Greg Guithues for Hawaiʻi

We’ve been wagging signs on the highway Sunday mornings in Ocean View for a year now. One of mine reads: “Impeach Him Again.” I want to be in that number. I see three possible scenarios. I’ve got a plan for each. I see this as the most important thing Congress can do at this point in time. The constitutional prerequisites for impeachment and removal have been met many times over.

Plan A — The Blue Wave

The 2026 midterms produce a hard Democratic wave. The House flips. First order of business: elect a new Speaker of the House. Then impeach and remove both Trump and Vance. Per the line of presidential succession, the Speaker becomes President. My preferred Speaker: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

This isn’t fantasy. This is the Constitution. The mechanism exists. The 25th Amendment exists. Impeachment exists. The founders built these tools because they knew tyrants would come. We just have to be willing to use them.

Plan B — If the House Stays Red

Republicans pour money into the midterms and retain the House. I will not submit quietly. I will be a disruption. I will make noise. When the Speaker calls for decorum, I’ll be the reason he’s calling for it.

Al Green stood up on the House floor and told the President “you have no mandate to take health care from poor people.” They removed him from the chamber for it. Al Green is my hero. I intend to follow his example. Someone has to say what needs saying. I will speak truth to power.

Plan B Prime — House Flips, Senate Doesn’t

We take the House but not the Senate. Impeachment passes — Trump is impeached again — but removal requires 67 Senate votes. My role is to make so much noise on the national stage that Republican senators can’t ignore it. Public pressure moves mountains when enough people push.

I’m not coming to Washington to be polite. I come to defend the Constitution. If you’re scared, get out of the way.

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WEBMASTER NOTES

1. Steve Bannon quote for possible use near the impeachment section: speaking to conservatives, Bannon warned that if Democrats win the midterms, ‘some in this room are going to prison — myself included.’ Trump himself told House Republicans at a January 2026 retreat: ‘If we don’t win the midterms… they’ll find a reason to impeach me.’ Both men understand what’s at stake.

2) this paragraph needs tightening up.

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Congress sets the tax code. It is a constitutional responsibility. And for the past four decades, that responsibility has been used to funnel wealth upward. My job in Washington is to make sure government remembers who actually needs it.

The History They Don’t Want You to Know

In the 1950s and 1960s — the era of American prosperity that conservatives love to romanticize — the top marginal tax rate was over 90%. The middle class was thriving. Roads got built. Schools got funded. Veterans got educated. The American Dream was real for millions of families, including mine.

Then came the tax cuts. Reagan slashed the top rate. Every Republican since has followed the same playbook: cut taxes for the rich, promise it’ll trickle down. It never trickles down. It pools at the top. Forty years of this experiment and the results are in: the rich got richer, the rest of us got left behind.

Where the Money Is

The wealthiest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. That’s not a natural outcome of hard work. That’s a rigged tax code doing exactly what it was designed to do. Corporate profits are at record highs. CEO pay is hundreds of times what the average worker earns. Meanwhile, working families are choosing between groceries and medicine.

Here’s David Gierlach, an Episcopal Priest on Oahu, talking about income and wealth inequality and tax reform:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AdIEH6ZwCAU

Here’s some data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, well sourced.

Wealth Inequality

The wealthiest 1% holds as much wealth as the bottom 90%

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/efa/efa-distributional-financial-accounts.htm

And from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau.

Income Inequality

The highest 10% of earners earn more than the bottom 90% of earners on an annual basis.

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https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2025/09/post-tax-income.html

WEBMASTER NOTES

Include links to the relevant government reports.

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What I’ll Fight For

The money exists. It has always existed. The question is whether government works for everyone or only for those who already have everything. I will fight for a tax code that funds education, healthcare, social services and infrastructure by asking those who have benefited most from this country to pay their fair share. Enough of the rich getting richer. Eat the rich, and we’ll all be fat.

Senator Bernie Sanders has suggested a 100%TAX ON INCOME ABOVE ONE BILLION PER YEAR. That’s a step in the right direction.

In most of America, the quality of your child’s public school is determined by the property tax base of the ZIP code you live in. Rich neighborhoods get good schools. Poor neighborhoods don’t. Every child in America deserves access to quality education, regardless of ZIP code.

It’s Personal

My daughter is in her forties. She finished her bachelor’s degree last year — to my knowledge, the first person in her family tree to earn one. I couldn’t be more proud. But it shouldn’t have taken that long. A good education shouldn’t be a luxury that depends on where you were born or how much money your parents had.

I grew up middle class. My family could help me when I needed it. I got my Associate’s degree and built a career. Not everyone has that advantage. I recognize that.

The Real Cost of Being Poor

It’s expensive being poor. When your local school is underfunded, your kids fall behind. When they fall behind, their options narrow. When their options narrow, the cycle continues. This isn’t an accident. It’s a policy choice. And Congress has the power to make a different choice.

What I’ll Fight For

Federal education funding that doesn’t punish children for being born in the wrong ZIP code. Every kid in this country deserves teachers who are paid well, buildings that aren’t falling apart, and a real shot at the future. The money exists. We’ve just been spending it on the wrong things.

I support single payer medical and dental for all Americans. The wealthiest nation in the history of the world has the resources to provide every citizen with medical and dental care. This is not a radical idea. It’s basic decency.

I Know the System

I’m a veteran. I’ve used VA healthcare. I know what government-provided medical care looks like when it works. It’s not perfect, but it’s there. Now I’m on Social Security and Medicare. The system works for me because I earned my way into it. But healthcare shouldn’t be something you have to earn. It’s something you deserve because you’re a human being.

The Tax Code Is the Answer

Fixing the tax code will fund single-payer health and dental care for all Americans. We’re already spending the money — we’re just spending it wrong. We pay more per capita for healthcare than any other developed nation and get worse outcomes. Insurance companies take their cut. Pharmaceutical companies take their cut. Hospital systems take their cut. By the time any of that money reaches an actual doctor treating an actual patient, half of it is gone.

What I’ll Fight For

Single payer. Medical and dental. For everyone. No networks, no prior authorizations, no fighting with insurance companies while you’re sick. You get sick, you see a doctor. That’s how it should work. The money exists. I have the courage to tax it from the people profiting off human suffering.

We have one planet. Federal policy must reflect the reality that no amount of economic growth matters if we destroy the natural systems that sustain all life.

Living on the Big Island

I’ve lived in Ocean View on the Big Island since 2014. The ecology here is unlike anywhere else on Earth. Species that exist nowhere else. Coral reefs. Rainforests. Volcanic landscapes that are still being formed. You don’t have to be a scientist to see that this place is worth protecting. You just have to open your eyes.

But what I see from Washington is a government that treats the environment as an obstacle to profit. That has to stop.

The Federal Responsibility

Environmental protection isn’t a state issue. Pollution doesn’t respect state lines. Climate change doesn’t care about congressional districts. The ocean that surrounds these islands connects us to every other coast on the planet. Federal policy must protect what we all share.

Clean air. Clean water. A stable climate. Protected ecosystems. These aren’t luxuries. They’re the foundation of everything else. You can’t have a healthy economy on a dead planet. You can’t raise healthy children breathing poisoned air.

What I’ll Fight For

Strong federal environmental protections. Investment in clean energy. Opposition to any legislation that trades our children’s future for short-term profit. One planet. That’s all we get. I intend to fight for it like our grandchildren’s lives depend on it — because they do.

I’m here for all peoples of Hawai’i. And all the peoples of the United States of America.

The Truth

Hawai’i was a sovereign nation. The Hawaiian Kingdom had treaties with other nations, a constitution, and a functioning government. The United States overthrew that government in 1893 with the backing of American businessmen and U.S. Marines. Congress formally apologized for it in 1993 — a hundred years later. An apology without action is just words.

Native Hawaiian culture, language, and land rights have been systematically disrupted for over a century. I’m a haole living on Hawaiian land. I know that. I don’t pretend otherwise. What I can do is show up and fight in Washington for the dignity and rights of the people whose home I share.

What I Stand For

The dignity of all peoples. Their rights, their cultures, and their sovereignty deserve full respect and active advocacy in Washington. I will provide it.

I’ve lived in Ocean View for twelve years. This community is made up of people of many different ethnicities. Working people, retired people, people struggling to get by. I’ve volunteered with the Ocean View Community Association. I help with shower service at St. Jude’s for our community members without running water. I see the struggles. And I know that the federal government has a responsibility — a debt, — to the Native Hawaiian people.

I will be a voice for that responsibility in Congress.

Civil Rights should not depend on how you identify or who you are romantic with. Period.

Civil Rights Are for Everyone

This shouldn’t be complicated. The Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. That means everyone. Not just the people who look like me or love the way I love. Everyone.

When I say I stand for the dignity of every human being, I mean every human being. That includes our LGBTQ+ neighbors, friends, family members, and fellow citizens. Their right to live openly, safely, and with full legal protection should not be up for debate.

The Current Threat

We’re watching an administration that wants to roll back protections for transgender Americans, that uses anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric as a political tool, that treats civil rights as something to be granted or revoked based on who’s in power. That’s not how rights work. Rights are inherent. Government’s job is to protect them, not to decide who deserves them.

What I’ll Fight For

Full legal equality. Anti-discrimination protections in housing, employment, and public services. The right to exist without fear. I don’t need to understand every aspect of someone’s identity to know they deserve the same rights I have. That’s what equality means.

Should have been done long ago.

Tax It and Limit It Like Alcohol

Tax and limit sales of marijuana like alcohol. That’s it. That’s the policy. We figured out how to regulate alcohol after Prohibition. We can do the same thing here. It’s not complicated.

People are already using it. States have already legalized it. The federal government is behind the curve. Meanwhile, people are sitting in prison for something that’s legal in half the country. That’s not justice. That’s a policy failure.

The Common Sense Case

Legalization means regulation. Regulation means safety standards, age limits, and tax revenue. Keeping it illegal means cartels profit, people get criminal records for possession, and the government collects nothing.

Every dollar spent enforcing marijuana prohibition is a dollar not spent on actual public safety. Every person locked up for marijuana related crime is a person whose life has been disrupted for no good reason.

What I’ll Fight For

Federal legalization. Tax it. Regulate it. Limit sales the way we limit alcohol sales. Use the tax revenue for something useful — education, healthcare, infrastructure. And expunge the records of people who were convicted for something that should never have been a crime in the first place.

The cost of housing is financially crippling a generation.

I live in Ocean View on the Big Island. My house is paid for. I know how lucky that makes me. A lot of people in my community aren’t that lucky. I see it every day — working people, good people, who can barely keep a roof over their heads. And it’s not because they aren’t working hard enough. It’s because the system is broken.

Young people can’t afford to buy homes. Rent takes half of working families’ income. In Hawai’i, the cost of living is already brutal — add housing costs on top of that and people are drowning.

What I’ll Fight For

Federal action on affordable housing. This means investment in housing programs, protections for renters, and policies that put working families ahead of corporate landlords and speculators. Housing is a basic human need. When an entire generation can’t afford it, that’s a failure of policy, not a failure of character.

One needs a soul to soul-search…

The Problem

There must be legal limits on what AI can be used for. No important decisions should be left to a machine. If an AI kills or maims someone, who is responsible? Right now, the answer is unclear. That’s unacceptable.

Major technology companies are racing to deploy AI systems without adequate safety assessments. They’re making decisions that affect millions of people — hiring, lending, medical diagnoses, criminal sentencing — and handing those decisions to algorithms that have no conscience, no accountability, and no understanding of what it means to be human.

What’s at Stake

AI doesn’t have values. It doesn’t have empathy. It doesn’t understand context the way a human being does. When you let a machine decide who gets a loan, who gets hired, who gets medical treatment, or who goes to prison, you’ve removed the human element from decisions that require humanity.

The companies building these systems are motivated by profit. They will not regulate themselves. They never do. That’s why we have Congress.

What I’ll Fight For

Legal limits on AI decision-making. Mandatory safety assessments before deployment. Clear liability when AI systems cause harm. Transparency requirements so people know when a machine is making decisions about their lives. Technology should serve people, not replace human judgment on matters of consequence.

Make America a Leader in Science Again.

We Used to Lead

America put human beings on the moon. We developed vaccines that eradicated diseases. We built the internet. American scientific research was the envy of the world — and it made the world better.

Now we’re watching an administration gut federal research funding, silence scientists, and treat expertise as a threat. When you defund science, you don’t save money. You fall behind. And when America falls behind in science, we all pay the price.

Why It Matters

Science isn’t political. Gravity doesn’t care who you voted for. Viruses don’t check party affiliation. Climate data doesn’t have an agenda. The politicization of science is one of the most dangerous trends in American politics, and it has to stop.

Hawai’i is home to world-class observatories, marine research, and ecological study. The Big Island alone hosts some of the most important scientific infrastructure on the planet. Federal support for science isn’t abstract to us — it’s our neighbors’ jobs, our community’s future, and our contribution to human knowledge.

What I’ll Fight For

Restore and increase federal funding for scientific research. Protect scientists from political interference. Support STEM education. Make America a place where the best minds in the world want to come and do their work. We did it before. We can do it again.

Give recovering conservatives a safe place to land.

Us-vs-Them Isn’t Working

Most Americans know in their souls that fascism is wrong. They know that cruelty isn’t strength. They know that what’s happening in this country isn’t right. But the way we’ve been doing politics — screaming at each other, treating the other side as the enemy — isn’t bringing anyone to the table. It’s pushing people into corners.

I’m a far-left progressive. I don’t hide that. But I also know that the person across the aisle from me is a human being with a family, with fears, with hopes for their children. Calling them the enemy doesn’t help. It just makes the division deeper.

A Safe Place to Land

There are millions of Americans right now who are uncomfortable with what their party has become. They didn’t sign up for fascism. They didn’t sign up for cruelty. But they don’t see a place for themselves on our side either, because we’ve spent years telling them they’re the problem.

We need to give those people space. Space to change their minds. Space to join a message of peace, equality, and love without being shamed for where they started. Recovery is a process. You don’t help someone recover by punching them in the face.

What I Stand For

I will be loud against fascism. I will call a fascist a fascist. But I will also extend a hand to anyone who wants to stand against it with me. I don’t care what you called yourself yesterday. I care what you’re willing to fight for today.

Let’s give recovering conservatives a safe place to land. Their hearts will connect with our message if we let them.