and just giving african-americans $30,000 is not enough. there needs to be a major program, 25 years in length and lots of things to help them build more businesses in their communities, help them go to college and other credential programs. it needs to be a moment of national healing and reconciliation. host: you mentioned your quicker background. two presidents in the history of quakers. guest: i know richard nixon was a quaker. i'm curious about the other. host: according to history, herbert hoover was a quaker. do you have a favorite president? guest: abraham lincoln is pretty hard to beat so i would have to go with abraham lincoln. i look back and a lot of presidents who served two terms like dwight eisenhower was a republican who i admire when i look back and understand the history of the 50's.

he railed against the military industrial complex. i think we should have a different size investment in military. the clinton -- bill clinton oversaw the beginnings of the internet and got us back to balance. he is somebody i admire. host: jason palmer is the democratic p"washington journal continues. dr. cornell west is a professor at the seminary and an independent presidential candidate talking about his candidacy. guest: bless you and thank you for having me. hope you're doing well. host: if you had to boil down your candidacy to a few sentences what would you tell people? guest: it's based on martin luther king and fannie lou

hammer and try to talk about truth, justice and love in the contest where it seems to have any moment of substantive morality. politics has become legalized corruption, normalize bribery where they will say anything to stay in office and there is no genuine concern for people let alone poor people, working people, people have been subjugated and degraded. we give up on serious commitment to public life and citizens being human beings. the american project as we have understood it will be over and i want to raise my voice to

mobilize people and get people to see that trump is leading us toward second civil war and biden is leading us to a third world war. host: if you were president what would cornell west's administration to change the plight of poor people? guest: biden authorized 200,000,000,004 fighters. we could abolish poverty without 200 billion. i spent time with my brothers and sisters at the east side cafe there is no housing. i went to skidrow in los angeles

how can we be the richest nation and have so many poor people and homeless people? we have organize greed when it comes to housing and organize greed with health care. this is what happens when you have unleashed on the society with little accountability in the most vulnerable are the ones most affected there has to be a moral compass when you talk about leadership in the country. you know that is true when it comes to the genocide and pride tied conditions in gaza. that is a litmus test. we watch it take place and enable billions of dollars to allow the military equipment to go to killing and maiming children?

13,000 precious palestinian children and we act like we can do nothing? this is a spiritual sickness and that's true for any people. that's true for any people. in this case is palestinian and i see it in new york, l.a., chicago and we want to congratulate ourselves that the economy is doing well. we are in a spiritual and political crisis of profound proportion and we need to get beyond the lies, revenge and hatred and talk about truth, justice and love. host: if you want to ask our guest questions (202) 748-8000 (202) 748-8001, for democrats

(202) 748-8000, for independents (202) 748-8002. host: do you have a political background? guest: we need new people. i have been working for poor people for 55 years in the number of candidates. sometimes they were within the democratic party and more and more they have been outside the democratic party. they have been captured by the pentagon on one end and wall street on the other and the republican party has been captured by big money. people say you have never been an elected official.

i have been an active citizen trying to ensure that truth and justice can procure a place in american politics and that is very much what i would do as president. i would send it completely different tone, a completely different vibe coming from the white house. working people you are at the center of public policy. not wall street, the stock market but mainstreet and access to health care, education, safe communities, access to housing as a human right just like health care is a human right. we have to push back these predators that have been pushing out so many poor and working people. host: on your website one of the

things you advocate for is a wealth tax, $20 minimum wage and basic income commission. as far as the wealth tax president biden has called for increase taxes but what is your definition of a wealth tax? guest: it's difficult to enforce. as much as i would put it on paper we note the wealthy are so clever with their lawyers and create loopholes. i am much more concerned about this investing from the military. we have 800 military units around the world and special operations and 130 countries. we have to cut back on military and goes directly into universal

basic income. we agreed there should be a basic universal income's it's easier to reinvest directly into satisfying basic social needs because we can have some of the most marvelous wealth taxes on paper and you can't execute it because these loopholes are still there and tax evasion in the cayman islands. in terms of actually gaining resources for poor and working people rather than supporting that strong minimum wage and strong wing of the trade union

as well as the fight for benefits and contribute to a robust public life. we have to engage in satisfying basic social needs. i go to schools all the time and policeman in elementary schools more than nurses and counselors. can you imagine if that was the case when we went to schools? the students in the barrios, the hoods, poor whites, what kind of future are we talking about with that militarized context? the militarization of the police in any security officers because as society decays we appealed to the military and and with more and more mass shootings in

militaristic ways of dealing with conflict that is the sign of a country going under. we have to fight back and countervailing forces against organized greed and institutionalized hatred and indifference to the most vulnerable. i believe that is the least of these the 25th chapter of matthew what you do to prisoners, poor, the orphans, the widows. that is the criteria. host: we have a call lined up for you. let's start with joan in new york. caller: hello. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i'm on? host:? ahead. caller: why the president i

think after 80 years old they should get out. they are old and senile and nancy below see and chuck schumer at 80 years old they should get out. guest: i agree with my sisters citizen joan. we have to have a rotation on one of the reasons they don't rotate as soon as they get in there they get so comfortable and well-adjusted to the status quo that they want to reposition themselves is no accident that they get richer and richer as the country gets into deeper crisis. host: from j on the democrats

line in washington dc. caller: hi dr. west i'm calling from the stolen lands in washington dc think you for your comments on dropping the military-industrial complex. i have a two-part question if you would. i worked for the bernie sanders campaign and i also know that humanity needs than a free palestine. where they are free to drink clean water. one lesson we learned from bernie sanders in the presidential arena and how can we get anywhere closer to liberating palestine? guest: i appreciated brother j.

i did two campaigns with my brother bernie sanders. one of the lessons i think we can learn is the democratic party is beyond redemption when it comes towards working people in america in dealing with precious palestinians in gaza. it is windowdressing in terms of acting as if they have a deep commitment to people. overall biden has been in the back pocket of wall street. and when it comes to gaza you see crime against humanity, work

. quit lying we are seeing these crimes against humanity every day. and then respond only when arab and muslim voters vote against the democratic policy. we want someone with the moral backbone. what are you going to do? create appear that it takes two months when you have an escalation? the motto of mlk you don't use

as a slogan to enable genocide. you are a war criminal for enabling those actions. we have to create a context in which the palace to and equality we don't want genocide of the people but we have to be honest and recognize jewish security

predicated on palestinian occupation and domination. how do jews and palestinians learn to live together in a context that is where you have to had. it is a maras, a subterfuge. it power and is really super receipt you reproduce the same domination in a different way. i amateur rumor. i believe a precious palestinian baby has the same value as a jewish baby.

that's what it is to be a palestinian jew named jesus. host: what should the united states or israel do with the mosque ultimately? guest: you have to pull the rug of any effort that would engage in any kind of response. hamas is a counterterrorism organization. and if you pull the rug out you in the occupation that hamas would have no reason to engage in any kind of attack against innocent people. if there are fights between combatants, israeli soldiers and

hamas soldiers there is war. i don't believe in killing any innocent babies i don't care who they are. hamas is a counter terrorist organization we can even get corporate media to talk about israeli terrorism. they are engaged in terrorist acts. you have to tell the truth. that's not anti-semitic at all. jews are like anyone else they have the capacity for love and care and terrorizing kill and we are seeing a timbre killing and the fear against killing you just don't talk about hamas you have to talk about the idf and it goes back 75 years with the ethnic cleansing to 1948,

occupation and apartheid bike conditions. that meant dell's side were in some ways worse than south african apartheid. anti-jewish hatred is wrong, vicious no doubt about that. but it will not silence any of us who have a moral commitment to any group that is being occupied, dominated and having to deal with genocidal attacks. a lot of democrats one event have this dialogue even brother schumer gave his historic talk he didn't say a word about palestinian suffering it was about the internal dynamics of jews. it lacks any serious moral content. it reminds me of the confessing

church that opposed hitler's because hitler's was making the christian accommodating the gospel to him it did not say a word about jews. : offers said christians have no right to use gregorian chance because they applied to jews. they can't say a word about palestinian suffering because it's too tied to the narrow view and the money coming in enabling the policy that by then, harris and rfk junior is worse than the other two. host: i apologize for interrupting.

as related to what you brought up on because of your background as a christian professor. if i vote for you which you serve the 14th amendment to keep churches state separate. guest: there is no doubt about it. when you are in a public space, atheists, agnostics, christians and jews missouri asters any religious practice -- and zoroaster. also under the right to express yourself but when you enter the public space all of us should be willing to acknowledge what informs our perception of what it means to be human and now we think about the world. i entered the space as a

christian. but i believe in a strong separation of church and state and state and temple and state and mosque. you can have a certain educational institution shaped by the state and that could become authoritarian so i'm very libertarian for people to express themselves religiously and politically in defending the right of people who have been wronged. you have the right to be wrong in debate in public spaces. host: on the independent mind you're on with the tax. caller: i've left the democratic party with their

obsession of daca. and now is these landlords and abolishing private mortgage insurance for housing is an unnecessary burden that has burden people financially. you can get rid of private mortgage insurance once you have 25% equity. any independent platform should educate the american people about the creation of a moss 39 years -- hamas, i also believe dr. west should have a decent vice president who has strong

labor ties, working-class ties who will respect the union labor laws and work with the eeoc to strengthen their case law and emptied their backlogs because it will make it irrelevant to have a civil right division. host: well start with the vp candidate, do you have one? guest: we are getting very close. but my brother has the right sensibility and sentiment. my vice presidential nominee will have history and working-class movements in looking at the world from the bottom up and being open to

learn and listen. part of the challenge these days is that no one of us should be so self-righteous that we are not willing to learn and listen to other people and learn to be so critical. assign of maturity is humility and that something that is very scarce these days. not just in politics but in a country that is so polarized and gangsterized. i appreciate that you are looking through the lens of working and poor people. host: on the republican mind we have isaac. caller: i have been a and i read a lot of your books and i read your lectures. what are you running as a green

party candidate when you know this is the only way to win the presidency? guest: i appreciate the question. i appreciate those kind words. i am running as an independent i was only with the green party many months ago but i am an independent now. i see the republican and democratic parties that are tied to big money and don't have the concerns of poor and working people and those around the world to our subjugated by imperial policies. those policies that would support other states oppressed people. -- that suppress people. we are in uncharted territory. we don't know how long trump

will stay out of jail or how long biden will hold on he may have to pull back and both of them go to there be teams and we have to see what the be teams look like. you have the rest of us still fighting. i am trying to be constant, consistent the way fannie lou hamer which is to tell the truth. the nature of truth is to seek justice which is what love looks like in public. host: lc from north carolina. caller: mr. west. i thought you and your twin tavis smiley had disappeared. you have a snowballs chance in

hell but you could get to our neighborhoods and stop the young men from killing each other. the biggest mistake we ever made was given up on our schools. if we followed martin luther king on the dead-end road. i was a part of that march when we give up our schools we gave up our kids. you and tavis smiley. both of you should find a cliff and jump off. guest: jump off a cliff? is that what you have to say to people who have been out here for 50 years. i have taught in prison for 41 years and brothers dealing with gun violence?

you don't know what you're talking about my brother. shame on you. you don't know who you are talking to. you're talking about jumping off a cliff and tavis smiley jump enough a cliff? i don't want you jumping off a cliff. let's fight for the schools, what are you talking about other? god bless you and your family. host: independent presidential candidate dr. west one step to codify abortion rights and nationalize the health care industry. why do you think that is necessary? guest: we have to have a fundamental commitment to women having control over their bodies.

there was a big conversation over a of men were the only ones who gave birth there would be a very different conversation. let's be honest about the discussion over abortion. it is the difficult and delicate issue but we have to have a sensitivity to the woman and the child. i am firmly committed to women having control over the reproductive rights is taking the greed out of our health system. i don't know why we can't have the same health care system that the congress has in the military has they call that socialist because those are the offices tied to national security. i believe that health care like poverty and the human right to

housing those are issues of national security two. these pharmaceutical companies and medical systems have been obsessed with profits and makes it difficult to satisfy the basic needs of the most vulnerable and that is why i am committed to ensuring that every citizen has access to quality health care, quality education, safe neighborhoods and communities having oversight over the police that are still out of control when it comes to brutality. we just had a police officer down in mississippi where we had accountability with the police if they violate the laws of citizens especially black folks

the police have to be accountable. there has to be public power. private power to any public life. thus a fundamental issue we have to come to terms with because private power is out of control. there is a viewer who asked about rfk. he says i am an independent in the two-party system is broken. guest: saying israel has any right to level another nation if they are attacked. i don't know what he is talking about. he is much further right then

biden. i think it would surprises blessed and beloved father. he is calling for independent voices and candidates. auntie does acknowledge the way in which corporate domination are leading towards a moral bankruptcy. but when it comes to gaza he's on the opposite line of the spectrum and when it comes to any serious talk about what it means to engage in the empowerment of poor people he sees it through the market and i see it through the government and the market. he and i are very different, no doubt.

and he has a preoccupation with vaccines and i believe pharmaceutical companies have been too influential in dictating vaccine policy but i think they can be desirable under the right condition. he has a sense that the vaccine is a source of evil and i think that is hyperbolic and i think i can be dangerous when it comes to misleading people but there is too much corruption in the dictation regarding vaccine. as we proceed in the months ahead people will see who the more genuine independent voices are in this move towards the white house. host: have you had any chance to

have a discussion about your thoughts to president biden for the democratic party? host: from washington dc on the independent line. caller: thank you dr. west for speaking the truth about palestine. the only candidate who speaks to someone like me who was an immigrant. only having a republican that immigrants are poison. you have biden who is giving money to bomb civilians. my question to you, how much does it cost because you are running against powerful lobbies

and denying opportunities and how much will it cost you financially? thank you for speaking for the truth. how do they sleep at night? guest: that is a powerful point. how do you deal with lies, crime when you engage in it? massive murder, maiming and famine. they want to ask like it doesn't exist or it is something else. it's not just in gaza but right here in the united states. you could go to mississippi and

see massive poverty and decrepit schools and inadequate housing and so forth. all of the schools in poor communities are so impoverished that opposed to wealthy communities. you try to the best of your ability to have some moral compass or spiritual content because i come from a great bl ack people who have been traumatized for 400 years but outer best we have lovers and healers and joy spreaders. in a variety of communities to muslims, new immigrants and people who have been here, it's

moral and spiritual we need more of these voices. my campaign is nothing that a moment and movement. you have to have people who are organized and on the move in the campaign is nothing but a voice of a candidate routing in the suffering and resistance of people who are having their backs pushed against the wall. host: how much ballot access to you have? guest: we began with alaska and then moved to the united citizens party in south carolina that brother cliburn helped to found in the 60's and 70's.

i always applaud his early years in that party endorsed him on the ballot in utah. on the ballot in oregon with the progressive party we are on the move. we have low hanging fruits in terms of states. we are very much on the move and trying to make sure that truth justice and love has a place in a moment overwhelming barbarity. host: joseph in new york city on the democrats line. guest: i have a question in the comment. i am a veteran that 75. and i want to thank professor

west i don't know how to put it, my issue is that of homelessness. basic income and i like that professor west. we will be waiting for you to come to new york. what can you say more on what your policy will be around basic income? i live month-to-month and i get some money from my retirement. what can you say on that? guest: i appreciate rather joseph it is very hard very powerful. 2% of our citizens live

paycheck-to-paycheck and you were prepared to pay the ultimate price and you live paycheck-to-paycheck is a veteran. you ought to be ashamed of yourself to treat a veteran in that way. when i talk about the abolition of poverty in the abolition of homelessness i am just making sure we have priorities such the resources are available so that no one has to be homeless. i told my beloved wife, when i went i don't even want to go into the white house until everyone has a house. i don't want to be in public housing which is what the white house is if there is no decent

housing for the public, the fellow citizens. a president has to set an example. that's also what it means to follow a palestinian jew named jesus. not because he hated the rich but he hated greed. he hated working people being exploited in women being violated and that is a moral and spiritual stands. you can be secular and agree with that. we just need that kind of moral and spiritual awakening if we are not going to go under. every empire goes under with the corruption of the elites, citizens feeling hopeless,

powerless, impotent and then here comes the pied piper who was a tyrant, a fascist and the strong man to lead them out. right now the level of spiritual decay and moral decadence, the increasing lies and revenge. we have to get beyond that. where is the decency and generosity in the openness to each other. that is the great contribution of the black freedom movement. rabbi hassell understood it, dorothy day understood it, it is a human thing. where is our common humanity and how do we pass it on? i have been blessed to teach in

prisons as well as harvard, yale and princeton because those are context in which our young people can flower and flourish. the move towards maturity to have love and courage to tell the truth. i do it with joy and a certain kind of style because i am a blues and jazz man and you go through smiling with the great joy even with overwhelming catastrophe. host: who is your favorite bluesman? guest: muddy waters, sarah vaughn. host: let's hear from martin in chicago on the independent line. caller: he went on a tirade

with joe biden and never said a word about bibi netanyahu. he is a right wing extremist from philadelphia. joe biden's administration has been saying you are not going to take land from palestine and pushing back against israel. but you will notice said. he went on to say democrats are doing anything for working people i am a local ironworker and the only one supporting me are the democrats.

obama got health care care for the people. getting pushed back by all these conservatives. guest: quit line on me brother. i don't get a penny from conservatives and i am not supporting trumper the conservatives in the united states has vetoed a cease-fire. he has not inspired israel behind-the-scenes only millions of dollars for more military might. i am not supporting republicans and tell the truth about bottom. host: tom in ohio. on the republican mind. caller: i'm kind of impressed listening to you. i am curious about one thing in particular.

everyone is down on the rich man guest: poor people have never been solely dependent on rich people. rich people have been dependent on working people. the rich themselves couldn't get rich without their workers producing the products. i just want to make sure that there are no poor people. i want to make sure working people are able to live lives with decency and dignity and that means they've got access to health care. it's not when the health industry decides to extend to a few million. i want all working people to have health care. i want all working people to have a right to housing and so forth. we look at the world solely through the lens of the rich, then you say without the rich, than the poor people wouldn't

have jobs. look at the world through the lens of a system that ensures that working people are treated well and are not exploited by the rich. that's a different perspective, my brother. that's what i'm putting forward this morning. host: rich joins us from new york estate, independent line for cornell west. caller: how are you doing? what an honor to get on with brother west. i'd like to speak about brother would eat that a slam for you and me, woody guthrie. that's right, i wondered if you are familiar with the connection with him and the trumps. i actually found out about this googling it and the song lindbergh which is basically a history lesson and the song, i was listening to the song and i was going through some of the other sites and saw one that said woody hates his racist

landlord. underneath, it said old man trump in bold letters. the story goes that woody, after world war ii came back to brooklyn living in an apartment complex called beach haven. when he had some of his black musician friends over to play, the landlord fred trump caught wind of it and gave him an eviction notice because not only did fred trump not want white tenants come he didn't want his white tenants to have black friends. guest: he's telling the truth. you can see that in the history texts of donald trump. his father came straight from germany and he was also arrested at a ku klux klan gathering where he brought young donald. the talk about lindbergh is very important because he was the

most visible member of the america first committee that was founded by roger stewart of the class of 1937 at princeton. the other most visible member was henry ford. henry ford and charles lindbergh received the eagles award from hitler's in 1938. they were explicit in their nazi sympathies and affiliations. that doesn't mean necessarily that america first is always a slogan of nazis but historically, the american first committee with charles lindbergh and henry ford were connected directly with hitler's. hitler's had a picture of henry ford in his office. ford was the only american who lived favorably in hitler's book, mein kampf. you can see it in the text. woody guthrie professed his love

of poor people, working people and anti-restasis and always in solidarity with black people. he will be against lindbergh, against henry ford and certainly against any form of nazi-ism and fascism. he's one of the grand fixtures in the history of this nation as an artist. the artist always plays a crucial role in the sense in which they are vanguards of the species like this powerful picture of rembrandt. the prodigal son, one of the greatest portraits in the history of europe. prodigal son is about profound love of giving and it's the highest form of giving. the highest form of love. that's what woody guthrie, that's what martin king, that's what dorothy, that's what this campaign is about, let's see if you have a