Philosopher and progressive intellectual Dr. Cornel West announced a presidential bid for the nomination of the People’s Party on Twitter early Monday afternoon.
“I am running for truth and justice as a presidential candidate for the People’s Party to reintroduce America to the best of itself – fighting to end poverty, mass incarceration, ending wars and ecological collapse, guaranteeing housing, health care, education and living wages for all,” West posted on Twitter.
West, a social critic and a professor of philosophy at Union Theological Seminary, is best known for his outspoken views on leftist politics and thought. In 1993, he authored “Race Matters,” analyzing morality and racial politics within the United States. He would go on to author “Democracy Matters” nine years later. Before working at Union Theological Seminary, West was a professor at several other institutions, including Yale, Harvard, and Princeton.
“In these bleak times, I have decided to run for truth and justice, which takes the form of running for President of the United States as a candidate for the People’s Party,” West opens in an announcement video with his initial Tweet. “I enter in the quest for truth, I enter in the quest for justice, and the presidency is just one vehicle to pursue that truth and justice.”
West listed several issues prompting him to declare his candidacy, including greater access to jobs providing a living wage, decent housing, greater bodily autonomy for women, healthcare for all, and de-escalating the planet’s destruction. On his campaign site, West also adds that he wants the breaking up of Big Tech, the disbandment of NATO, and a return to hand-counted paper ballots.
West also swiped at some of his prospective opponents, including a clip from an episode of Bill Maher blasting President Joe Biden as a “milquetoast neo-liberal” and former President Donald Trump as a “neo-fascist.”
The People’s Party is an emerging progressive party initially formed in 2016 by former Bernie Sanders staffer Nick Brana. Earlier this year, they worked with the Libertarian Party as a key sponsor and organizer of the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally, an anti-war rally held in Washington, D.C.
Readers can view Cornel West’s announcement video below:
.@CornelWest announces his run for president with the People’s Party!! We are going to smash the war duopoly and abolish poverty because we are running to WIN! Join us at https://t.co/VKhe2qXJIt! https://t.co/eVBsmKWI94
— The People’s Party (@PeoplesParty_US) June 5, 2023
This is going to turn into a big fat nothingburger just like Rocky Anderson in 2012.
It’s tough to stay relevant, and it’s been getting harder and harder for Brother West over the last 15-20 years. He stopped doing original scholarship a long time ago, and a lot of younger philosophers have left him behind.
Cornel West is the absolute best progressive third party candidate possible at this juncture. Hopefully someone advises his campaign to seek cross endorsement from other leftist third parties like the Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Socialist Party USA, who knows, maybe DSA will endorse West’s campaign as well. He’s been one of their “Honorary Chairs” for what feels like an eternity.