Gov. Jesse Ventura (I.-Minn.) visited Georgetown yesterday evening, encouraging students to vote and become an interest group that politicians must address. Ventura pressed students in particular to embrace third parties as a means to improve the American political system.

Ventura, 49, said he sympathized with students who were disinterested in politics and the presidential race, but said the responsibility for changing the topics addressed by candidates rested on young people’s shoulders.

“You don’t vote,” Ventura said. “They know the elderly do, and they focus on issues that are important to them. To make them pay attention to you, you must become the third party movement.”

Ventura was a third party candidate elected to the Minnesota gubernatorial office in 1998. He promoted the third party as necessary for the large U.S. population and said the two-party system “is great – it gives us one more choice than Russia.”

Ventura said that to succeed, the third party must espouse a centrist positions. In 1996, third party presidential candidate Ross Perot was not allowed to participate in the debates, despite the fact that he won 19 percent of the popular vote in the preceding election, according to Ventura.

Ventura attributed Perot’s exclusion to the prevailing “stranglehold of these two parties that won’t let anyone else on board.”

Ventura also described his experiences returning from southeast Asia after fighting in the Vietnam war. Calling students’ right to vote a gift from his generation, Ventura said he returned from Vietnam after a nine-month tour, unable to vote and unable to drink.

“After five days back in the U.S., I wanted to go back over,” Ventura said. I said, `over there, I’m an adult. Here, I’m a child.”

Ventura told the student audience not to squander their opportunity to vote in the upcoming election and addressed issues concerning youth in the question and answer period, saying that there needs to be one consistent age for adulthood. “If you’re old enough to die for your country, you’re old enough to drink a beer,” he said.

Ventura elaborated on changes he saw as necessary to election proceedings. “Any party that wins 5 percent of the vote should be considered a major party,” he said.

Criticizing the election commission for its low standards of voting turnout and the refusal to allow third party candidates to debate with Republicans and Democrats, Ventura said in 1998 there was a 60 percent voter turnout.

“Imagine your basketball coach saying, `This year, we want to be six and four.’ The coach would be on the fast highway out of town. We accept 60 percent – that’s pathetic.”

Ventura called U.S. General Colin Powell the best choice for president, but after the speech said that his mind is not yet made up between the 2000 presidential candidates. “None are motivating me to vote,” he said.

Ventura also warned the packed Gaston Hall about the press and campaign finance.

“The press is no longer reporting the news, but creating it,” Ventura said. “They need to be honest with you and me, and honesty should be to tell what their focus is: money.”

Ventura said that since money and ratings drive the media, their coverage focuses on what will help them reach those ends.

Saying that a political science major should be banned because it creates career politicians, Ventura pointed out alleged hypocrisies within the political system and called for politics to return to what they were intended to be by the founding fathers.

“How many lawyers get elected?” Ventura asked. “Then they create the laws they work under. That sounds like a good deal.”

Ventura said soft money donated to campaigns should be outlawed, calling it a loophole in campaign finance.

“Most of my donations were $50,” Ventura said, waving his hands over his large frame. “See how there are no strings? Fifty dollars don’t get you much.”

Ventura also questioned the economic validity of presidential candidates spending $1 million to win a job paying $100,000.

“I’m a capitalist, but when it comes to politics, I switch to a bit of socialism,” he said.

Ventura anticipated questions about his future political career, saying he was uncertain and had no plans as of yet. In fact, Ventura expressed disapproval of career politicians and beltway insiders, saying “When you make a decision because it will affect how you get elected, you’re not serving the republic, but serving yourself.” He said he did not want to run for president due to the substantial change it would have on his life.

Departing from remarks prepared by speechwriters, Ventura reflected on his gubernatorial term.

“Not to downgrade Georgetown, Harvard, Yale . but none of you have received the education I have in one and three-quarters years,” Ventura said. “I used to laugh at those honorary degrees they give out – not any more. All the work I’ve done . I’ve earned a degree from Georgetown.”

Showing his lighter side, Ventura indulged and encouraged students’ non-political questions, revealing that his best bench press was a “respectable” 440 lbs., and that the victor of a match-up with his Predator co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger would be “not Ah-nold.” Ventura also discussed his state’s pro and high school football teams, his Porsche and what he called the art of wrestling, which he described as “ballet with violence.”

Ventura was in Washington to testify before Congress about trade relations with China earlier yesterday. Ventura is the 38th governor of Minnesota, an ex-Navy SEAL, former professional wrestler, actor and former mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minn., and one of the only two third-party governors in the United States.

Related Links

Ventura: The Body and the Mind (10/6)