Latest / Breaking The Meta / Socialist Joe Tache Is Running to Beat Ed Markey in 2026
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: Hello everyone and welcome to breaking the meta. My name is Mike Winson. Today we are sitting down with Joe Tashay who is running for US Senate in the great state of Massachusetts. And I say great state because that's where I grew up. Hello Joe. How are you doing? Not biased in any way shape or form. Joe Tache: not biased at all. ⁓ Thanks, Michael. It's great to be here. I'm doing well. How are you doing? Breaking The Meta: I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm looking forward to having this conversation. So normally when I'm talking to people running for Congress, I ask where, you know, where they're running, like what the, what the area of their district is. I obviously don't need to ask that here, but let's go. let's go on to the next question, which is, would you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to run for U S Senate? Joe Tache: Yeah, well, I think one important thing to know about me is that I'm a socialist and I've been a socialist organizer for about 10 years now. I first got into politics when I was in college at Northeastern University in Boston. And, you know, I had started paying attention to things when I was in high school. It was a pretty dynamic time that I was growing up in. You had the Iraq War, the war on Afghanistan. You had the Great Recession and ensuing Occupy Wall Street movement. the election of Barack Obama, the murder of Trayvon Martin, all these things were happening in the world around me when I was a young person. And so I was definitely attuned to the fact that there was something or some things wrong with how our society is organized, but I wasn't politically active. I was just in high school trying to go about my day-to-day life. Survived math, yeah, that pre-calculus really took me out. Breaking The Meta: Survived math That's right Joe Tache: But then I went to school at Northeastern University and I actually was a business major at Northeastern. And the rationale was that I was starting to feel like I wanted to make a positive impact in the world. even as an 18 year old, I had an understanding that money is power in our society. And so I had the desire to make a lot of money and make an impact with that. And Northeastern, the school that I went to has a program called Co-op. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: where you basically take six months off of classes and you work. And so my first co-op was at a private equity investment firm in Boston. And it was a very rough six months for me. And in my classes in general, I had been learning things that didn't rub me quite the wrong, didn't rub me the right way. For example, pretty much my first business class ever, the professor wrote on the board, cash is king. He's like, if you remember anything from these classes, this is what you had to remember. Breaking The Meta: the Joe Tache: And kind of every class had some iteration of that, that the purpose of working in finance or as an accountant or whatever your field of business is, is that you need to help your company maximize its profits. And it's not just enough to turn a profit this quarter. You have to make more profit this quarter than you made last quarter. And so that's the indoctrination, I would say, that I was receiving in my classes. And then I was doing this co-op, this internship at a time when Breaking The Meta: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Joe Tache: the Black Lives Matter movement was really taking off across the country. Freddie Gray in Baltimore was killed at the time that I was doing this internship. And there was one of many high-profile cases of police brutality. So that led me to get involved in marches around Boston. I'd never been an activist, an organizer, but that was my first introduction. So I got involved in the movement against police brutality. I got involved in building a movement in solidarity with Breaking The Meta: Mm. Joe Tache: the dining hall workers on my campus as they were fighting for a strong contract with the university, got involved with solidarity activism with Palestine, affordable housing and anti-identification organizing, kind of all these different issues that all seem to come back to the same route, which is also what I was learning in my classes, that our society is oriented around maximizing the profits of billionaires over everything else. And that is what ultimately led me to get involved with the party for socialism and liberation. Breaking The Meta: Money? Joe Tache: In 2018, I'm still a member and now I'm running for US Senate as a candidate of the PSL in Massachusetts. Breaking The Meta: Awesome. So as you go around, because for those of you that are listening that haven't grown up in Massachusetts, it's so interesting when you leave because it feels like you grew up in a completely different world. But in many ways, it's also exactly the same as everywhere else. So as you go around and talk to people in Massachusetts about what those hot button issues, what those things that What are those things that people are coming to you most about that they could use help from the federal government with? Joe Tache: I'd say it's twofold because Massachusetts is a very diverse state racially, economically, in every sense of the world, just like the country is. And I live in Roxbury in Boston. It's a poor neighborhood, mostly Black and Latino. There are many poor cities and towns and neighborhoods all across Massachusetts. From here in Boston, you have if you go northeast to Lowell and other towns in the North Shore. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: If go to Worcester, Springfield, Holyoke, and the West, pretty much everywhere we go, we go out on the Cape and you'll find places where people are struggling. And Massachusetts has one of the highest costs of living in the country. And many people in the state have had to move to different towns or move out of state because it's difficult to afford housing, healthcare, you can relate. Yeah, so you know exactly what it is. And it's an issue that, I mean, affordability has become the hot button issue. Breaking The Meta: Welcome to my world! Joe Tache: a hot button word in politics today, right? And it's because people are struggling under the economy right now. So when I talk to people pretty much throughout the entire state, there's the question of why doesn't our economy work for us, even though we are the richest country in the world? Then there are what I would say generational and existential questions that no matter if you make $30,000 a year or if you make $250,000 a year and you own a home, Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: in ⁓ Lexington or a nice suburb in Massachusetts, you're still dealing with these existential questions of democracy, the attacks by the Trump administration against ⁓ our basic fundamental rights that our social movements have won, and they're trying to strip those back. You're still dealing with the fundamental questions of climate change, of artificial intelligence and automation, of war. And these are things that I would say the two-party system and ultimately the capitalist system that Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: the Democratic Party and Republican parties uphold have no solutions for. So I think that we have a campaign that speaks not just to people who are economically struggling, although that is certainly true that our campaign does speak to those issues. But if you're concerned about the overarching direction that our society is going in under the Trump administration, but beyond that, then this is a campaign that puts forward solutions that get to the root of the issue, which again is as long as we have. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: a political and economic system that is controlled by billionaires and prioritizes their power and profits above everything else, we won't solve climate change. We won't be able to address the introduction of artificial intelligence in a way that actually benefits our society instead of tearing it apart at the seams. We won't be able to address the questions of war. So we're putting forward a campaign that is a paradigm shift essentially in our politics at a time when many people can see that we're at a crossroads. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. One of the other issues that I think is a hot button issue for a lot of people, regardless of what side of the spectrum you are on in regards to conservative, progressive, whatever, is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to politicians at every level. So my question is what does accountability mean to you? What does being accountable to the people of Massachusetts, in this case, look like to you? Joe Tache: To me, means prioritizing the needs and interests of the majority of our population over what I would call it, the special interests of the billionaires. know, just yesterday, the New York Times reported that Metta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook and WhatsApp, is creating two new super PACs. And one of the super PACs is going to back Democratic Party politicians, and the other is going to back Republican Party politicians. And they already have two other super PACs and combined these four super PACs are going to receive $65 million from Metta to influence the outcome of local elections and state elections. And it's such a encapsulation of one of the fundamental issues with politics in our country, which is these politicians are accountable, but they're accountable to the money that buys their loyalties. And when we live in a society where these billionaires and the corporations that they own are allowed to so directly influence the words and actions of politicians, we're going down, going to a race to the bottom because again, these companies, Metta and these other tech companies, they are dealing with technology that has impacts on our entire population. And our politics should not be controlled by the profit interests of these corporations. I think that these corporations actually should be controlled by the needs of our society. If artificial intelligence and social media have such a big impact on our society, then we should be having collective determinations about how those technologies are wielded, utilized, rolled out in order to protect our young people, our climate, and all of us. Because I think a lot all of us can see the impacts that artificial intelligence and technology are having on our society, which doesn't mean that we shouldn't have technology. But it's Breaking The Meta: Mm. Joe Tache: It's used to the whims of these billionaires and it's a crisis in our society. So to me, ⁓ this campaign is not funded by super PACs. It's not funded by billionaire interests. And ultimately, unless we're able to build political movements that are financially independent of the billionaires who are causing the problems we're trying to solve, then the politicians will not be accountable to the people. And so that's why I ultimately broke from the Democratic Party as someone who grew up considering myself a Democrat. because if you look at the upper echelons of that party and its connections to the same corporate and lobbying interests, it's no coincidence that even when the Democrats control Congress and the White House, they don't deliver on the programs that they promise. And they say that they'll deliver to benefit working people and the majority in this country, because unfortunately, their loyalties as a party are bought and paid for too. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Obviously. Since World War II, the United States, for good or bad, has been at the head of the proverbial table worldwide. Any conversations, everything. This administration has ⁓ put a sledgehammer to it. Tariffs that as well, Greenland ⁓ breaking and then... ⁓ making and then breaking deals with people that are considered our allies. How do you see our foreign affairs, our foreign policy moving forward, knowing where we have already gotten to after one year of this administration? Joe Tache: You know, in a lot of ways, I feel like the Trump administration is the culmination of this right wing racist, militaristic trend that has existed in U.S. foreign policy since really its inception. But it's also, I think to the point you're making in your question, is the product of a global set of affairs that has put the US at the head of the table and allowed the US government to disregard the interests and voices of smaller countries, of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America for years. So for example, Donald Trump right now is ⁓ enforcing what I would say is ⁓ a genocidal policy in Cuba, where they're blocking the importation of fuels into the country. And they try to frame this as a humanitarian policy. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: But what the impact is in effect is stopping electricity from being able to run in hospitals and schools. So cancer patients can't get their treatment. Kids are not able to get the education that they need to grow up as fully functioning adults in a society. This is Donald Trump's policy on Cuba. has nothing to do with democracy or freedom or any of that. But also the US government has had a longstanding blockade against Cuba that the Trump administration is tightening the bolts on, but it is something that he didn't start. Right. And ultimately, I think if you look at our society, I mean, we just celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King in January. He said that a society that spends more on militarism than on its own people's needs is approaching spiritual death. He said that in 1967 during the Vietnam War. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: which was escalated by Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, right? So if you zoom out and look at a policy that prioritizes militarism and really is, I would say the foreign policy of the US for so long has been the expanding the domestic interests of the corporations and the billionaires to the world stage. And I think that we need to completely revamp the way that we think about foreign policy. When we're looking at existential questions like climate change, for example, Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Joe Tache: This is something that can only be solved through collaboration and cooperation of countries all across the world. And I think that our historic foreign policy that's been based on domination is a barrier to us being able to solve global problems and also is harmful to people all over the world. It's no coincidence that global migration has increased in the post-World War II period where the U.S. has been at the seat of the table. And if you look at what our government has done in Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: Latin America and Africa and Asia in terms of militaristic and economic warfare, that has increased migration all across the world in a way that is ⁓ as harmful to people in their own communities and has obviously created a lot of political discussion in the United States as well. So I think this is an opportunity to, of course, criticize Donald Trump. We have to make it very clear he is not a president of peace, like he claims. He is a warmonger and He's really trying to instill ⁓ an old school style, colonial and racist foreign policy all across the world, especially in Latin America, where he calls his policy the Don Roe Doctrine, a call back to the Monroe Doctrine, which says the US has the right to dominate Latin America as our backyard. ⁓ But we shouldn't just stop at criticizing Donald Trump. We have to look at the system that allowed for a politician like Donald Trump to arise. And I think that we need to completely revamp the way that we think about. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: ⁓ foreign policy, not to be based on ⁓ exploitation and domination and advancing billionaire interests across the world, but based on mutual respect and diplomacy and building those real relationships with people across the world. Breaking The Meta: There's obviously a lot of angst. There's a lot of division. There's a lot of problems that we have in communicating. do have, regardless of that side of the aisle or what position just in general you consider yourself in this country and society, we all are worried about a lot of similar things. There's a lot of the same things that are affecting all of us. What has been your experience going around as someone who is not part of either party when you've been interacting with people that may be, have always considered themselves part of one of those two parties? Joe Tache: Well, thing that we have to understand is that even in years where there are as high voter turnout, millions of people don't vote. So I'd say that the majority of people actually in our country don't strongly identify with either the Democratic or the Republican parties, even if they vote for them. But a lot of people don't vote for them. If you look at polling data, I think it's a pew ⁓ Pew does a survey every year about third parties, or maybe it's one of the other polling companies, but the point still stands. Right. ⁓ But the point stands that since 2013, over 60 % of people have said that we need a third party or multiple more parties in the United States. And then if you ask people if they would vote for or engage in third party politics, the number is much lower, which I think speaks to... Breaking The Meta: There are so many at this point. Joe Tache: the anti-democratic nature of our system that maybe we could talk about a little bit later. But to answer your initial question, I think there's a lot of openness because even if people vote for Democrats or Republicans, or even if they don't vote at all, people are not satisfied with the status quo. And this campaign is an expression of the fact that the status quo isn't working and we're not going to change it just by replacing one Democrat with another or one Republican with another. or one Democrat with a Republican, because that's the framework that's told to us by the kind of political system at large. But I think that's part of what has driven so much divisiveness and bitterness in our politics is if you were someone who voted for Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2020 and you're promised universal childcare, student debt cancellation, free community college, and none of that is delivered on and Joe Biden and the Democrats allow COVID era safety nets like the child tax credit to expire, which caused a spike in childhood poverty. And then you watch the Democrats provide funding and political cover for a genocide against the people of Gaza. Four years later, and when you're asked to show up for the Democrats, that's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. And Trump started many of his campaign speeches in 2024 asking, is their life better or worse now than it was four years ago? For many people, life got worse because the Democrats, even though they had a majority in Congress and they controlled the White House, they didn't meaningfully change the status quo. And so that makes people feel lied to and manipulated by politicians because they are being lied to and manipulated. So I think there's a lot of openness to the message that we're putting forward throughout Massachusetts because people do want real change. I think the biggest challenge is the fact that because we are independent from these Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: corporate interests from these billion interests. We don't have access to the same war chest, to the same corporate media, to the same funding to get our message out. But I feel very confident that the more that we get our message out, the more there'll be excitement about the campaign because we're actually putting forward a program and an analysis that speaks to people's experiences and isn't trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Breaking The Meta: Yeah. Yeah, it's I've I have always been someone that would strongly support the elimination of a two party system. ⁓ And we definitely need more and more people in office that are willing to fight for that as well. So I definitely ⁓ appreciate that perspective greatly. So. I want to do a little bit of future casting. So obviously, since you're not running in one of the two parties, you don't have to worry about a midterm. That makes life a little easier for you. let's say, let's say, you know, Massachusetts comes out and they say we are done with the status quo to November, November 3rd happens. You win. And then January comes along, you get you get sworn in as the senator. from Massachusetts, what is one of the first things that you do? Joe Tache: One of the first things that I do is talk to my constituents and talk to people on the floor of Congress, of the Capitol, that this campaign and me as a Congress person are an expression of a broader movement. And I'm not going to do what many of the politicians do, which is say, if you elect me, I will fix all of your problems. Because I understand that If I'm elected, I will be one third party socialist candidate or one third party socialist Senator in a sea of many corporate Democrats and Republicans. But I think that there's a lot that ⁓ a movement can do to transform the face and shape of American politics. And I think that there's a lot I could do as a spokesperson and vessel of that movement within Congress to explicitly compare. ⁓ a program that prioritizes people's needs ⁓ against the program of the two party system. And one of the strongest tools that the two party system has and the political status quo has is making us believe that a dignified life, that housing, healthcare, retirement, childcare for everybody is just pie in the sky. And I think it's very important in particular to have Breaking The Meta: Mm. Joe Tache: a socialist perspective in the conversation around Congress because the federal budget is massive. And if we transformed our priorities and instead of facilitating continued upward wealth transfers to the one per, well, the really the less than 1%, the very small billionaire class, we could invest so much in transforming our society. So I would bring forward proposals that explain that understanding that I would be a super minority in the Congress. But I think that can be part of a transformative moment and change in US society. If you'll forgive me for giving an old historical example, one of the moments I'm looking to in thinking about this campaign is the moments before slavery was abolished in the United States. And in 1851, a long time ago, Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: Massachusetts elected a Senator named Charles Sumner. And there are a lot of similarities between then and now. I'll say that he broke from the Whig party, which I would say is kind of like the Democratic party of today. Spineless, compromising, tied to the elites and unwilling to take a stand on the major moral issue of the time, which was slavery. And when Charles Sumner was elected in 1851, he was one of three abolitionist senators in Congress in the Senate. There was one from Ohio, one from New Hampshire, and Sumner was the third. And he was hated in Congress by not just Southerners who were in favor of slavery, but also by Northerners who felt like he was pushing the issue too far to the extent where he was actually beaten on Congress floor for giving a speech against slavery by another congressman. But he agitated and educated very powerfully against slavery and the evil slavery and advocated for the need for abolition and was part and parcel of a growing movement for abolition that by 15 years later, slavery was abolished. And he was one of the most powerful voices in the Senate advocating for the abolition of, for the reconstruction of the country after the abolition of slavery. So that's kind of a tradition that I see this campaign in. Charles Sumner, when he was elected in 1851, he wasn't in the position to put forward transformative legislation. But he played a very important role ⁓ in changing the paradigm of politics in this country to the point where that change could eventually happen. And ⁓ that's the commitment that I would make if I'm elected as a senator in Massachusetts, that I'm not going to sugarcoat. I'm not going to lie to people about the reality of politics and the economy in this system. I'm going to be part of a movement that wants to transform the status quo. And I'm going to bring that from day one in January 2027. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. ⁓ that who's listening to this right now ⁓ all the way here is listen to everything that you said up until this point. What? ⁓ are one or two things that no matter what you would want to make sure that they walk away with knowing about you and your campaign? Joe Tache: One, I just said this, but I think it's important to reiterate, I'm part of a larger movement. I've been organizing with the PSL for eight years, and I'm going to continue organizing to transform our society for the rest of my life, because I believe that we have the means to meet everybody's needs in our society. We just need the political power to do so. And so this movement, yes, I hope to be elected, but it's bigger than that. It's about inviting people who Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: resonate with the message to be part of the movement as well. So if that does resonate with you and you're listening, I invite you to sign up to volunteer and to get involved. And even if you don't live in Massachusetts, there's likely PSL organizers near you. So you can be part of the socialist movement. And the second thing I'd say is we can't afford to continue with the status quo. For example, on the issue of climate change, I grew up in the era of watching the day after tomorrow and hearing that if we didn't do XYZ to reduce our carbon emissions by 2030, then we wouldn't have a livable planet in the future. 2030 is now right around the corner. And in fact, the Trump administration last week, they renounced the EPA guidelines that fossil fuel emissions pose a danger to the welfare of current and future generations. So we're going we're going backwards. And it's not again, it's kind of similar to the question of foreign policy. It's not just Trump. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: I mean, I remember watching the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, where they were debating who was going to be friendlier to new oil drilling licenses. I mean, it's, have a two party system that prioritizes the corporate interests of all these different industries, including oil and gas over our own humanity and are over our own survival. So the moment is urgent. And obviously it's very difficult to break from the status quo. It's very difficult to break from the two party system. Breaking The Meta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Joe Tache: in this country. But the message I want to send to people is that we have no choice, that if we continue going down the status quo on the questions of climate change, on the questions of affording our basic needs, on the question of war, on democracy, all these questions are not being addressed under the current system. We can only solve them if we transform our political and economic system. And unfortunately, the Democratic Party and Republican parties are not interested in doing that. So I get involved with the movement that is fighting to do that. Breaking The Meta: ⁓ If anyone wants to learn more about you, your campaign, ⁓ wants to volunteer or donate, where can they find Joe Tache: You can find me on social media, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter at Tash for the number MA. And also our website is Tash for MA dot com. So you can learn more about our program, read my bio, sign up to get involved to donate, which we definitely need because like I said, we didn't start off with a two million dollars in our pockets, like the Democratic Party candidates in this race. So we really need people to contribute on all levels to build this movement. And I hope you visit our website and social media to do that. Breaking The Meta: Joe, thank you so much for coming on here and sitting down with us and letting us to learn a little bit more about you and what you hope to do for the people of Massachusetts. I do really appreciate it. ⁓ Yeah, it's, it's. ⁓ Joe Tache: Thank you, Mike. I appreciate you taking the time. Hope you have a great rest of your day. Breaking The Meta: It's an interesting time of year where... And I'm saying this, it is literally nothing against you. I want to start off by saying this. It's a very interesting time of year where... People are scared and people are struggling to try and figure out what the best way is. And one of the reasons that I started doing this, one of the reasons that while most of who I am, a vast majority obviously of who I'm interviewing are people that are running under the Democratic ticket, I was excited to sit down and talk with you because regardless of whether you as a socialist, as you said even, it's part of a movement. These are conversations that we need to have. These are things that we need to talk about. And ⁓ there is part of me that hopes that you succeed because what you want is in the end what a lot of us, I think, want. And it almost would open the door potentially to, just like you were talking about back during slavery, it opens a door potentially to something greater that that we keep almost feeling like is impossible. So I appreciate you doing it. I know that you probably went into it knowing it wasn't going to be an easy road no matter what. regardless of whether regardless of any amount of disagreement me or anyone else listening might have with you going the route that you're going, I appreciate you doing it. And I respect what you are doing. And these are conversations that need to be had, even if in the end we disagree, because I can tell just by talking with you that your heart is there. And that is just as important, if not the most important. Our fundamentals are the same, even if we may not totally agree on how we get there. And that's why these conversations are necessary. So I just want to say that to you, thank you for doing this. And I know it's not an easy route to take. Joe Tache: Well, I appreciate you saying that. And I agree 100 percent. And for the record, I think I've watched some of the interviews on your show. I think there are many people who are running ⁓ under the Democratic Party who, like you're saying, have their hearts in the right place as well. And so this is not meant to be any type of ⁓ attack against them. More so, it's a strategic question about is the Democratic Party a vessel to deliver on ⁓ the change that we are united around believing is necessary. And I agree. think that those discussions are important. I'll say Charles Sumner, who I mentioned earlier, he was a Whig. And with many of the other Whig party members, he broke from the Whig party when he felt like ⁓ that party was incapable of being a vessel for delivering the change that was needed on slavery. So I also welcome people, even if you're a Democrat, if you feel like you're getting a disillusioned certain point, come on over. The door is open. But regardless, Breaking The Meta: Absolutely. Joe Tache: I think there ways for us to discuss, to work together, to build a united front movement against the Trump attacks on our people. So I appreciate you saying that and it was really great talking with you. Breaking The Meta: Absolutely. for everyone else that listened this far, thank you so much. Please like and subscribe and hit all those buttons down below. It makes it possible for me to keep doing what I'm doing here, which is interviewing some amazing people that want change, that aren't going to take PAC money, that want to be held accountable, that want to break the status quo. And again, for those of you that don't know about this podcast, it is about having hard conversations because they're necessary. It's about breaking status quo and fighting for the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender or identity, get rights, respect, dignity, and safety. Joe, thank you again. For everyone else, we'll see you next time on Breaking the Meta. Bye, guys.