forward, that the pledge that I would have for someone who is a Republican supporter, who may support this bill, is to think about the cost in their own health and the health of their loved ones because it will impact people negatively in things that we take for granted with the current health care system. So that was the big, I think, shocker of the week in that regard, but we had the end of our legislative session for the State of Hawaii, and I know you're dying to talk to me. Oh, yeah? Some of the bills that were introduced and not even heard in some of the ones that were heard and killed at the end. So what would you like to start? Which one? Working here, I have the opportunity to hear a lot of the past few days, I've heard a lot of people talking about it. The rail, I think that's one, I think that's more, why did our government not really do anything? Why did they not figure some sort of solution, which is sort of their job, the idea that they get paid by the taxpayer to do something and they really didn't do nothing. They didn't come to a conclusion on that or figure it out how they pay for it, all that kind of stuff. It's all kinds of banter about how they do it. It's cool to see them do it. The death with dignity has been an issue that people have been talking about in its future. I'm hopeful that something like that gets passed. I've had sort of experience with people being ill, going through hospice, and the sort of horrible side of dying and why I can understand why someone would want to end their lives on their own terms, and they should be. But hopefully that's something that will change. Yeah, compassion and care at the end of life. I have someone very close and dear to me right now, my high-knife father, who is so miserable. He's 83 years old. He has vascular dementia. His body is failing him. He really has no quality of life whatsoever. And he's in pain all the time. It's horrible. And it's just horrible. I don't think that he's trapped in his body and in his mind. And I don't think that's how he wished to spend the last days of his life on Earth. Despite all of the efforts that modern medicine and technology has available to mask or soothe some of the symptoms, the matter of the fact is that we're prolonging his suffering. And it's very difficult. I've had the experience watching people die and I could be easier and more compassionate for sure if they were able to. And I think that, you know, I understand both sides of the sort of mission. You know, I get it. Like it's sort of killing yourself. You know, it is. But humans being should have the ability to have a quality of life that they like or are okay with. And at some point, if that quality of life gets to a point where it's terminal or it's not great, you know, they should be able to. To make that choice. They should be able to be somehow, an avenue for people to be able to make that choice whatever way it is, whichever way they can figure it out. And it would be nice if politicians, you know, opened up to the idea that people have the ability to make these decisions wisely. What do you think happened? Why do you think the bill did not go through? My guess is religion. You know, that's generally what keeps people from doing these things and fear that they're politicians that may not be persuaded by their religion or other religious groups that say, you know, that's, you know, don't do that. I think that they're just afraid. They're afraid that they're going to step on the wrong toes and that there's going to be some repercussion. And it's funny because it's Hawaiian. We've had people come through here and it's the same people every year. And so it's like, what are they afraid of? You know, like, they're going to be there next year or the next election. They'll be re-elected. Well, you know, what actually brought up a really wonderful point which is the calculated risk that a representative or a senator may take when considering a new bill in that part of having to answer to their constituents about also the worry about their public image and the ability to have longevity in their role. I really have a hard time with that because I do think in many ways, sometimes there are bills that have enough support, enough testimonies of constituents saying, this is important to me. This impacts my life or my district and I would like for you as a representative to hear that. Yet many times that does not happen. That's government for you, though. You know, I'd like to think that when you vote for somebody, you're saying to them, you speak for me, whatever you say. I don't think that they should be going about their daily lives or their job as a government person for representing people here in Hawaii or elsewhere in the United States to be thinking about their job. I'm under the understanding that people that get it to government are doing it for the people they want to make things better, but ultimately their employment sits out but all employment is trying to stay employed. Well, my hope still as an optimist is that a lot of people say, we don't want to know what goes into politics or making sausages, what goes into it. I do hope that the high level of transparency and accountability to the constituents really becomes the priority, not the job because these are public service types of oppositions which is quite an all-night. I know that there's a lot of people doing hard work out there, not only in the state of Hawaii, but across the nation. I think more than ever there is an important factor which is civic engagement, having constituents really be in a representative's case and say, what are you doing with these views or with issues that are important to us and that there's a little bit more of that checking balance so that we don't end up with surprises like that and you get so disenchanted with the process. There's nothing more than having to write to testimony knowing that there are so many people concerned and wishing the same thing and I feel that the people are just not being heard. Yeah, I agree. The civic engagement is super big on that and it's one of the things that's great about Think Tank is sort of what we're promoting. But just earlier today, Colin Moore from the University of Hawaii was in and he made a point about how it's not, civics isn't something that people are learning. So the idea of what civic engagement is and you just said it to me, I know what you're saying, perhaps somebody watching right now that just went right over their head or their impression of what that is is something far off here, far, you know. And so I really, I don't really hold much hope in the legislators. I kind of hope that people on the grassroots of a movie trying to teach civics to the people so that they understand how that sausage making gets made and what it takes to make that happen. And ultimately it's the people that supposedly are going to make change or push the change and if they're not really aware of how it works, then you can't play the game if you don't know rules. So I'm more hopeful that the public is able to figure out how the future public's people, citizens will learn more about the things that, you know, like some people will watch TV and think that Trump care is something that is actually happening right now. And none of that is happening. They're just part of the process. Like Joe Travolbaum and all these things, they're just on hold. You know, because it's the process and you just have to know that when somebody makes a mother's across the house. So we're going to take that little break And we'll be right back and we'll talk a little bit more about this. Hi, I'm Carol Cox. I'm the new host of Eyes on Hawai'i. Make sure you stay in the know on Hawai'i. Join us on Tuesdays at 12 noon. We will see you then. Aloha. You're watching Think Tech Hawai'i, which streams live on ThinkTechHawaii.com, uploads to YouTube.com, and broadcasts on cable OC16 and Ollello 54. Great content for Hawai'i from Think Tech. Aloha, my name is Steven Phillip Katz. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I'm the host of Shrink Rap Hawai'i, where I talk to other shrinks. Did you ever want to get your head shrunk? Well, this is the best place to come to pick one. I've been doing this. We must have 60 shows with a whole bunch of shrinks that you can look at. I'm here on Tuesdays at 3 o'clock every other Tuesday. I hope you are too. Aloha. Welcome back to Perspectives of Global Justice. This is Bea, and I'm back with Ian. So, in our short break that we took, we were talking about a little bit of our hopes moving forward on how to engage our community in the idea of being more civically engaged and the lack of knowledge that many people have, and also the missing opportunities by not being engaged. Ian, I know you've been here with Think Tech for a while, and you've seen so many guests coming and going. What do you think would be helpful to an average adult that was born and raised in Hawai'i who does not really take the time to understand the bills that are being introduced or how that will impact them? What would the government or all the organizations could do to help engage that individual? One, I don't know if their government really wants to. They'll talk again, and I think that if they had their way, they probably wouldn't let people walk into their offices. I would tell people to go to the state capitol and walk into an office. I didn't know this for the longest time. You could just walk into anybody's office in there and just say, hey, and put them on the spot. When I have the opportunity to go into these people's office, I love to bring up C-level rise. It's one of my things because they don't want to touch it, and you can watch their faces just like, because they know that they can't talk about those things. The public should go and get into these people's faces and talk to them and learn from them and go to their neighborhood board meetings and all that kind of good stuff so they can hear what people are talking about and get a sense of it and then make your sort of mind up on it. Right. When I started to visit the capitol more often, it's quite intimidating process because you're going to talk to a government official and I used to be so scared that I was going to make a mistake. I didn't need to start to shake up and your hands are really clammy and cold. But I think as you start reading more and learning more, one of the things that really has helped me over the years has been the ability to connect with your representative at a personal level. So I think even saying which district you come from, why a matter is important to you, you don't need to really be an expert on a subject, but the way that you interpret a certain bill and how do you bring meaning to that into your life, makes a big difference. And also another thing that I've noticed is that a lot of people will go through the whole process and they'll maybe connect with other representative once. But every time that a bill is heard, it goes to the next level. So they need to go back and write a new testimony. I think a lot of people also feel that they have to take time off from work to give life testimony, which is helpful in many ways. But it doesn't all have to be so. You can provide that information in writing ahead of time and it will count, you know, a record. The other thing too is that most people don't think about doing that on their days off, but they can actually schedule times to meet with their representatives ahead of time and having a face-to-face meeting in their office. And that's what they're there for also. I really would hope that there would be more efforts to work with youth and children to visit the Senate more, the schools. The other day, two weeks ago, I actually was at the Senate with a Blue Planet Foundation. We had about 600 children from the school districts in Oahu coming to learn more and to advocate for green energy, which unfortunately was a bill that was killed at the very last hour. And what was very fascinating to me was to talk to the children and many of them did never step their foot into the capital or talked to a representative or a senator and they loved it. And I think that some representatives and some senators really made the effort to bring meaning to their visit in a way that would make sense for them. So we had one representative from Lanai, sorry, Lanikai. And she was mentioning that she was working on budget for the cafeteria at their school, the elementary level. And I thought it was really sweet because the kids were like, really, you're doing that? You can do that? And they got to talk about budget and they got to talk about how everything works. And it had to start young, but it's never too late to get started because our lives depend on it. That's pretty cool. I mean, I like it when companies or groups do those kinds of things. I personally would like to see the state doing these things and paying for it to bring them in. Those children are very fortunate that there's this group that has money that can afford to bring these kids down there and take the time out to do that. But I love it. There's nothing wrong with it. I'd like to see that stuff happening on a regular like, guess what? Every year your school goes to the state capitol and it's all on us, the taxpayer, we pay money. I'll pay more money if I had to, if I knew that it was going to go to something like that. I'd gladly pay that. I think that there is a brilliant idea brewing here which is introducing a bill where budget allocation would be created to support children elementary through high school to really learn about civics by actually visiting and having hands-on experiences throughout the, you know, both the county and also state levels. So I don't know, maybe you can cook. Wait, I got to write it up? We can find people. See, that's why I draw the line and actually having to do the work. I'm kidding. No, that's good stuff. I mean, I'd like to see stuff like that. I'd like to see the taxpayers money going to fixing the problems or fixing sort of the direction of how these things get done. Absolutely. I think a lot of people feel disenchanted where it's like, no matter what I do or where my vote goes, that it will matter. You know, my voice does not matter. But I think our last election has shown something different. The election was not decided necessarily by those who voted. I mean, it was a very small margin if you compare the votes that Hillary received and Trump. But, you know, most staggering to me was to find out that about 40% of people in this nation did not vote at all. And so you drafted that, you know, there's a lot of division and traction, you know, in the country. But there is a lot of invitation to walk with people who may feel apathetic or disenchanted with the whole political arena. That it's like, if you think it's bad, the way it is right now, wait until, you know, we get rules, you know, we can't. We're seeing that, you know, right now. And I don't bring that up, you know, because we have, you know, one political party, you know, I know that because I really like in many ways I look at, you know, issues from a bipartisan standpoint, but many of the legislations that are being, you know, proposed and approved the impacts are people from both Republican and Democratic parties. And so we need to be able to look beyond party affiliation and really start doing our jobs as, you know, educated citizens too. And if we're not, we need to find the tools to be able to get that. So I, you know, like talking about the legislative session, you know, I know you have feelings about homelessness issues. And there were many bills that were, you know, opened and proposed and they were not hard or killed. So anyone in particular that stood out to you? No, I think they're all, that's one of those hot button things. It's like, well, there's a lot, I think that goes into why they don't really care about homeless people or why it's always pushed off and economics, all these kinds of things where they kind of don't count to them and they're more than likely are going to be people that don't vote. So they don't really matter to them. But I think that homelessness is the biggest sure that they should be doing stuff about that. I think it's one of the more pressing ones. Affordable housing, homelessness here in Hawaii, which go hand in hand. You know, there's a lot of people that don't have homes. They have jobs, they have children. They just don't have a home because they got all those things, but they can't afford to live here in Hawaii. Affordable housing, so that will be the promise for next year's legislative session that we bring new bills, you know, for that money to be available so we can have affordable housing instead of Hawaii. Well, I can't believe how quickly our show has come to an end. Well, at least today we have Cinco de Mayo. So we can celebrate and commemorate about, you know, Kuliana, the privileges and the responsibilities that we have in our state and in our nation moving forward. But I love it. I just want to say really quickly that, you know, in America we like to jump on people's sort of holidays, sort of things and turn them into big drinking things. I find it quite interesting that Americans love Cinco de Mayo and aren't so fond of Mexicans in general, as far as the government and the way they treat them. It's a whole other story. All refugees are mindful of you. On that spirit, Viva Cinco de Mayo, Viva Mexico. Well, thank you for watching Perspectives on Global Justice. This is your house to be, you can tell more. And stay tuned for next week's show. Until then, hui hou.