So, where is the accountability when public officials cross lines that once would have carried institutional consequences?
What made this speech a masterclass wasn’t just the story—it was how Ariyoshi told it. He opened with humility, grounded himself in shared struggle, and then connected that past to a present political promise that the audience could feel was already within reach.
So, with the example that Souza is providing in this race, is the traditional definition of where a candidate’s sign is placed about to be redefined? If more campaigns start to follow the example, that would be a good sign that the definition has changed.
The question now is whether Kawakami’s campaign will ride it — or simply follow the current that’s already been set.
Even before definitive answers arrive, this moment offers an early look at how quickly narratives form, evolve, and reshape the political landscape around them. And in Hawaiʻi politics, that process often tells us as much as the outcome itself.
Over the past several weeks, a series of articles in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Honolulu Civil Beat marked a quiet but consequential shift in who is interpreting Hawaiʻi politics for the public. Two farewells and one arrival point to a change not simply in political voices, but in how the state’s political narrative is being shaped and understood.
On Sunday, the 14th of December, Civil Beatʻs Deputy Ideas Editor Richard Wiens penned an article about “The Silence of…
As part of our in memoriam for PHwSF co-founder and co-creator Brandon Dela Cruz and in recognition of his role in the creation of this blog, we reissue his original piece here, faithfully reproduced.
One is accused of drifting from the mission it was founded upon. The other is accused of holding to its mission so tightly that it may now violate the law. Different places, different histories — but both face the same question: how does an institution stay true to its purpose when the world keeps changing the rules around it?
Turning Hawaiian’s story into a morality play might make for easy headlines, but it does little justice to the reality. The airline wasn’t blindsided by its own arrogance — it was sideswiped by Covid, by Hawaii’s own prolonged shutdowns, by Japan’s deep and ongoing economic struggles. To say it “failed” because it didn’t copy Alaska is to confuse hindsight with analysis.