Open Your Refrigerator... Daniel Anthony Lt. Governor Candidate Explains Why

If Hawaii had to live off what’s already on the islands for two weeks, would your neighborhood be ready, or would it panic? I’m talking with Daniel Anthony, a subsistence farmer, father of seven, and longtime community advocate who’s now running for lieutenant governor, and he doesn’t treat food as a “nice to have.” He calls it the real economy, the real security, and the fastest way to lower fear because when you can feed your family, you can stand up for what’s right. 

We dig into how Hawaii became so dependent on imported food, including the historic shift around 1959 that helped weaken local agriculture and staples like poi. From there we connect the dots to today’s cost-of-living pressure, the local exodus, and the slow fading of everyday aloha, even down to the shaka in traffic. We also talk about identity and health through land and water: loʻi kalo, water rights, and why “healthy land, healthy people” is more than a slogan. 

Then we get specific about politics and accountability, including what happens when useful bills die because of partisanship. Daniel breaks down the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) crisis, why Hawaii’s coconut genetics matter, and the serious problem of chemically treated coconut trees that aren’t clearly labeled. We also touch DHHL land, housing security, and what community healing can look like when neighbors are allowed to put down roots and grow food. 

If you care about Hawaii sustainability, local agriculture, and the aloha spirit as something we live and protect, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share this with one person who loves Hawaii, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Faith-Based Leadership Over Fear

SPEAKER_03 0:11

If I want to be a meaningful and real leader in our community, I cannot be a fear-based leader. And I I wanna just tell you it's it's hard. You know, it's hard to to deal with your own inner fears and and to know that ultimately the most amazing way to give them up is to give them to God.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

That's good. And you just said, Mr. Anthony. We're rolling. This is it. We're just going straight in because this is kind of the way we officially started. I'm not gonna do a warm welcome, the official aloha. You guys get that all the time. But normally when we hear somebody in conversation, we're at a restaurant, we might hear them when we're on the subway or in standing in line at Foodland. This is Daniel Anthony. He's from the West Side. He's being super real. But what you were just saying, Daniel, is so real that when you prayed about whether you were gonna run or not, God's response is you're gonna have to sacrifice all your fears. You're 48 years old. I'm I'm 55, and uh my fears have played strong guardrails around a traumatized child life. I I read some of your bio on your website, Daniel Anthony4hawaii.com, and I I could see some childhood trauma there. You know, you thank God you have a stepmom who stepped in, and this is from the Poe Ohana on the Hawaiian coast. Much respect and love. We'll talk about that in a minute. But instead of being a man of fear, it you had to become a man of faith. Instead of being fear-based, you said that. Not to be fear-based, but it's about being faith-based. That's massive. So as we come into this, aloha my kako, aloha.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Aloha. Good morning.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

I'm so honored to have you. And I was I was saying before we started here that you were an answer to prayer for me. I had a dear sister reach out to me, Kanani Kei, who operates in the prophetic, and she and her husband, the sons of Yeshua, they uh they are worship, they're the front lines of God, the host of heaven's armies. He puts worship in the front. She reached out to me and said, We gotta help Daniel Anthony get in front of a lot of Christian eyes, a lot of eyes in the state of Hawaii, because you're running for lieutenant governor of the state of Hawaii. But before we get to all of that, because some people might just click off because of politics, brah, I have

Subsistence Farming And Local Food

SPEAKER_02 2:40

much respect for you, and I mean that completely. I've seen you quite a few times at the state capitol. What do you do in general before this whole political run?

SPEAKER_03 2:50

I'm a subsistence farmer. Yes, sir. I'm a father of seven, I'm a husband, I've been a traditional food maker, an educator, a community organizer. Um the last 20 years of my life have ultimately been driven to stay home and raise my children.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

I love this. You're a you are a man of Hawaii with a family, a farm, and a food vision. Because what I love and I love to eat, I am half Polynesian. I eat for your survival. Uh what I love is that you are talking about sustainability for our Aina because for too long, for many decades now, we have relied on Matson and the shipping companies as our pico, as our uh umbilical cord, to bring in over 90%, I think is what it just something broad stroke, talking numbers. 90% of what we own, operate, and eat in the state of Hawaii. And so if you shut off the shipping, if God forbid any natural or man-made disaster like uh a missile hits the West Coast, we're not getting food. And we have maybe a few days of food on the shelves at the grocery store.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Here is the stark reality.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Come on, bring it.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

I tell people, open your fridge. Tell me what's from Hawaii. Because the reality is 99% of what's in our fridge is not from Hawaii. Everything in a bottle, everything in a can, right? Even most of the fruits and vegetables are not from

How 1959 Changed Hawaii Agriculture

SPEAKER_03 4:18

here.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Now the statistics say that the decline of agriculture in Hawaii started in 1959.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Wow, that seems to ring a bell. What was 1959?

SPEAKER_03 4:35

So two things happened that are critical. One is in 1959, the very first Safeway was built.

unknown 4:42

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Prior to that, yep, the the poly safe way.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yes, right down the street.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Big box Costco store out there. Um, and nothing against Safeway and our and our food suppliers. The second thing that happened is they used subsidized food as a weapon against community agriculture.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

So within one year, all 200 of the rice businesses went out of business. Really? Poi production, poi consumption crashed by 60% by 1960.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

In one year.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Because the cost of subsidized imported food undermined the community's ability to feed themselves. And so it was one of those things where people 1959 was a turning point because the state of Hawaii, that was statehood. That was statehood, because what it did was it allowed for the first time outside influence to dictate the politics of our community.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

That's amazing. And I never heard that, nor did I ever think about it that way. Of course, as a Keiki who grew up in the state of Hawaii, you are the same way. And we are not, I'm not Hawaiian. I am a Polynesian. You're not Hawaiian, but you are Keikiokaina, raised out in Waianae. Uh, I always had an appreciation for that statehood. 1959, state of Hawaii, the 50th state in the United States of America. And I I saw a lot of the history of what happened to the Hawaiians and to the rulers, right? The Moe, but I never thought about it financially.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Well, I will I will say there's a silver lining. There's two silver linings that came with statehood.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Freedom of speech and the right to gather and protest, because under the Republic it was a military rule. And if you tried to speak out, you were kicked out.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

You were made the example.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

You know, today how it is, if you if you run against the democratic machine, they economically backmail you, they socially blackmail you. Let's go. Well, prior to 1959, if you spoke out against what the Republic was doing, what the sugar and the pineapple plantations were doing, what the military was doing, this was the major exodus of Hawaiians. Hawaiians first left because they were economically forced out.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

And the environment was such that if you believed in your queen, if you believed in your nation, in your language. This is what happened. After the overthrow, they made all the police, they all had to sign a loyalty to the republic.

unknown 7:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

And if you were refusing to do that, you just got fired. And that never ended. And actually, it was adopted in a different form by the state of Hawaii. If you did not participate and fully bow down to the democratic rule, you were ousted.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

This is amazing. And and a key were uh sentence that you said, and I'm gonna zoom in, zoom in on that, is that the Hawaiians were forced out because of economics, right? Yes. Under the um republic and then under the state of Hawaii. And we recently currently are seeing that right now. We're seeing that Hawaii is one of the top states with a mass exodus happening of our own native people, as well as the local people who are non-native Hawaiian, right? So uh we're seeing a lot of locals moving out of the state of Hawaii. I think it was in the last couple of years, 9,000 people and per capita, because we're a smaller state in the union, that's a lot of local people moving out, and we see a lot more continental people coming here, and we see a lot more from Asia coming here and taking over.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

So our fish bowl has never grown. It's always been the same size. Wow. And and how you control the fish is through food. Yes, is through employment.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

What uh the foundation laid for the last 50 years of democratic rule, we're living in that result.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Thank you for saying it plain and simple.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

And it has been a strategy. This is something that I firmly believe in. When our community suffers, our leaders should suffer. We should suffer together. Yes. What we've experienced is that if you're not in the old boy network, if you're not connected, then you're excluded to the demise, the results that you have to leave. It's not even a choice.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

You're forced out.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

And what has happened psychologically

Economics, Exodus, And Fear-Based Decisions

SPEAKER_03 9:21

is you know, our decision making as a community is fear-based. And when I say fear-based, what the schools tell us is that in order to succeed, you have to leave.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Wow. Right?

SPEAKER_03 9:35

If you're gonna make it, you gotta leave. That's so true. Everyone else that comes here somehow gets a CEO job, yes, becomes a leader right away. You know, I and I and I share this not to piss anybody off, but for the first time in modern history, yeah, institutions like Khamea Schools are selecting leaders from the community. Really?

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Are you straight right now? Are you serious?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

It's it's it's something that's so refreshing, and I want to commend Khamehama schools.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Because the history of bringing in foreign leaders has been apparent.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

And and what happened is the mantra of you gotta leave Hawaii was actually taught and trained at Kamehameha schools for the last century and for the first time.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

What they're telling the children is this is our home.

SPEAKER_02 10:35

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

You are what make it special and better.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Yes, absolutely, yes, and amen. And I love that you bring that up because I'm thinking in my mind, as a lot of people are watching, listening to Aloha Alive podcast, the heartbeat of Hawaii is aloha and it comes through our keiki, it comes through our culture. I, you know, I had Kelly Boy Delima, who is a native Hawaiian from Hawaiian, you're from Hawaiian, we're gonna talk about your roots. But he said, Donnie, I'm so, you know, I think the spirit of aloha in the state of Hawaii is fading. And if you strip the aloha from the state of Hawaii, you we're gonna be like any other strip in the whole wide world. You can go to Fiji, you can go to uh Waikiki strip will be like Miami Beach, it'll be like Fiji, it'll be like Barbados. You can go anywhere in the whole wide world, but what makes us special is the aloha spirit.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Well, you know, there's that saying, um, when in Rome, act like the Romans.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

But what we've had through um forced assimilation and colonization um is the and the exploitation of Hawaiian culture. You know, everybody else can make money on Hawaiian culture except for the Hawaiians, except for the local community, is that now our neighbors are not from here.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

And when your neighborhood is full of people that are not from here, they can't teach you about aloha.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

No.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

You know, I was really refreshed this

Aloha Spirit And The Lost Shaka

SPEAKER_03 11:52

morning. Um, today was my second day of sign waving.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Yes, you.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

You know, I'm one of those guys, everyone's like, oh, where's all your group sign waving? I don't want to ask people to go and wave signs with me before I start doing it myself. Lead by example. And it's I was not raised to put yourself on the side of the road and go shaka, you know? And uh I did two days on Kawaii this week. I saw because I did a CRB workshop up there and I did a little bit of campaigning.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Thank you. And CRB, coconut rhinoceros beetle. This man is a vigilant fighter against that invasive species.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Yesterday, um, I I went to Hawaii Kai. Okay. My natural path is out there. So after I went to see her, I went and stood at the end of H1.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

And um, not a lot of aloha.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

No.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Especially when you're sign-waving as a conservative and you are running as a conservative.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Well, here's the crazy thing. In Kaneohe this morning, you can tell that aloha lives in the Ko'olos yet.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

And here's something that I want to encourage people. The reason that the shaka is so important.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

Yeah. Is because it lets you know I see you and I appreciate you, and I don't even have to know you to brighten up your day. Yeah, I I told people this morning, I said, you know, smiles are contagious. Yeah. I hope you caught my smile. And how I know is when you shaka back. Yes, you. We, you know, I'm 48. I've been driving since I was 18. At 18 years old, every place that there was a merge, there was just a mile of shakas. You know? And today I feel like, you know, and and and in driving in America, nobody does that. Nope. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

Nope. The amount of influence coming in has killed the shaka.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Wow. And yet, to your point about things kind of having a dichotomy relationship, uh, we were saying this before we started, yet the shaka has gone around the world thanks to celebrities like Jason Momoa, The Rock, right, or just the surf culture. Shaka is kind of international now, but Shaka in Hawaii, the only time I'm seeing a shaka in traffic is when the bus goes in front of me, right? You go, oh, go ahead, brother. Then there's that little light that comes on the back of the bus here in the city and county of Honolulu and it gives you a shaka. It's actually kind of a little phenomenon on Instagram. They show the shaka on the bus. Hey, bruh, you have one at the end of your arm.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

I think the DMV needs to create a Hawaii driving culture manual that talks about, first of all, we live on one island. Yeah. Brother, if you rush, you only gonna get there 120 seconds faster. You know? And for 120 seconds, you're putting everybody in your pat at risk.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

And you're ending up at the same red light. And you're ending up, you're gonna see that person again because we have dash cams now and we have memories. I'm with you. So we gotta, and that's what the heartbeat of Aloha Alive, this podcast, God cast, Aloha Alive, the heartbeat of Hawaii is I'm trying to do my best to bang that drum consistently. That the kanaks, the kanakas in Hawaii, all of us who grew up here, whether we are Hawaiian or not, you have the aloha spirit. You don't need to have cocoa, Hawaiian blood in order to live here, obviously. Also, sir, and you're running for office, aloha is the law of the land. It is actually a Hawaii revised statute.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Let me just tell you live aloha. Planning guy should have got the tickets yesterday, okay? And I I let it's one of my campaign promises. If you know more aloha, I'm gonna personally write you one ticket. Okay, it's a $40 fine.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Citizens arrest. Come on.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

This is the thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

No joke, though.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

You know, really the core value of my campaign is to inspire the leaders and everyone.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

What we have lacked in the political movement.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Yeah, and this is a fear-based thing. Okay, this is a disempowerment thing.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

What happens is the entitled politicians who actually really only won on 16% of the votes because only 30% of the population voted. Come on, call it out. What happens is at the Capitol, they go, Daniel, we don't need the people. They voted for me. We don't need the people. I have been told that multiple times by big name politicians that they don't need to check in with their community because they won.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

My promise is to actually be an open door and more than just an open door.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

I'm gonna call out the community to be present.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 16:51

Because our civic duties do not end at voting. That is simply where it begins.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Come on. It's like finishing a canoe race. When you land, it used to be in Polynesia that you get in a canoe, you sail to another island because you're searching for food and more land. When you land, it's not the end of the canoe race. Now you begin the battle for that land. Now you have to plant the land. Now you get to inhabit the land. And that's what you're saying is when you win an election, that's not the end of the race.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

See, but what happens in our current political system is when you go to the state capitol because nobody else goes, you're immediately singled out. That's why I recognize you. And and you are made an example.

Poi, Taro, Water Rights, And Identity

SPEAKER_03 17:37

So in 2011, we legalized traditional poi making and ended a 100-year prohibition on the sales and distribution of traditionally made poi. Are you I had no idea. That's that's nobody did. They had buried it so well that part of the reason we won is I had to be the most educated person in Hawaii on the story of poi and talk about and learn how the recipe changed. Wow. How the varieties changed, yeah, how the practices changed. And you know, I was shared this by one of my friends who um Lian Wong is a celebrity chef.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

She uh owns Cocoa Head Cafe, one of my favorite places to eat.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Love her.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Lian Wong said this. She said, Daniel, when you change a recipe by one step or one ingredient, guess what it is no longer?

SPEAKER_02 18:31

It's not that recipe.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

It's not the recipe.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Okay, now and give us some background. You're speaking to this, and I'm using there's a principle to this point. This is an example of a bigger banner issue about changing the culture, the identity, the whole very DNA of our aloha state. But I want to ask you where are you from and how you know all this about Poi and Kalo Tarot.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

So I'm born and raised in Waiani. Um like many of us, when our parents are raised in trauma, they turn to drugs and alcohol. Yeah. Um my mother abandoned me at one. Uh my grandfather, who was the first director of the WaiNai Coast Comprehensive, told my dad, Hey, you better raise your son.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Bless him.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

And so um we were in Waianai. My dad decided that he wanted to be an Opel fisherman.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Um, and it just so happens at 7 Eleven Waianai, there's a real pretty Hawaiian girl.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

And um my dad had a gardenia farm.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

And gardenias were her favorite flower. Ooh, so he would actually sell gardenias. 7 Eleven used to have a lay, uh, a lay uh fridge. A lay fridge. So he would sell, we'd wrap them up in tea leaf. Yes, and sell gardenias in the lay fridge. And you know, he gave the triple wing. And oh, it's triple. Married my my stepmother Gwen Poi when I was two years old. That's a big name for West Side. And uh she is the daughter of Eddie Poi, who was the last Kuleana tarot farmer. Unbeknownst to me, I was raised in a deeply rooted Hawaiian family who, in the generation before Papa Poi's Papa Poi's dad died in court against the Board of Water Supply in 1961. And because Papa Poi and Grandma Monica were good, God-fearing Christian Americans, come on now, they did not stand up to fight for their water rights. And what happened was the Board of Water Supply, after generations of water to feed tarot, to feed the community, ended that relationship, put in a water meter, and started sending my grandfather a water bill. And because he was a Union Mason, he could afford it. By the time that I came into their life, it was 1980, he was watering the Loikalo with a water hose and went from corn growing, which you know is where you make poi, to luau leaf. I grew up supplying tomorrow's with luau leaf.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

When my papa passed away, nobody could afford the water bill. My mother lives on a one-acre Kuleana lot in an 800 square foot home surrounded by a tarot patch cemetery. Still dug out dried, empty tarot patches that twice I've gone and replanted and paid the water bill for a year, but at $300 a month. Holy whoa. I I couldn't afford it.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

That's probably one of the saddest things I've ever heard. You just said. Is a tarot patch cemetery and that you literally can see still all of the fields, all of the lo I.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

So my my and I and I say this as a very as a privilege, um my grandfather, my dad's dad, Dr. Fred Dodge, met my Japanese grandmother while being a doctor servicing victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

At age 14, my grandmother survived the firebombing of Tokyo City. My grandfather, after having my dad in an American Air Force base in Japan, moved the family to Philadelphia, where he was the 1959 valedictorian of Thomas Jefferson Medical School.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

You know Alicia's Market in Kalihi? Yes, I do. Great poke. The grandfather was paired with my grandfather in the war, and he said, Dr. Dodge, Hawaii needs good people in the medical industry.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

My grandfather moved to Hawaii.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

He eventually became the first director of the YNI Coast Comprehensive Health Center.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

God bless him.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

And you know, I you know, my aunties, they always get mad at me when I bring this up. Um, because the YNI Comprehensive Health Center has become an economic mainstay for so many people in the medical industry.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

But in all honesty, that was built on the backs of sick people.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

When I interviewed my grandfather at 85 years old, I said, Grandpa, did you make Y and I healthier? And he sort of phased off for a good two to three minutes. Oh wow. And I was like, Grandpa, and he's like, No, grandson. I helped Y and I deal with their pain better.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Which is kind of the issue of big pharma. I think that's that's what comes to my mind. I don't know that you're going down that path to the ironically disrespect your grandpa.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

I ironically was the grandson of the number one drug dealer in Waianae.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry to laugh. I hope not.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

No, no. It is funny in one sense, but here's the thing: food is medicine. So what Dr. Terry Shintani proved in the Waianae diet. I love Dr. Shintani. And he shared an office with my grandpa. These are the influences of my life. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

You have very divergent influences there. Because one is repping big pharma, which is legal drugs. Whether it's illegal, legal, that's drugs.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

What I saw, what I grew up in, this is my experience. The medical industry blossomed when the water was stolen from our community. Yeah. And there used to be this place in Waianae Valley because they stole 12 rivers from Waianae Valley. Let me tell you how awesome a thief you gotta be. They say Wai'Ne people are criminals. You know how badass you gotta be to steal 12 rivers and then have nobody fight back against it?

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Oh my gosh. And it's still a battle to this day, right?

SPEAKER_03 25:06

We used to have this place called Ice Ponds.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Okay. And never heard of it. I'm sorry. We have Ice Pond on Big Island, but we I never heard of it on this island.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

So I was I was farming tarot with my friends in Machavelli, Kauai. And if you know anything about Machiavelli, it looks like lua luale. Completely dry mountains. But you know what? We worked all day in the tarot patch because the water was ice cold. Woo! What they did was they took away the ice pond. Yeah. They gave us ice.

unknown 25:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

And so all of the struggles that we are faced with in our community actually stem from the loss of our identity because our environment has been stripped of the resources necessary to sustain us. When they took the water, they took the limu, they took the opai. Yes. They took the nehu, they took the aama, they took the mullets, they took the ahi, right? Y and I was sustained through fishing.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

The whole ecosystem gets wiped out because the was sustained by the water.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

The water is the source of life. It truly is. So, you know, my my long-term, and this is even before even thinking of running for office. This has been my dream for most of my life.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

You've been living it out because you go down to the state capitol, you're connecting the kanakas with the politicians, the leaders. You are teaching, you're growing, you're doing you're a father, you do so many things. This is your passion.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

We have been building the capacity of our people to stand up for what is right.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

In order to stand, you have to be healthy.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

In order to stand, you actually have to give up your fears. Wow. So by having a healthy food system, yeah, you don't have to worry about the barges. You can be less afraid. Yes. Right? The other part is food is the real finance.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Wow, that's the real coin. And you're gonna find out real fast if we lose the shipping lines, who has food and who does not. Doesn't matter if you have gold, silver, who has food.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

I've been saying this for about the last decade. Don't worry about the ships not coming. Worry that you can't afford what's on the ship.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

And when people say, you know, Daniel, what are you gonna do for agriculture? Nobody wants to farm. Well, first of all, nobody wants to farm on toxic raped soil. That what the sugar and the pineapple plantations took wasn't the land. The land's still there.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

What they took was the fertility that took hundreds of years of Hawaiian management to build. They burned a thousand years of Malama Aina in one generation.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

Literally, because you have to burn cane fields to harvest the cane. And then you you change the topsoil, right? You're changing all these things. I want to interject one fun factoid that I know about kolo farming or tarot farming, and that was during one of the great famines in the history of the state of or the kingdom of Hawaii, rather, at that time, and they were able to maintain all of the Hawaiians at the time out of the loi patches of Waipo Valley. So Moku.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Actually, what you're talking about is in 1919.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

And um, so in the research to legalize Put I, we came across this article in 1911. And this 1911 article said in two years will Bishop Estate renew the leases for the tarot farms of Monoa, Waikiki, and Nuanu.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

And they didn't. In 1919, so this is the irony here. In 1919 was the first time that Kamehameha schools served potatoes.

unknown 29:04

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

And there was a food fight in the boys' cafeteria, and it is known historically as the Battle of the Potato.

unknown 29:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

That prior to that, the kids actually pounded and made all the poi. Right. Lahaina Luna, Kamehameha Schools. There's historical documents of them pounding it. That's awesome. And then somebody in the cafeteria would raise their bowl and they would scoop the poi and fly it across the cafeteria and it would be caught

Rebuilding Food Systems With Ahupuaʻa

SPEAKER_03 29:32

in the bowl. No. This is why one of my goals is to see a line item for tarot in the state budget that every school that wants to start a kuey club has the resources and the supply of taro. That's true. And what we're going to do is we're going to guarantee a living wage to tarot farmers based upon the price of tarot. And the beautiful thing is, taro doesn't take water. Less than 1% of the water that flows in the tarot patch is lost. Really? So what we need to revolutionize is how we manage water to ensure that the upland farmers get the water. Okay. And then it continues to flow down to the lowland farmers and eventually the ocean, so we don't just restore tarot farming and diverse agriculture, but also ocean aquatics.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

Which is the Hawaiian concept of the Ahu Pu'a, which is the pie slice from the mountain to the ocean. We all grew up in the state of Hawaii, drawing that ahu pu'a in elementary school days. And as you just said, sustainability from top down.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

This is also my belief on how we're going to manage invasive species.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Really?

SPEAKER_03 30:42

We're going to go ahu pu'a by ahu pu'a and completely clean the ahu pu'a before moving to the next. And we are going to educate the community on how they get to maintain it afterwards because they have the privilege to live here. To manage it with integrity and see the benefits of fertility.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

And this is kuleana or personal responsibility to the place that you live in that you're coming up. Absolutely. Now, let me ask you a question because some people are listening and maybe thinking, bro, I didn't sign up to be a Loe farmer. I didn't sign up to be a farmer at all. I'm fine with going a safe way or whatever your choice of food is. What are some of your platform keys, other than that, that you're running on, that you as a leader want to see happen?

Government Accountability And Political Corruption

SPEAKER_03 31:28

Well, primarily it starts with government accountability.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Okay. He went for the big ones right there.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

What we first have to do is want to hold leaders accountable.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

We have to want to end fraud and bribery and the such.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

He's going right there.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

You know, right now, right now, it is so widespread that this is how it works.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

If you're not corrupt, the politicians out you. Right? And this is why I'm running for lieutenant governor. I'm running for lieutenant governor because this is what happens. You get in in the house, and how you rise up in leadership is proof that you are corruptible.

Coconut Bills, CRB, And Toxic Labeling

SPEAKER_03 32:05

I introduced the coconut bill with Brenton two years ago in 2025. Yep. And it was a simple bill. It literally just recognized it as a cultural treasure.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Beautiful. Because just like legalizing PUT EI, so legalizing PUT EI allowed for the institutions to give grants. Since 2011, over $45 million have been poured into our local nonprofit community. There are people right now that have full-time jobs because in 2011 we legalized PUT EI. Holy smack. What the director of the Department of Health told me, she said, Daniel, I can't do anything for coconuts because they're not special. So I said, okay, we're going to play the word game. We went and introduced this bill. It passed the Senate. It passed the House. Now, what happened was the House Agriculture Chair amended it. So it had to go back to committee. Okay. Had she never amended it, it would have gone right up to the governor. Signed. The following year, which is this year, we would have been able to have greater protection for coconuts. We've been able to write more grants as nonprofit organizations in the community because the government simply said it was special.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

And that would have been perfect timing because we have this little issue called CRB.

SPEAKER_03 33:21

And guess what she said?

SPEAKER_02 33:22

What?

SPEAKER_03 33:23

She said, Daniel, we are not going to pass one Republican bill. It wasn't that the bill didn't have merit. It wasn't that the bill wasn't important. What it was was that if you're not playing for a blue team, we're going to ensure, because we have the power, that we are going to use it to the demise of our community.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

You will cut your nose off your own face.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

You know the crazy thing is? Because of that, CRB is now in her community and it spread over 50 miles in one year on the big island. Whoa. And so her very community is now suffering. I honestly I was really mean. I said, I hope your kupunas haunt you in your dreams. Because she was a native, she's a native Hawaiian lawmaker.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

Who chose partisanship and politics over her ancestors and her community. And protecting the Aina. So this year, I actually introduced a more comprehensive Coconut Grove bill.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

And um with Senator Owa. Oh no. I went to Brenton. I said, love you, Brenton. But I but we gotta pass this thing. So Jared Kehokalole. Okay, Keith Richards.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

And Mike Gabber, thank you guys for introducing this bill. Um, I I honestly am disappointed that you guys didn't flex a little more muscle on the House Agriculture Committee because it passed the Senate with flying colors.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

It went to House Ag. Yeah. So we had five components of this bill. All right. Recognize it as a staple food and potable water. Nice. Recognize it as a cultural treasure.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

It directed the Department of Ag to create regulations to allow for coconuts to seed. Because how are we going to replant if we don't have any seed? And because of the way that liability is, we're the only place in the world, first of all, let me tell you, we're the only place in the world that you are liable if a coconut falls on somebody. Not. You go to Tahiti when coconut falls on you. I hope you have funeral insurance. You go to Tonga, you go to Samoa, you go to Fiji, you go to Micronesia, you go to Vanuatu.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

We get it.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

We invented the coconut wireless, bruh. So the idea was this: that the Department of Egg, working with the community, would create the regulations that, hey, if you're 60 feet from any roadway or pathway, you properly label it, that you could actually have coconuts that fall. Or if you were in within 60 feet, you would put netting to catch the coconuts, and this would be a legal way to show that you're making an effort to allow for us to capture the genetics. Now, coconuts in Hawaii, we have the world's greatest biodiversity of coconuts because bees pollinate the seed. Okay. And bees don't go from ahu pua to ahu pua, they stay within that same area. So each ahu pua genetically evolved separately from each other. Wow. Now, do you know the story of how Hawaiian cotton saved the entire global commercial cotton industry? No, I did not know that. So in the late 1800s, there was a virus that impacted and affected cotton worldwide that was looking to crush and eliminate cotton production. Period. Hawaii has a cotton. It's called the Ma'ol. It doesn't have a very big cotton ball.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

But it was the only cotton in the world that was resilient to the virus. Wow. Today, everything that is cotton has Hawaiian genetics in it.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Yes, uh, and cotton's so good for you to wear.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

What has happened in the coconut industry? Have you seen coconut in Costco?

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Okay. Pretty much all the Costco's in the United States and the world all have coconut products.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

In order to have products like that, hundreds of thousands of acres of coconuts needed to be planted. Wow. But they monocropped it. The world needs our genetics to save the coconut industry.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Wow, this makes so much.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

That's why we need to preserve the place-based coconuts. It's not just about planting new coconuts.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

No.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

It's about protecting the existing seed-bearing coconut. So that's good. That was the third part. The fourth part, and this is something that has really gone over my head. So the toxic chemicals that the Department of Ag is using by law can only be used on landscape palms.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

So somebody somehow redefined our coconuts as landscape palms. And that is how they're able to use chemicals. So in this bill, this is one of the things I've learned about doing legislation. What you gotta put is what you want, and then you gotta put a little bit extra so that they can feel good that they killed part of your bill. So this one said that we needed to make mandatory labeling of all coconuts that were landscape pumps so that people would know that they're poisoned, that you can no longer consume the fruit, and that the flora and fawnage, all the leaves are now toxic. So on Oahu, there is at least 40,000 poison coconut trees that are no longer a part of our food system. They are all unlabeled. At some point, somebody is gonna drink a coconut, they're gonna get sick, they're gonna sue the state, and the state's gonna pay out. Then what the state is gonna do is they're gonna ban the sale of fresh coconuts because they're gonna say, Oh, all the coconuts are landscape palms, they're all poison. But the last part of the bill was giving a tax break to people that treated coconuts like food. So it actually costs more to maintain them now because of CRB. Right. The idea was to incentivize people being able to keep them as a part of our food system.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Which by the way, coconut is so good for you. It's so good for your biodome, for your gut, for every life. And it's the first fruit that arrives to the islands in Polynesia. And it's it's the we have so much respect for coconut as a people.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

It is actually the one plant that will survive sea level rising.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 39:26

Because it will rise with the sea.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

Yeah, and so we have to think that a fully producing coconut tree is two weeks' worth of food and water for one human being.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

That if we have a million fully producing coconuts on Oahu, we're good for two weeks. We don't need any MREs, we don't need any Madsen. Right. This is as simple as it gets.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

And it's so good again, it's antibiotics for your system. They used to put it in IV drip lines. It's that pure and good.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

My grandpa dealt with native Hawaiian health on a on a really intimate issue. And um at some point, it wasn't just the Hawaiian's that were sick, it was the Samoans, it was the Tongans, and the most recent group was the Micronesians.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

And my grandfather would say, How many coconuts do you drink every day back then? She would say, Oh, six to ten.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

And he goes, Let me put you on six coconut a day prescription. Yeah. You need to go find and drink six coconuts.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

But guess what? High blood pressure in one week it crashed. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Back to the Y and I diet, back to Dr. Shannon.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Increase. Right? Our health. So people have borrowed this line. I said, show me a healthy land, I'll show you healthy people. That's good. Show me a healthy people, I'll show you a healthy land. Yeah. We cannot have one without the other. So I feel like if we can't inspire our people to eat healthy, we have to take care of our land. And our land will inspire our people to eat healthy.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

I love this. Now what happened to the bill? Back to the five parts.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

So it passed the Senate, it went to the House Ag Committee. Um I gave a viral testimony.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Loved it.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

And after that, they killed everything but the tax part. And so let me tell you that same Hawaiian lawmaker from the Big Island was a part of the decision making to gut the bill. And again, her community right now on the Big Island is the one that is getting beat the most. And she is directly responsible.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Yeah, I agree. We should hold these people accountable. And you said this earlier that when the people suffer, the leaders should suffer too. And unfortunately, the way that the system is set up right now is the leaders are getting paid out big time. We're talking about bribery, which Senator Awa called out. I think it was at $25,000 or $30,000 delivered in a brown paper bag. Bruh, that's chump change.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

It's probably millions. Exactly. But they just got caught with the bag.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

So we're talking about brown paper bags. We're talking about bribery. We're talking about barato is another we say. It's like the backroom deals. And I love that you're coming in. Um, I was gonna say a certain term that's local, but I won't say it that way. I'll just say all's to the walls. This guy is all in, and that's how he's gonna play. And that's at this point in the game and the system, that's what it

DHHL Land, Housing, And Community Healing

SPEAKER_02 42:24

takes. Somebody who's going all in and not being fear-based, but faith-based.

SPEAKER_03 42:28

You know, it's interesting that the system that was designed was designed to fail.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

It's a broken system, which I heard John Weihe, former governor, he came in because I I was the voice of broken promises, which is talking about DHHL and the land, and you have to be 50%. And my best friend Leolani said, you know what, our grandma taught us, just say you fool Hawaiian, because it's not a broken promise not to deliver land to the Hawaiians. It's a broken system, and it was rigged gig from the get. The princess's children were already HAPA, and then the grandbabies can't own land because of the 50%.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

You know what the irony is? Is that there's already a system for non-Hawaians to lease DHHL land. You go to Kamakana Ali, you go to Prince Coe Hill Shopping Center. You're right. These are all DHHL lands that non-Hawaians can leave. So I would tell Brother Eric, brother, you like moving to Kamakana Ali. Go for it, Gangi. The other part is the last 50 years of democratic rule is the reason. Yes, yes, call it out. If they just gave the land back, said, hey, guess what, bruh? Start rehabilitating yourself. There wouldn't be any land to argue over.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Why?

SPEAKER_03 43:45

Yeah. And when we ask, you know, I ask people this all the time you rather have the homeless Hawaiian, the houseless, the unhoused Hawaiian, would you rather have them at Kau Beach Park? Yeah. Or on their own land provided by DHHL living in the same tent. Right. Right. Because at KL, they know they're going to get kicked out at any time. So it's easy for make Capoulu. Yeah. The other part is that you can't build a healthy community. It just stays in stasis. Right? And you're giving that same person their $1 a year lease. And they said, you know what, Auntie, you can't afford the $99 right now. Right. You just pay $1 for this year. Oh my God. And we gave them their own land. You're so good. Their tent, their style of living. Yes. When they looked out in their community, two things would happen. One, you get neighbors that's gonna be your neighbors for life. Exactly. So the neighbor gonna say I get extra tarp. I get cool. You like them? Yep. Right? Yep. The other side gonna say, Auntie, we just took apart one house. Wow. We get two by fours, Auntie. Right? Medium limitation means I accept you broken.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 45:01

But I am also willing to help you heal. Yes. And I want to have you in a safe place because you cannot heal. Wow. When you feel unsecure.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

And you know what I love, love, love about this is I never thought of that. First and foremost. Sorry, he low lolo low, right? Just real simple. Keep it simple as a pimple, as my brother Alan Cardine says from Nanakouli. But what I love is the vision about it and the ownership of your Lahui. This is our ohana. I'm taking this personally. This is my neighbor. This is my auntie. This is so and so. I might have an extra box of food from the food um distribution. I might have a little bit. There's extra blankets we got from somebody. Here's one blanket. I might have two baby chicks, Auntie. It's easy.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Let me help you get your farm going. I mean, the fact that currently on DHHL lands, like Kapoole, you can't grow fruit trees. You can't grow food.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Not.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

This is totally backwards. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Because we gave out 8,000 Ulu trees during COVID, and communities in Kapoole were like, Daniel, can I grow this in a pot? Because I can't put any food-bearing trees in the soil.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Which you taught me, I seen you give the Ulu tree presentation. I need to have an Oulu tree. Um, is it's the fastest growing and becomes fruitful within, is it three to five years?

SPEAKER_03 46:16

We get Brenton's trees 18 months.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Bruh, I'm so proud of him.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

If you plant infertile soil, the results are different than if you just put it in the ground.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

In a pot from Home Depot, which we would never recommend that. But I when I drive out by Punolu and Kahaluu, right, I see that strip of trees right there you guys worked on. They're already huge.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

One of my core understandings about embracing community is that it includes the unhoused, the unholy, the people that don't like you, the people that talk bad about you, you know, and I have already put myself in a place of acceptance.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

Yeah. We take you as you are. And our goal is you see how we make, and then you take what works for you. That's good. And if only one part betters your life, then that was our purpose.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

That's good, Daniel.

SPEAKER_03 47:18

And so I'm a man of of simple, yet the goal is a tiny growth consistently. Yeah. I tell people this, I say, you know, if I just grew one inch a day, it was 365 inches for the last 25 years. Wow. And so if you were to look at the capacity that we had 20 years ago to the capacity that we have today, we have the ability to feed community.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

Because we've done it in the planting along the way.

Feeding Thousands With Imu And Tradition

SPEAKER_03 47:55

Yeah. And that, you know, in 2020, we made 8,000 Lao Laos and cooked 3,000 pounds of taro and two above-ground emus at Ialani Palace and fed 7,000 people on a $25,000 budget.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

What?

SPEAKER_03 48:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

And in an above-ground emu.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

We brought in two 20-foot Rollocks full of dirt. This is actually how crazy it is. This is how crazy it is. The then head of state parks very arrogantly told me. He said, Daniel, if you can figure out how to emu without digging in the ground, I'll personally approve it. What happened was crazy was like 2019 and 2020, we did it. During COVID, they changed all the rules at Iolani Palace specifically to minimize. So look, you guys, this is a campaign promise.

SPEAKER_01 48:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Elect me as lieutenant governor. We're putting on permanent emo at the state capital, okay?

SPEAKER_01 48:58

Yes up!

SPEAKER_03 48:59

We're gonna celebrate our unique way of cooking because you that is how we feed everybody. We feed them from the Aina.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

And it's healthy. You're not using a nonstick pan, you're not in a plastic insta pot or whatever it is. And they finding now, oh, you gotta use glass or stone or ceramic. That's what we invented, the emu. We're going back to the old ways. Oh my gosh, did you know that coconut is a superfood? Actually, yes, we have. We've known for thousands of years.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

So this year, on

La Hoʻihoʻi Ea And Civic Participation

SPEAKER_03 49:30

July 25th and 26th, we'll be celebrating La Ho'iho'iya at Thomas Square. It is the only place in downtown Honolulu we dig two emus, a kane and a vahine emu. And what this is, is traditional food safety. The kane imu, we put the meat. The wahine emu, we put the vegetables. So we can separate the meat and the vegetables. We'll do things like mamaki tea in the emu.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Love mamaki.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

Have you ever had emu with mamaki tea with smoky flavor? So all the desserts. All the vegetarian stuff gets cooked in the Wahine emu and then the lao laos, the kalua pig, and the meat. What happened was I my wife does a mean birthday cake in the emu. Really? And I didn't like the flavor of Kalua pig in my birthday cake.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

I was just gonna say because it gets all smoky and that flavoring of meat. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 50:20

My wife does a chocolate lava flow in the emu cake.

SPEAKER_02 50:25

I ate one yesterday. It wasn't from an emu.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

It's a life-changing experience.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

Okay, we're invited.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

Yeah, so the 26th, we're gonna be celebrating La Hawaii all day at Thomas Square.

SPEAKER_02 50:37

I'm there.

SPEAKER_03 50:37

Generally, we get 10 to 12,000 people that now show up that want to be educated about Hawaii's independent history. It is the oldest holiday started in 1843. Wow. And it was there on July 31st, after the lowering of the British Jack, Union Jack, and the raising of the Hawaiian flag, of which Kawi Keoli stated, Uamao Keo Okaina Ikapono, the sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in justice.

unknown 51:07

Wow. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 51:12

I really appreciate your time here today. I know you got someone else coming out. Oh, I know. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

And I'm so grateful to God that He told me, go get him. And it was you responded. That was 48 hours ago. I sent you a text going, I used to be press secretary for a certain gubernatorial candidate. He is not gonna answer his phone. I'll be there Thursday. That's what you said. Be there Thursday. Where are you at? God bless you, sir. I appreciate you, Donnie.

SPEAKER_00 51:38

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 51:39

Again,

How To Support And Follow Daniel

SPEAKER_02 51:40

you can check him out. His name is Daniel Anthony. He's very much not a part of the system, but has a heart for the people. And he has Daniel Anthony for Hawaii. Is it dot com or dot or got com. Dot com. We need um, you just saw my friend walked out of here. We taped the shows back to back to back, and he saw a sister who said, Thank you for raising my son. You helped him. He's a planter now, he's a farmer. You're a farmer, a father, and you've got uh a food vision for the state of Hawaii, but it's more than just physical food, it's about the spiritual sustenance of the aloha state, which is aloha. Again, go to his website, it's Daniel Anthony4hawai.com. He's very serious. And he was saying, you know what? I just spent the last of my money on signs.

SPEAKER_03 52:23

I did.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

So any amount, five dollars, you know, he's appealing to the local brothers and sisters, to the aunties and uncles, to the kupuna, any amount. And we realize that in these tough times, times are tough. And but five dollars, ten dollars, twenty-five dollars. Uh you can max out, I think the max is two thousand.

SPEAKER_03 52:42

For lieutenant governor, it's six thousand. Oh, hello. And I want to say this yeah, let's win together.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

There we go. There we go. Let's win together. The contact is there on the website. Again, it's Daniel Anthony for Hawaii.com. Are you also on social media or any contact numbers you want to give out?

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Uh, we have Daniel Anthony for Hawaii on Instagram and Facebook. Uh, you can follow me personally at Mana I M A N A A I. Look back at my history. Um, one of my superpowers is I've blessed to be consistent.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

You sure are. You really are.

SPEAKER_03 53:18

Your consistency beats talent. So I'm I'm talented in certain things, but but know this. In order to be the leader that we need, yeah, I gotta work on me. That I'm not just campaigning, I'm wrenching myself. You sure? I'm holding myself to a higher standard. I'm reading things that I I was like, oh my God, this feels like school again. But I have to be schooled. So I'm looking for mentors.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

If you see that you can improve this campaign, that you can improve what I'm doing, I'm looking for you. You know, the kupuna that have guided me for the most part have all passed. And so one of the things that I yearn for is to have more kupuna in my life. My my last really special kupuna that passed away was Anake Kapua Sprout from Punalu.

SPEAKER_01 54:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 54:16

And uh I met her at a CRB meeting. She said she had a secret weapon against the coconut rhinoceros beetle.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

And what?

SPEAKER_03 54:23

Prayer and fasting.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 54:25

She told me a month and a half later, after we started helping her manage her 300 coconut trees that her dad, David Kaapu, David of Punaluu, planted between 1975 and 1975. Wow. She said, Daniel, I've been praying and fasting, and you're who showed up.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Yep. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

So to be the answer to our Kupuna's prayers has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. My goal and hope, Kakul, is that I can be a reason that you register to vote. I can be a reason that your inner leader wakes up. Because without that, it doesn't matter who's in politics, things are gonna stay the same. It's good. If you refuse to participate, they win.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Yeah. It's good. And you know what? I would add to that. Thank you. Those are powerful words. Thank you for empowering us to be the people of this Aina, to be the key, um, to be the guardians, uh, is get five or ten, twenty other people to vote, Daniel Anthony for Hawaii. I'm very, I'm a big mouth for a big God. And I already got one sister friend to do it. Yesterday I was having lunch with three other Kanaka Maulli, and I was telling them, you know what, Daniel Anthony's coming on my podcast. You got to vote for him. I know there's another candidate uh in there. I just feel that Dan Daniel Anthony has a very strong shot at this and that he has a great vision. So thank you for doing what you do. So go out, get other people to also vote. Uh, I want to ask you the last question we ask everybody, and and I would also tag to that before the last question. Uh, if you are in the Christian community, this is a man of great faith, not a man of religion. Thank you. I'm not a person, I'm not a religious person either, but I have a very personal faith in a very personal God. And he loves Keakua. He comes from a family that loved Keakua. So I'm asking you as Christian leaders to spread the word about this man. And if you can get him in front of your organization, I believe that that's a possibility. Yes? I'm gonna show up. I believe that he's an answer to a prophetic friend of mine, as I was saying, Kananin Kei, was saying we got to get him in front of the Christian community. If we activated the Christian community, we would have the vote. If we activate, and we're telling you, E mua, face God and move. E is the one true God, Mua. I'm gonna be on the big island uh coming up quick and talking with Kahu Kikawa, Daniel Kikawa, wonderful friend. And I'm gonna um see if we can also get that out for you on that scale. That's a side issue. Last question we ask every single body who comes on this, and by the way, I love your lay. He made his own lay today. It's his his family tradition, the tea leaf lay. I gave him the Puomelia high, which is the Hawaiian flag, the red and yellow. But I love the lay. What is aloha to you?

What Aloha Means And Who Inspires It

SPEAKER_03 57:14

Aloha is how we live, it's how we treat each other. It's it's at the core of our decision making. Yeah. Aloha is something that you can never see, you can never hold, but you can tell when someone doesn't have it. It's also something that you don't have to be born with, that you can adopt, that you can make a part of your life. It is so contagious when it is shared properly that it infects every single person that it encounters. As one of our great kupunas said, Aloha will save the world.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

That's right. Auntie Pilahi Paki. I was just quoting her. Thank you. That was so natural. That was the overflow of a very full heart of Aloha. Last last question: Who is your aloha hero? You've named a number of people, not just in your ohana, but aunties and kupuna. Who is your aloha hero? Someone who lives pure aloha, past or present, and why?

SPEAKER_03 58:10

That would be my wife, alohi aya. I tell people, um, she tolerates me at my best and loves me at my worst.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

She is the the wing to my wing, and together we are able to fly. She is the reason that I'm excited every single day to not just go out into the world, but most importantly, come home. She is the mother that birthed my children, and she is my partner that I will have until the end of time and beyond.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

Wow, that was beautiful. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 58:45

It has been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

Daniel Anthony, and can you give a shout out to your kids? Brata arrived and he's so busy with this campaign and being a farmer, being a father, being a husband. He had a breakfast, homemade kind in a regular Tupperware. His eight-year-old daughter made for him. He said, sis, can I just have a few minutes to just pound this breakfast real fast? So the kids' names.

Family, Kids, And Closing Blessing

SPEAKER_03 59:06

So let me tell you, my kids all said if I lose, they're gonna say that I'm not their dad. So you guys gotta help me win here. My oldest daughter, 20, is Koyahi. She's currently interning on the Big Island doing cultural work. She's an amazing human being. My second daughter, Ma'ala, just graduated from Kamehameha School's class of 26. She is gonna be a blue-collar worker and is entering HCC for welding. Awesome. My third daughter, Kula Ila'i, is currently the diva of my household. And if there was some way that I could eliminate 13 to 18 in my girls' life and just have them go from 12 to 19, I would because I have no ex well. Now I have a little more experience, but she uh her name means to stand calmly in defiance, and she lives up to that name. Wow. My 11-year-old son, Viliami, um, is one of the most amazing human beings that I know. He's a fisherman, he's a farmer, he's a hard worker, he's an entrepreneur, he is smooth as heck. At 11 years old. Oh, he he beats adults in arguments all the time at 11. He is his father's son. He definitely is. My next boy, who's nine years old, is the caretaker of our pigs between him and his eight-year-old sister, Kahanahaiki. They manage 20 pigs. What feed them three, they feed them every single day. That is hard work, bro. Um, they are also the future needs farmers.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Yeah. And so I tell everybody the doctor, the lawyer, the astronaut, they need a farmer three meals a day. These are the future Hawaiian farmers. Yes, you do. And their ability to feed community, not even 10, is so apparent. That's huge. And then my last, and I I don't want to call him a monster, but he's the guy that killed all the hair on my face for Kaleleahi. I did not have barely but three gray hairs. This kid, let me tell you. He tells his mom no. I take two steps back. I'm like, oh brothera, you have all skicked like whoa! Like the fearless nature of number seven. Kaleleah. It's Kaleleahi.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

It's your fault. Whoever's naming these children.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

His name came in a dream. His full name is Kaleleah'i. Kou Pa'a'la Ia.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

And translate.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:29

Kaleleah'i is the dancing fire that does good. Ku pa'a is to stand firmly.

unknown 1:01:38

Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:39

Literally forever.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:41

I'm getting God bumps. This is not chicken skin. We ain't created in the image of a chicken. It's not goose pimples because I ain't got pimples. When the Spirit of God comes in, that is a Spirit of God name. That's power right there. That's one holy hammer.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:54

He he came in a dream. He was born in the bathroom. My last four children are all home birth.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

Born in the bathroom. Good for you. Good for her. I kept his name secret until I saw him.

unknown 1:02:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

And I told my wife I had a name. She kept begging me, what is it? What is it? I said, hon, I I scaredful tell you this name. This is a name. And that's a gift by the way. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:18

That's a gift, the naming gift.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:20

And he came out. Muscles.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:24

Really? He just came out like, oh my God, what the heck is that? Hama, Hama, Hama, Hawaiian Hama. We're gonna dedicate that song to Kalele Ahi this morning with his own genealogical chant when you say his name. No, and I remember seeing you once last footnote, because I'm a proud auntie and a proud sis to this wonderful man, Daniel Anthony, and his whole Ohana. I Hanai you. And the aloha of Hanai, the love of Hanai is even, I sometimes say, and it's a Polynesian thing, more powerful than just natural birth or natural family because it's a love of choice. Yes. And so when I I come to Waianae, I've always said, Waianae Nana Kuli, you not my One Hanau. I wasn't born here on these sands, but you my One Hanai. And and I adopted you. You feed a Tongan once, it's like feeding a stray cat. You're gonna get me back and my whole village coming with me because we're hungry. But I it's a love of choice because I love the West Side and your heart and your passion and your compassion for the Lahui for our people and for the Aloha. That is the answer to this world. I really strongly believe it and feel it. I'm so proud of you. But when I saw you at the state capitol, say the reason why you became a colo farmer is your daughter, I believe it was, told you, Dad, what are you gonna do about it? It's not just about all waha, not just chirping and complaining. What are you doing? And according to my good word, the same good word that all of you read, it's the same Bible. It says, you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. And you're a doer. Daniel Anthony, I'm proud of you, bra. Go for broke. Alls to the walls. I said it the Christian way. I'm Auntie Don O'Brien. This is Aloha Alive. And as I always teach Kiki with choose aloha, three words make a heart, say aloha. Aloha. Always big hearts. Always wins. Put it together.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:22

Aloha always wins. Yeah.