A conversation with ASP VP candidate Lauren Onak.
I have had the privilege of enjoying several conversations with Lauren Onak and was thrilled when she agreed to give me this interview following her nomination as the 2024 Vice Presidential candidate of the American Solidarity Party.
I don’t know of anyone inside the party or out, who has a more useful answer to the dumpster fire which has driven so many good people to political apathy or worse. If you have 10 minutes, please look at her acceptance speech at the ASP Convention this summer.
NC/ In your talk, you spoke of teenage “Michaela” who brought a child into the world with basically no social capital to support her. How can we become a society that welcomes Michaela’s baby girl?
LO/ I like that you use the term social capital in your question because that really is exactly what she was lacking. She was savvy enough to reach out for help and secure certain material assets for her baby, but many of those resources lacked interpersonal connection, or that connection was fleeting (like the volunteers at Harlem Children’s Zone that I mentioned in the speech). Her story begins with the instability of her family, recent immigrants from Ghana–and were they welcomed? Can we welcome the stranger in the womb if we can’t welcome the stranger to our shores? Can we allow ourselves to be inconvenienced, at the very least, by the problems of those in need? If we continue to be a society so focused on comfort and control, I don’t think we will attain the flexibility needed to welcome new life. I think we need to be reminded that some sacrifices are worth making for the greater good, and that we do not exist for our own pleasure and fulfillment but that rather that it is our obligations to one another, which often force us to give up that comfort and control, that can make life worth living.
NC/ Many people are disengaged from politics due to its caustic nature, its scandalous politicians, and/or its lack of making a difference in their lives. Yet you seem to be more optimistic than most and have agreed to spend the next 15 months doing this. Why?
LO/ Maybe it can’t get any worse? I’m kidding, of course. I suppose I’ve reached the point where an appeal to Christian values, an appeal to the innate dignity of every human being–when done with integrity and a right understanding of what that means–can only help our nation. I’m optimistic going into the election precisely because the ASP message is so coherent and positive–so life-giving to so many people of good will. So, while each and every voter might not be on board with everything we stand for, I can’t help but feel voters getting to know us is a net positive for them and adds goodness to their political lives. And as a Christian, I know that Christ has already won the battle over sin and death and evil–we contend with it in our lives, but we need to “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Peter 3:15). Christ’s victory is the source of my optimism. So is the goodness and dedication of the many party members I’ve met and interacted with, both online and in person.
NC/ Tell us about ASP Board of Advisor Leah Libresco Sargeant and what it is like to follow her on the podium. But seriously, what do you take away from her Keynote talk on the ‘Politics of Dependence vs. Autonomy”?
LO/ What I loved about Leah’s talk was what I love about her writing in general–she’s breaking down the lie of total autonomy. Modern man has really been duped into thinking we can do things on our own, independent of a community, and that any sort of dependence is bad and makes you weak. You and I, Norm, are both special needs parents. You are caring for your adult child, and I could very well be in that position in a few years as well. And so I feel like you and I have this unique window into the fact that dependence can be beautiful–life-altering, certainly, but beautiful. And as we see it in our children, we begin to see it everywhere, and to realize how much we truly need one another. The line I loved in Leah’s speech is about how we ought to hope to be lucky enough to one day grow old with and become “a burden” upon our children, because that means that we are part of a family. I think Leah sees the connectedness of the whole human family and that is what draws her, and people like you and me, to the ASP.
NC/ Can you take us behind the scenes and describe what it was like when Peter approached you to join him on the ticket?
LO/ Party members who were helping Peter with his campaign reached out to me and told me they were compiling a list of potential VP candidates. I was very much on the fence about being added to that list, but the more I interacted with Peter and saw the integrity and professionalism he displayed in the campaign, the fewer reservations I had about potentially being on the ticket. Finally, I said I would be happy to be added to the list, still thinking it was unlikely that Peter would ask me to be his running mate. He came over for lunch one day to meet my husband and family and to talk about the prospect in person. I could tell that it was very important to him that I would prioritize my family above all else, and he also wanted to make sure my husband was ok with the sacrifice I would be making. A few weeks later I got the official "call" from Peter!
NC/ The American Solidarity Party is statistically weighted towards males. You have a lot of experience with women’s issues, particularly on behalf of the vulnerable. In matters of women’s rights, what’s your advice to us guys?
LO/ This is such a big question, but to steal again from Leah Libresco Sargeant –” the world is the wrong shape for women.” So much of what we are as women is under attack. Our fertility because it is only framed to us as something dangerous and burdensome rather than something beautiful and natural. Our maternity through lack of adequate healthcare, the lies of the abortion industry, lack of adequate parental leave, lack of affordable childcare options and, for many women, no real option to be home with her children if that’s what she wants. And our dignity through hypersexualization and the scourges of human trafficking and pornography (these issues obviously affect men as well). I could go on. It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that the modern woman is looking to right these wrongs and may latch on to promises of equality that are beneath her dignity (eg the pro-choice movement). So, I suppose the advice I would give to men is similar to the advice I would give anyone–treat people you meet with compassion and listen to their stories. The better we become at listening to people, the more we come to understand their motivations, and the better we become at a dialogue that is welcome and convincing.
[Follow-Up] Charlie Camosy who is also on the ASP Board of Advisors, has said that abortion is a tool of the Patriarchy. He is also quick to point out that in study after study, women are no more pro-abortion rights than men. In fact, in some circumstances (abortion over 20 weeks) women are more pro-life than men. Do these sentiments and polls resonate with you and other women?
LO/ I would agree with Professor Camosy here. Without much mind-bending it's easy to see that abortion allows men to flee from responsibility at great cost to the woman. He does not experience in his body and mind the effects of the abortion in the same way a woman does (not to say that men can't mourn the loss of a child through abortion--many do, and deeply, but their body is not the site of the traumatic procedure).
NC/ Everybody in the American Solidarity Party has story about how and why they joined ASP, what’s yours?
LO/ When I was in college, I was part of a circle of young intellectual conservatives, mostly Catholic, but from other Christian denominations as well, who voted Republican. I think we really thought we were the future of the Republican party. Trump's nomination was a wake-up call for many of us, but I wasn't sure where to go--honestly, I didn't know there was somewhere else to go! At the same time, I graduated from college shortly after the recession and saw many friends struggling and needing government assistance despite full-time employment. Millennials were delaying marriage and childbearing. Everything I'd been told about working hard and being successful seemed to be in question during that time--and I was a graduate of an elite university. I think my eyes were really opened to the reality of the ways our economy privileged certain kinds of careers and knowledge.
The final nail in the coffin was the January 6 riot at the Capitol. I had already voted third party in the past two elections, including the ASP candidates in 2020, but after that I felt that I really needed to get involved in something to bring our nation back on a path that made sense. I really felt that we had lost our way. So, I officially became a member.
[Follow-Up] Indeed! It is harder and harder for values voters to find a home in either major party. It brings up the question of whether the ASP can be a home for progressives and conservatives who are turned off by the Democrats and the Republicans. Is the ASP a big tent party or is it a party that has a narrow focus on certain principles? Or is it something else?
LO/ I think it's something else in that it's based on a consistent ethic of the innate dignity of the human person. The Democratic and Republican platforms lack the coherence ours has. The various parts of our platform work together to paint a vision of a world in which families and communities flourish.
NC/ Peter’s campaign focused on his belief in the ASP Platform. After this summer’s convention that platform has somewhat expanded. As you were on the committee, can you take us through the changes and your thoughts on whether this is an improvement?
LO/ I'll start by saying that I don't think the core or values of the platform are altered in any way. But we needed some updates post-Dobbs, e.g. strengthening our maternal health planks. We strengthened planks in areas like housing and the environment. There were lots of small updates, too numerous to cover, but perhaps of greatest interest to party members is that during the convention we added a section on firearms. Our previous platform was neutral on that topic, so this was definitely a big change, and I think ultimately a positive one.
[Follow-up] You talk about the core values of the ASP that support the platform. What are those core values?
LO/ Here are a few: All life has value and an innate dignity that cannot be taken away. The economy ought to work for the good of the people and not the other way around. Local is beautiful. Society must be ordered in such a way that community building can occur organically, and the family must be given every opportunity to flourish within that community.
NC/ All of us need to work on our 30-40 second elevator pitch to introduce ASP to someone who should be with us but doesn’t know it yet. Can you share yours?
LO/ One of my favorite taglines for the party is “vote all your values.” I think that’s what it really boils down to. You don’t have to choose between vulnerable groups–and you shouldn’t have to. You really can support them all. There’s no quick-fix solution to the assault on human dignity through our two-party system. We really need a total political realignment and a recommitment to the value of the human person, and the ASP is doing so with innovative policy solutions while staying committed to time-tested values.
NC/ Thanks for doing this. And Happy Labor Day!
LO/ Thanks for all you do.