the original interview for Aktivist March 2008 Poland

Let’s say I’m an American. Try to convince me why should I vote for you?

Sure!

I have been running for president for about a year now. I started running basically because none of the prominent candidates are talking honestly and directly about the state of things, are committed to fundamental change, and have a clear plan to create a humane, sustainable, and just plain enjoyable society. So I took on that role. When everyday people in the “real world” hear about my candidacy, they become extremely excited. They don’t see a performance artist in a wheelchair. They don’t check the odds of my winning. Instead they see someone who they could excitedly vote for… somebody who shares their dreams, talks deeply about what really affects their lives. And then they read my platform. Then they got more excited at how possible it is to bring our dreams for our society into reality… to remove fear and isolation; to get the boot of big corporations off our neck; to provide everyone health care, life-long education, a minimum income, and a livable wage; to restore our rights and freedoms; and to bring our troops home now! We everyday people know the real state of the union! But more importantly, we have the sense of what is possible! We need leaders who share our dreams and who do not sell us short. Or sell us out!

So for most of the year, I have been running way below their radar. A performance artist in a wheelchair “pretending” to run for president is no threat… just a weird piece of conceptual art. But now I’m beginning to be a blip on the radar. Just a blip, mind you. But it is amazing that we have gotten to the blip stage this early… or at all! A blip who talks about the issues seriously and who gives real alternatives is dangerous. So the gatekeepers are beginning to say that I am not a “real” or serious” candidate. What they are really saying is that I’m not a part of the political system that has been corrupted by big bucks; that I’m not playing by the unwritten rules, etc. And of course this is true. It is one of the reasons why everyday people are excited about my running. That big bucks political system has been divorced from the everyday reality, hijacked by the addicts of obscenely huge profits. I am a real, serious candidate. I’m just working outside of their boxes. Outside of boxes is where the new possibilities are. Inside the limiting boxes is where political power is created. This is why the normal politicians stay in the boxes. This is why fundamental, humane change rarely—if ever—has come from power politics. I hope they keep saying that I’m not a real and serious candidate because each time they say that our blip gets brighter and more intense. I also hope they keep saying I am the candidate of the fringe, of the margins. Consider who they have marginalized… the poor, the working poor. In fact, most of the labor force: the disabled, gays, seniors, the uninsured, women, the middle class, artists, family farmers, racial minorities, immigrants, etc. Hey, I may win by a wide margin!

True, I do have my problems. As one “art expert” once wrote, I, “Seem to have a compulsion not to take no for an answer under any circumstances.” I do have this disability of not knowing what is “impossible.” So, I just figure out how to do it. When I was born, the doctors told my parents I had no IQ. Obviously the doctors were wrong. So I don’t pay any intention to the supposed limitations. I just do what is needed. When I was growing up, I struggled to get educated, struggled against discrimination and prejudices. I really enjoy the righteous struggle. This enjoyment of struggle gives me an advantage when struggle is needed. When Senator Jesse Helms tried to blacklist me, when the Berkeley City Council tried to ban my public access cable show… there have been so many struggles! My enjoying righteous struggle has been a winning element. I also enjoy when struggle is successful. I’m looking forward to the huge struggle of taking away controlling power from the big corporations, of reclaiming the rights and freedoms that have been stolen from the people of this country, of creating a new post-oil social order in which we will eliminate fear of getting sick, of getting old, of the future, of the Other.

In reality, as president, I will be able to do a lot to start the process of change. And I will! I get results! I deliver! But realistically, I will be working with a Congress full of people heavily invested in the old power system. I will need you! Writing me in on Election Day will just be the first step. I will need you to get involved in your local community. I will probably need you to put pressure on Congress—and on the press—to enact our dreams. It may take you coming to Washington DC a few times as you did for civil rights and to stop the Vietnam War. But together we will get this done! If it takes me throwing a giant party on The Mall every three months, then that’s what I’ll do!

It will be an exciting, fun four years! Just imagine a world in which somebody like you or me could really become president. Now keep imagining it and we just may win! Do not throw your vote away on a candidate who does not share your dreams, who is not committed to bring your dreams into reality! Go for it! It is the only practical thing to do because if we don’t go for it, we will never get what we need, what we want, what we are dreaming. Hey, it just makes sense… right? So write Frank Moore in on Election Day!

Analyzing your biography one can imagine Frank Moore’s campaign as another performance, but reading/watching your political statements everything looks very serious. Where the truth lies?

Well, are not all political campaigns performances? That doesn’t mean they are not serious. My performances often start with something seemingly trivial then grow by themselves very quickly into forces unto themselves. This campaign started with a t-shirt of The Three Stooges. Michael [“Mikee”] LaBash, who is one of five people I live with in a tribal relationship and who is our graphic/web designer, had a CURLY FOR PRESIDENT t-shirt. For Christmas two years ago Mikee made me a FRANK MOORE FOR PRESIDENT shirt. When I wore it, people started asking me what my platform was. So I wrote a platform up. Everybody who read it got excited, overflowed with hope, saying it expressed what they felt and wanted. Their reactions placed on me a responsibility to mount a serious campaign, to commit and surrender to it…and to hang on no matter where this ride would go. I never know where a performance or a project will evolve.

I do performances not to tell stories, not to paint pictures for others to look at, not even to reveal something about myself or about the state of things, and certainly not for fame or fortune. It’s simply the best way that I see to create the intimate community which I as a person need and that I think society needs as an alternative to the personal isolation. I have always wanted to bring dreams into reality. For that to be successful, a seriousness and a respect for the process and for the people in the “audience” is required. In my long ritual performances in the 80s and 90s, I took my audiences via performance techniques to an island called Lila, on which everybody was family...where isolation, fear, competition, etc. did not exist. The physical contact with such a society in the dream state of the performance opened up for the people the real possibility of such society existing in this reality. This released hope. And hope brings about change, raises expectations, and brings people together. This campaign just has a much bigger frame than those rituals!

You say you are a “political virgin”. History of presidential elections shows independent novice defeat in election game. Especially a person like you, who doesn’t care about all “political world”.

Do you mean I am not a politician, not addicted to getting and keeping power? That is true. I have never run for political office before…except in college. But I have always been involved in politics in a bigger context…that of social change.

When I was born, doctors told my parents that I had no intelligence, that I had no future, that I would be best put into an institution and be forgotten. So the struggle for freedom, and against the powers-that-be has been my life. And it has been a continuous struggle, struggling with schools to let me in, etc. I have always been a radical. But that became obvious when I was 17 and invented my head pointer with which I type and communicate. The first thing I wrote was how I believed in a one world socialist government. I started writing political columns for the high school paper…as well as putting out an underground paper. I was in the first special class placed on a regular high school campus so that the disabled students could be in regular classes and be a part of campus life. I was involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. This was 1965…before it was popular to be against the Vietnam War. In the school paper I got into a debate with a GI in Vietnam. I was sat down and told that, because of my political philosophy and activities, I was hurting the chances of the disabled students who would come after me. I replied that the goal was to get the rights for the disabled [and for all people] to be complete and equal…and that included the right to be political. I would not surrender that, or any other, right.

So I started doing political columns for underground newspapers, joined Students for Democratic Society. I helped to found the San Bernardino chapter of the Peace and Freedom Party in the late 60’s. I did political pranks…such as rolling in my wheelchair into the Marines Recruiting Office to join, offering to push the BUTTON with my head pointer. But after the Kent State killings, I switched from straight politics to art, performance, and community building as my tools for effecting social change. The only public office I have held is when I was appointed to the rent board in Santa Fe, New Mexico after a successful rent strike in the early 70’s. I also continued writing political columns in underground newspapers. Moreover living tribally is a powerful political act.

In the early 90s I and five other performance artists were targeted by Sen. Jesse Helms in what is commonly seen as the first battle of the cultural wars. This placed me in a great position to fight for our freedoms!

And I always have projects that confront political suppression in very sneaky ways. For an example, in recent years I shepparded a project to test foods for GMO’s and to certify products as GMO or GMO-free. We had an independent testing lab and over 300 natural food stores in both the U. S. and Canada that would use the results in deciding what they would sell. We developed this project from our local consumer protest. In the end, the project threatened the corporate “natural”/”organic” food industry [the likes of Whole Foods] so much that they staged a hostile take-over to kill it. This is the kind of under-the-surface politics I’m into!

Historically the goal of independent and third-party candidates is not to “win.” Realistically the process is rigged to prevent us from “winning.” The function of such a candidate as I is to introduce ideas, to induce change, to raise the bar. Within this context, my campaign is extremely effective. But on the other hand, I JUST MAY WIN THIS SUCKER!

Realistically it is impossible for any of us independent/third-party candidates to win…and for that matter candidates such as Edwards whom the mainstream media labels hopeless. It is not really about a lack of money.

First of all a large number of states either out-right ban write-in candidates or make it virtually impossible to qualify to be a write-in candidate. These states throw out the entire ballot with a write-in on it. This disenfranchises the voters in those states from the full choices. It freezes in place not only the 2-party system…which is a product of evolution, not of the Constitution…but the two parties that happen to be the major parties at the present moment. This has to change before we will have a chance of winning. One effect of my campaign has been forcing several states to clean up their write-in processes.

The mainstream media wants to simplify the story down to as few candidates as possible as fast as possible…focusing on the candidates the closest to the corporate interest and painting the rest as fringe….and hence not worth coverage or being included in debates.

But the indie media has developed as a meaningful alternative to the mainstream media. And it will get much more powerful in the coming years as a hammer breaking down the monopolistic control of the corporate media.

You started anti-war crusade in the name of freedom before Vietnam war – as a high school student. Can you tell us more about prank in Marines Recruiting Office?

That was in college in 1969 in San Bernardino, California. I had my friend, Steve Emanuel [who still plays guitar in my band!] push my wheelchair into the Marines’ office on campus so that I could enlist. Steve just stood there, forcing the recruiter to deal with me, to read my communication board, etc. I acted very serious, very earnest…so the guy thought I really wanted to join. I became upset when he told me they couldn’t take me because of my body! After all, I could push THE BUTTON with my head pointer! Only when I delivered THE BUTTON punch line did the guy know he had been had!

I am thinking about doing the prank again because Berkeley, California [where we live] has informed the Marines’ recruiters that they aren’t welcome in our city, causing a national firestorm. Things are repeating!

At the beginning of ’90 you were targeted by powerful Sen. Jesse Helms – he attacked NEA as an institution promoting “obscene” art. That resulted in your political passivity. What made you announce election start in 2006?

Above I have talked about why I entered the campaign. Besides the reasons I gave, running for President gives me a powerful tool to plant ideas and dreams worldwide which will bring about change. And this is also what happened when Helms targeted me and the other artists…and when the Berkeley City Council tried unsuccessfully to ban my public access television show. If you do the kind of work I do, you have to be ready to fight censorship. It is a part of the job, a part of the art. I’m always ready to joyfully take on the powers-that-be…to do whatever it takes. So the censors do not have a chance!

For years before Helms made his move, I had been warning the art world that it needed to take a firm and united stand against any kind of censorship…or we would face a wave of governmental censorship. This was in the era of political correctness…so I pissed people off.

So I saw it coming. But I didn’t think I would be on the front lines. I was overjoyed that I made it onto Helms’ top 6 list! I fired off my open letter to Helms and I wrote the combine plot, a detailed analysis of the attack. Both were published widely and are available on line: http://www.eroplay.com/Cave/combineplot.html
and http://www.eroplay.com/Cave/helmsopenletter.html. Basically, because I embraced the struggle, it opened up all kinds of opportunities to me to tour, to address core issues on a national stage without compromise. Unfortunately many in the art world didn’t share this lusty attitude. Many artists signed what amounted to a loyalty oath to the establishment to get their governmental grants. This paved the way for the beginning of the government stopping giving grants to individual artists, instead giving grants to art institutions which are easier to control.

You are an author of shocking happenings, known for 48 hours long erotic ritual performances – is super liberal America ready for such a president?

We shall see! I have found that everyday people are generally much more open than the “leaders.” The platform and the ideas contained in it seem to be the “stars” of this ”performance.” That is what the people are focused on. The other stuff doesn’t seem to matter. Of course if the powers-that-be deemed me a treat, the mainstream media would start using those other things to dismiss, to distract. But then it will be too late!

By the way, most people who come to our ritualistic performances aren’t shocked, but expanded.

For 40 years you’ve been living communally – with 5 other persons and 4 cats. America isn’t hippie anymore. Most people treat it like some kind of freaky thing...

Yep, for about 40 years, I have lived tribally/communally. Now the 6 of us live together in two houses [one of which we built] on a street in Berkeley with 4 cats. Linda and I have been together for over 35 years. Michael has been with us for 20 years…as have Corey and Alexi. Erika joined us 6 years ago. We live as a tribal body. This tells you that I will expand concepts such as a family and family values. My relationships have always been what I am about. So we put our personal relationships and one another first. This opens up possibilities and expands our ability to use opportunities.

Living tribally costs much less than living singly on every level. You use less gas...in fact less everything...when you live tribally. So it is one model of ecological living. Humans have lived in tribes for millions of years! In tribal families, the people have a web work of caring on which they can depend.

As President, I will encourage a society of small villages connected by mass transit. Within these small villages, people could walk or bike to work, to school, to shopping, to entertainment, etc. Mass transit will combine these small villages within 15 miles radius into dynamic communities. Living in these villages will end gridlock traffic, will cut greenhouse gasses, will cut stress and isolation. Housing for all incomes will be included equally in each village.

Most important issue of your presidency would be bringing home troops from Iraq. How important is drug legalization? Why do you think use of drugs should be legalized and taxed?

Yes, I will bring the troops home from Iraq immediately. Moreover, I will change this country’s self-image from that of THE SUPER POWER/ WORLD LEADER to that of a member of the global community.

The so-called “war against drugs” in this country in reality has been a part of a war against the people...especially people of color and on the left. 1 in every 100 Americans is in prison. This doesn’t include people in mental institutions, nursing homes, and other human warehouses. These human warehouses drain money away from education, health care, rebuilding America, etc. This also drains our communities of both actual and potential leaders of the opposition.

Prisons should be only for violent or otherwise dangerous criminals. Prisons should be a part of the health and educational system and should include drug rehab programs. This should also be true for the new creative in-community programs for non-violent criminals for paying-back, rehab, and education sentencing. These programs will be more effective and much less expensive and harmful to the community on every level than the current human warehouse system. Flexibility of sentencing should to be returned to judges. I will ban the death penalty. I will push the Justice Department to investigate the war on The Left by the F.B.I. since the 60’s.

The use of drugs should be legalized and taxed. Pot and spirits should be sold over the counter to adults only. Tobacco and other addictive drugs should be sold by prescription only. Free drug rehab programs should be readily available. These policies will deflate drug prices which are why the criminal organizations are in the drug trade.

All of this will drastically reduce the crime rate. Moreover taxing America’s number-one cash crop, pot, just makes sense.

Luver.com is your means of propaganda. You’re looking for revolutionary people – i.e. poets and musicians who want to share their art, as well as sponsors. How much does it cost to maintain 24 hour working internet radio? Who supports you? Do artists from Poland can also send you their demos or poetry?

I/we started http://www.luver.com over 9 years ago. It is one of those things that took on a life of its own. I started doing a show on one of the first internet stations. But it quickly became clear that that station was run by would-be yuppies who had unrealistic wet-dreams about selling it for a killing. So we started luver just to do my show. But it quickly grew into a powerful channel for music, politics, art, whatever. At the beginning it cost us $99 a month to run luver. It now costs over $700 a month when everything is added up. Commercials are taboo on luver...and I don’t believe in grants. We do get some donations. But we pay for most of it ourselves. That’s the way of the underground! [Btw, that other station folded years ago!]

LUVeR is a totally new communication media which combines live streaming, on-demand libraries of programming, audio, and video. LUVeR is an anti-corporate, anti-capitalist revolution! LUVeR is and will remain a non-corporate, d.i.y., totally uncensored, noncommercial, nonprofit internet-only communal collective with 24-hour "live" programming (by amazing people) with "no-limits" content. In short, LUVeR is what THEY told us only a few years ago how the internet would be. But THEY now want us to believe that we little people can’t do this. In fact THEY are trying to force us little people off the internet, making the web just another corporate-controlled selling medium!

LUVeR is based on shows created/webcasted by individuals around the world, created from their personal passions. These individuals have total control over their shows, insuring the channel's freedom and independence. This also insures that the channel is accessible to voices, music, creativity, news, visions, histories, etc. which have been frozen out of the commercial media.

LUVeR is based on shows created/webcasted by individuals around the world, created from their personal passions. These individuals have total control over their shows, insuring the channel's freedom and independence. This also insures that the channel is accessible to voices, music, creativity, news, visions, histories, etc. which have been frozen out of the commercial media.

When we aren’t playing regular shows, we play the mix...which is selections from luver’s huge music library [over 110,000 songs at last count]. The mix has both all of your favorites and d.i.y. music from the best experimental, punk, rap, hiphop, folk, bluegrass, classical, and unclassified musicians from around the world. Bands, artists, poets, etc. from all over the world send luver their cds, tapes, dvds, and mp3s! SEND YOURS TO Frank Moore/Inter-Relations, p.o. Box 11445, Berkeley, Ca 94712! And if you want to do your own luver show, e-mail me at fmoore@eroplay.com.

Aktivist magazine – newspaper we make this interview for – is meant for young people interested in big cities culture & party life... What can you offer such people as a president?

Well, I perform in illegal underground punk clubs, artist collectives, Japanese restaurants, and other interesting venues. Among other things, I’m a singer, a musician, a poet, the host of a cable TV hard core music show, and I ran an all-ages nightclub. In other words, I am of the people culture! And you can check out http://www.eroplay.com/Cave/shaman.html#PerformAnchor and judge for yourself if I know how to party.

Since the mid-80s in this country there has been a crack down on clubs, dancing, street musicians, raves, street festivals, and in general anywhere people gather together. This is a part of the war on the people to keep us isolated from one another. Online the big record companies are trying to pull the plug on us web stations and to silence the independent bands. This is an attempt by the big corporations to rip off our culture, our music, etc. and to sell it back to us as product. As President I will return our culture, our nightlife, and our fun to their vital function of giving people places to be together, to talk, dance, and play together.

Your political statements are rich of immigration aspects. Existing US immigration policy is full of restrictions (visas, fingerprints etc.). Are you going to change that? What about visas abolition for Polish?

Yep, I believe we as citizens of the world should have the right of travel/movement. I believe we need immigrates. So I believe in fairly open borders…using our historical relationship with Canada as the model. I would remove racist filters. I would deny entry to those with criminal records. I would seriously beef up the security and inspections at our ports.
All businesses selling their products in the U.S. will have to certify that their products were manufactured in accordance with this country’s labor, wage, environmental, and safety laws ... that they meet or exceed these ... no matter where they were produced. This would curb people’s desire to come to this country for a better life. It would also remove the corporations’ motivation for draining jobs from this country. Businesses would pay non-citizen workers at least the minimum wage which would be tied to the cost of living. Businesses that employ non-citizens will have to pay $1 a day per worker to off-set the costs to the education and the health systems.

I have been trying to get two of my Canadian students into this country for over 6 months. We have jobs waiting for them. They have spent a lot of money on the process without the end in sight. The kicker is if they could pay $1,000 more, the process would be shortened to a few weeks! This simply is not right. The truth is the rich have the freedom of movement. But the rest of us are denied that basic freedom. That simply is not right!

You says: "I will change this country’s self-image from that of the super power/world leader to that of a member of the global community”. Most Americans are proud of being citizens of the super power/world leader country, don’t you think so?

Frankly it is wearing really thin here. A lot of people here are waking up!

You’ve got specific international support. „Enough of these traditional political shit!!! Regards to Frank Moore and his platform. I wish I had some radical stuff like that in every conservative country...” – how many people want to live in “your America”?

Glad to hear that I have international support! Even most people who think what I am talking about is impossible then say they want to live in the caring society. And that is a big step to bring it into reality!

Once you said lack of money is one of your strengths. Why?

Well, I don’t have to compromise. I just use creativity and improvisation to do what needs to be done. I keep everything within the scale that we can support. All of this gives us absolute freedom!

When you lost your front tooth, you auctioned it off for $250! Who bought it? Are you going to sell any other part of your body?

An artist bought it. The dentist didn’t charge me to pull it. So it was pure profit!

Which part of my body are you interested in?

Your disability made you forget about word “impossible”. If you won’t win this year, are you going to fight for presidency in 2012?

I take everything one step at a time. So stay tuned!