That’s what I want to tell this new generation: Take responsibility for your actions. If you make a bad choice, by God pull up your bootstraps and live with it. When you go through life accepting responsibility and working through the tough times, you develop a solid, reliable core inside yourself that’s called character. And it will make you a better person in everything you do.
I believe that deep down, people want to be self-reliant. I think young people, if given a chance, will jump at independence. If they’re raised with a sense of personal responsibility and a belief in their own abilities, they’ll step forward and take charge of their own lives. It’s up to us to give them that chance.
I truly believe that the most remarkable phenomenon in this election was the young people who came forward and got involved in the political system for the first time. We have to recognize the significance of that: We have a whole new generation here that is telling us that if we make room for them and give them a chance to be heard, they have something to say! Whatever we do from here, we have to make sure that this new generation is heard and that we do whatever it takes to keep them involved. They’re our future.
Recently, I had a chance to speak to the students at Roosevelt High School, where I graduated in 1969. I told them the same thing I want to tell all of America’s young people: Be independent. You can depend on yourself. The American dream is still there. You can still work hard for your dream and achieve it. Live your dreams. Because without dreams, life becomes very stagnant. It doesn’t matter what your dreams are—one person’s dream might be insignificant to someone else, but that’s unimportant. I’m living proof that dreams can come true: I sat in that same chair, right in that same school. I’m no more special than anyone else. And if I can become governor, so can you. Go after your dreams!
C H A P T E R 10
LOOKING
NATIONAL
I’m in this to do as much as I can to affect the big picture. I can envision changes in attitudes and policies that would make our country great again, and while I have all this attention focused on me, I’m going to speak my mind. Then I’ll back up what I say with action. In many ways, what happens in Minnesota within the next four years will be a proving ground for what can happen nationally. If we can make these changes work here, we will boost people’s confidence that they can work nationwide. The excitement that this election has generated reaches far beyond the borders of Minnesota. People all across the nation are energized by the hope of change. People want to get their faith in the American dream back again.
Far too much of our society and our lives today are influenced by the media and by politicans with extreme agendas. How did the media and the extremists get so much power? Because people are afraid of them and because they’ve got seniority. They’ve become entrenched. In so much that I’ve seen of the way government works, whoever’s been there the longest carries the biggest switch. People in public office have to renew themselves. If the same people keep carrying the power, they develop into a good-old-boy network, just like the one we had in Brooklyn Park.
Our country is at a crossroads right now. Change is in the wind. I think the events that have just happened in Washington are causing everyone to take a long, hard look at what our government’s become. And now is the time to do something about it—now that we have it all out in the light.
We need to bring back a little honesty and integrity to our government. We can do that, but only if we’re willing to stop making popularity so important. The right answer is not always the popular one, at least initially. You have to have a vision for further down the line. That’s where integrity comes in. We need people who will say what they believe and why, and who will stick by what they say until they make it happen.
One time when I was mayor of Brooklyn Park, I was out visiting Washington, D.C., and an old politician took me aside and said, “You’re that young new mayor from Minnesota, aren’t you? Can I give you a little piece of advice? Always vote like you’re not gonna seek reelection. That way you never compromise your integrity.”
I’ve always tried to maintain that position. I don’t make decisions based on whether Jesse Ventura’s gonna get reelected in four years. In fact, if I do seek reelection, my whole campaign is going to be very simple: If you think I did a good job and you want me to stay in for four more years, vote me in; if you think someone else can do a better job, vote him or her in.
We pay way too much of our income to the government. I want to see income tax done away with entirely. Income tax could be replaced with a 15 percent across-the-board sales tax. People are studying this right now, and there’s plenty of good evidence to indicate that it could work. But it would have to be done nationally—that’s the only way it could work. After it’s in place nationally, then each individual state could add its own taxes on top of that.
I’m totally sold on this idea. We’d be able to take home the gross on our paychecks! We’d be in control of how much tax we paid by choosing how much to buy. We wouldn’t be penalized anymore for working hard and saving money! And it would be much fairer, because in the current system there are plenty of industries (legal and illegal) that get away with paying no taxes—gambling, drug dealers, cottage industries. But since everybody has to buy things, the tax would cover everyone, even illegal immigrants. But it’s got to start with the feds. And it will only happen if we, the citizens, show a lot of support for it.
I want to make government more directly accountable to the people. Nothing we’re paying people in public office to do should be going on behind closed doors. We have to do whatever is necessary to eliminate backroom politics and under-the-table wheeling and dealing. We need to create a climate in government where openness and honesty have chances to flourish.
In order to keep government healthy, we have to have a lot of turnover. We have to have term limits. We can’t allow people to get ensconced. Our government was founded with the idea that it would be butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers going into office and serving; then, when their terms were done, they’d go back to their trades. Jefferson and the other founding fathers never had the idea that people were going to make thirty-year careers out of politics. That was never the intention. Americans need fresh ideas and constant turnover, otherwise the machine becomes a monster.
And most important of all, we need to be involved, every single one of us. Our government will never truly be a government by, of, and for the people if people are too apathetic to do their parts. Voting is a privilege, but it’s also a responsibility. People have given their lives to protect our right to vote. We owe it to ourselves and to each other to exercise that right.
In a sense, even if you don’t vote, you vote by default. A vote not used is implied consent. You’re volunteering for taxation without representation. They can do whatever they want to you because you haven’t challenged them.
Why do we stand for it? On Election Day, your opinion matters just exactly as much as anyone else’s. With your vote, you have a chance to make yourself heard. It’s yours. Don’t throw it away! I’ll never understand why people whine and complain about the state their government’s in, then they throw away the one civil action they can perform to change things. It pisses me off when I hear people say, “Yeah, but I only have one vote. What’s one vote gonna do?” Well, for God’s sake, how many votes do you think anyone else has?
You don’t believe in the power of your vote? Well, take a look at what happened in Minnesota on November 3, 1998. Minnesotans didn’t have any more votes per person than anyone else, yet with the power of our votes, we changed the course of history. Everybody said a third party could never win. They even said people who voted for me were wasting their votes. Well, look at what all those “wasted” votes accomplished. People just like you, who had been convinced that their vote didn’t matter, came out to the polls and made their votes count. What do you think would have happened if Minnesotans had stayed away at this last election?
Change
starts at the grassroots level, and that’s where we need to focus our efforts. No election is too small. I’m urging you: Go out and get involved in local politics. Go to schoolboard meetings. Check up on your town council. Make them accountable. Make sure they’re representing you. That’s what you’re paying them to do, isn’t it? You’ll be amazed at the difference your involvement can make.
And we need to send a message to our young people: We have expectations of you. Take responsibility for your own actions. It might be tough in the short run, but in the long run, you’ll respect yourself more for it, and your community will be proud of you.
We really can’t blame young people entirely for their apathy. Government today is so full of contradictions and hypocrisy that it can’t be taken seriously. A case in point: We don’t send a clear message to young people about when we expect them to be legally responsible for their choices. We can send them off to die in a war at age eighteen, but we won’t even let them go into a bar and order a beer until they’re twenty-one. If the government enforces these kinds of nonsensical contradictions, then of course people are going to lose faith in it. We need a single, nationwide age of adulthood, so that there’s no ambiguity.
These are the changes I want to see our country make. They’re mostly changes in attitude. We must become, as a nation, more honest, open, and self-reliant. And we must expect no less of our government.
The Reform Party has a huge amount of potential to spear-head these changes. Its philosophy is outstanding: Reform Party members believe in term limits, campaign reform, a ban on PAC contributions, openness, accountability—many of the principles that will keep our government honest. The rules are easy to keep because they basically keep you clean; they keep you from becoming corrupt. But the Reform Party needs to reinvent itself a bit. They could have been a major national party if Ross Perot hadn’t faltered. But now that he has, he needs to step down and let someone else take the reins. If the party doesn’t get some fresh blood, it’s going to become anemic and die.
Nothing personal against Perot—I think he’s commendable. I voted for him twice. But for whatever reason, he wants to remain out front. When you call the party headquarters in Dallas, they still answer the phone, “Perot in ninety-six.” He’s fallen a great distance from the first time he ran, and he fell again the second time. He had better step aside in this next election or the party won’t exist nationally anymore.
We need a strong presidential candidate for the Reform Party in this next election. It’s extremely important to the survival of the party. The party’s got its feelers out right now. There are plenty of powerful candidates out there who could do it.
If we can get someone with major name recognition to step forward, it can work. A lot of people in the party are telling me I’m the man, that I have all the power. But I don’t want that power. I’m happy doing what I’m doing. Once they come up with a good candidate, I’ll support the person they pick.
The time is right, in this upcoming election, for a strong reform candidate to step forward. I mean, think about it—who else have we got? Al Gore? He’s about as exciting as watching paint dry. Nothing personal, but I don’t see Al Gore stimulating the masses.
And the Republicans are just going to shoot themselves in the feet again, coming in with that far-right agenda. Americans don’t want the government telling them how to live their lives. Their candidate’s never gonna fly as long as they stick to the extreme agenda that’s currently driving the Republican Party. That’s why Norm Coleman didn’t make it. He had to sell out to the far right-wingers, then he later tried to come back to a centrist position. All through the debates you’d hear him say, “Well, I agree with Jesse.” Both he and Humphrey said that, actually. But in the eyes of the voters it was too late. They’d already established themselves on the extremes. And trying to swing away from their stated positions just made them look like they lacked integrity. The people are on to these political tricks, and they’re tired of it.
Do you want to know who I have my eye on? And from what I’m told, a lot of other Reform Party people are watching him too. Colin Powell. He could do it. He has that leadership quality. He makes sense when he speaks, and he speaks with integrity. He’d break a barrier, being the first black to become president. He’d be refreshing. If he volunteered, I’d be right there to jump on board with him. A person like him could truly put the third party on the map for the nation, as I’ve done for Minnesota. If he ran and won, the third party would be here forever and ever, amen.
Americans are famous the world over for being pioneers and visionaries. We can be those things again. We’re still the most powerful country in the world; certainly, we’re the wealthiest. If we stop focusing on popularity and polls and media spin and look to our hearts and souls for the answers, if we’re willing to have the courage to accept responsibility and stand by our convictions, we can be a great nation again.
We’re a beacon to the world, an example of what people can accomplish when they truly live in freedom. It’s ours to embrace. If we embrace it, we won’t lose it. To all Americans who have lost faith in the American dream, I’m living proof that it’s still alive and well. It’s still our nation—we can still make it what we want it to be. And to all the young people who have voluntarily come out to take part in the system, welcome. Welcome to democracy in the making. May your visions of the future inspire all our lives.
About this Title
In I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed, Jesse Ventura reveals the secret of his landslide electoral success—with record voter turnout—and maps his innovative strategies for pioneering a new era in American government. Ventura is so entertaining that readers might forget, temporarily, that he’s a celebrity politician employing the advantage of his fame.
Copyright © 1999 by Jesse Ventura
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York,
VILLARD BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Cover page photo © George Lange
Except where otherwise credited, photographs appearing in this book are snapshots from the personal collection of the author.
Ventura, Jesse.
I ain’t got time to bleed: reworking the body politic from the
bottom up / Jesse Ventura.
p. cm.
1. Ventura, Jesse. 2. Governors—Minnesota Biography. 3. Minnesota—Politics and government—1951– . 4. United States— Politics and government—1993– . I. Title.
F610.3.V46A3 1999
977.6'053'092—dc21 99-25385
[B]
Random House website address: www.atrandom.com
eISBN: 978-0-375-50468-6
v3.0
I Ain't Got Time to Bleed Page 21
