The Real Soul of the Democratic Party

[Sarah]

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=583

Dennis Kucinich: the real soul of the Democratic Party?
Wednesday 20 August @ 12:33:52
an interview and profile by Lydia Howell
photos by Jonathan Miller

The best-kept secret on the Democratic presidential campaign trail
ignited St. Paul's Central High School auditorium August 16, bringing
the almost 1000-strong crowd repeatedly to its feet, cheering.
Supporters of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) defy definition, spanning
independents, Greens, veterans, students, peace activists, consumers
and environmentalists. Doubts about his "electability" are greatly
exaggerated-Kucinich won by 70 percent in 2001 in a traditionally
Republican district. Willie Nelson is recording campaign ads for him
and doing concert fundraisers with Ani DiFranco in Des Moines, Iowa,
in early September. Grassroots campaign organizations are spreading
like smoldering prairie fire across the country.

Lydia Howell interviews presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on ehr
show "Catalyst" which airs on KFAI Aug 26 @ 11 a.m.

"When the Founders of our country spoke of 'forming a more perfect
union,' it wasn't just about politics. It was also about being able to
be more than we are-about consciously evolving," Kucinich evoked the
recurring anthem of his St. Paul speech-"It's not too late to seek a
new world!"

Kucinich knows about transformation firsthand. Growing up poor, he had
21 addresses before age 17-including a car. His ex-Marine father was a
truck driver who Kucinich said "died with his first retirement check
uncashed in his pocket." The oldest of seven, Kucinich was the first
in his family to go to college. Degrees in communications took him
from newsroom copy boy to radio, TV cameraman and lecturer, in between
elected offices.

"First, you have to understand what Bush's presidency is about:
accelerating wealth upward. Its about putting the nation's wealth into
fewer and fewer hands," Kucinich said in a KFAI interview in July,
pointing to post-9/11 bailouts that gave airlines billions while their
employees got massive layoffs. "The Bush economy is driven by the
interests of a few at the expense of the many. That's what the war and
the tax cuts are about."

Kucinich joined the anti-World Trade Organization (WTO) battle in
Seattle. He'll use Executive Orders to withdraw from the WTO and
repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that's exported
millions of American jobs to Mexican sweatshops.

"Labels like liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican don't mean
much when you look at these trade agreements. The real issue is:
WHOOSE side are you on? Are you on the side of multinational
corporations driving down wages, knocking out benefits, breaking
unions and crushing communities when they move jobs out?" Kucinich
gains momentum, not allowed in CSPAN 60-second sound-bites. "Or are
you on the side of people struggling for workers' rights, human rights
and environmental principles?"

Kucinich's legislation aimed to restore fairness between employees and
management: enforcement of labor laws, anti-discrimination and
collective bargaining. He salvaged Ohio's steel industry and kept
public hospitals open. Democratic competitor, Rep. Richard Gephardt
assumes entitlement to union endorsements, yet (like all the other
candidates) refuses to take a stand against the obviously destructive
NAFTA.

Challenging corporate power has been Kucinich's quest since he became
the youngest (31) mayor of a major city (Cleveland) in the late 1970s.
Inheriting financial crisis of misspent bonds, he faced a corporate
power-play: pressure to privatize the public Muny Electric utility,
backed up by banks threatening to call in city loans if Kucinich didn'
t capitulate. "It was extortion," he says. Kucinich refused, loans
were pulled, resulting in Cleveland's bankruptcy and Kucinich's loss
of his re-election bid. Now, even his detractors concede he was right,
as California's power outages and rate hikes proved privatization
failed [for more on this see "After the Blackout are We Still in the
Dark?]. Kucinich noted in St. Paul the recent Northeast/Canada power
shutdown (being traced to Ohio) was another example of "profits at the
expense of public interest."

Is Kucinich the democratic Don Quixote?

It took almost 15 years for Kucinich's resolute integrity to create a
political come back outshining Clinton's. From state senator to three
terms in Congress, Kucinich put a light bulb on his campaign signs:
perhaps, partly a poke at the powerful, but also easily interpreted as
symbolizing his commitment to illuminating corporate misdeeds while
raising fresh hopeful ideas.

"We're ALREADY PAYING for universal healthcare. We're just NOT GETTING
IT," Kucinich goes to the heart of the 2004 campaign's "banner issue":
healthcare. Current U.S. spending is 14 percent of GNP on healthcare,
Kucinich explained, projected to rise to 18 percent within 10
years-even without expanding access. "Insurance keeps going up. What
do insurance companies do? They make money by EXCLUDING coverage.
Everyone knows this. More deductibles, higher co-pays, less access.
This is the trend. The ONLY way to freeze costs is for a single-payer
system that cares for everyone. Take the profits out so these
companies don't have their hands on your wallet!"

A new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
backs up Kucinich by concluding that our healthcare is a "diseased
system" which sacrifices public health.

Kucinich quietly relates the devil's bargains made by families with a
health crisis: homes mortgaged, retirement funds liquidated, children'
s college savings spent. Anger and sorrow mingle in Kucinich's voice,
"Even if you're insured now, there's no guarantee you'll be able to
continue to afford it. There's no guarantee you won't get the call-'We
don't cover that anymore. SORRY. You're EXCLUDED!' We're in a moment
in our country's economic evolution, where a market-based approach to
healthcare is immoral. That people are excluded from survival is
fundamentally wrong in a democracy."

The KFAI studio is somber and I'm struck by Kucinich's unmistakable
empathy. Was his working-class father's early death (like 44 million
uninsured Americans) another casualty of corporate profiteering?

While other Democrats tinker with cosmetic changes, Kucinich is the
only candidate proposing universal, single-payer healthcare, including
dental, vision-care, mental health and long-term care. JAMA's study
announced last week that 8,000 doctors agree that Kucinich's plan is
the only solution for both containing costs and alarming health
disparities. One doctor disagrees: Howard Dean says "it can't pass,"
and his plan leaves healthcare under corporate control.

"Those saying 'it won't pass' are conceding that this system is so
corrupt that we're all captive to it!" Kucinich retorts. "I'll
challenge the insurance and drug companies to do what's right for the
American people. WE don't exist for them. THEY exist for us."

The more one hears Kucinich speak and researches his record, a pattern
emerges: a practical visionary, taking on the "big issues" and linking
them to impacts on ordinary citizens' lives. While other Democrats
waffle or evade about Bush's tax cuts and war, Kucinich remains a
David boldly challenging Goliath, declaring. "When they say tax cuts
what they really mean is giveaways to the wealthy who don't need it
and service cuts." Kucinich observes that under Bush, 2.5 million jobs
have disappeared. "In Minnesota, that's meant 125,000-96,000 after the
FIRST tax cut! It's wealth concentrated into fewer and fewer hands and
we have less democracy."

He leaps to the Patriot Act: "As the Administration has propelled
fear, they've become more powerful and the American people have become
less powerful. With less power politically and economically, you have
a population easier to manipulate and control." He told the St. Paul
rally he would repeal the Patriot Act by Executive Order.

Besides opposing the Iraq war resolution "supporting the troops" that
Congress passed, Kucinich is fighting the simultaneous and
hypocritical cuts to veterans' services that are traveling through
Congress right now. He initiated restoring retired veterans healthcare
and co-sponsored a bill allocating 20 percent of public housing for
the nation's 200,000 homeless veterans. At the same time, he is
leading the charge demanding an investigation of Bush's use of
intelligence that misled Congress and the public to support invading
Iraq.

Says Kucinich about the war in Iraq, "Think about why this country
went to war. Iraq was not responsible for 9/11, had no connection to
Al-Qaeda. Iraq had no connection to the anthrax attack. Iraq had no
weapons of mass destruction to immediately deploy against the United
States." Kucinich's reasoning is as methodical as a bricklayer. "Was
it about the defense of this nation? Or was it about a power grab ...
and oil? I think we still need to have this debate."

"We're ALREADY PAYING for universal healthcare. We're just NOT GETTING
IT ... More deductibles, higher co-pays, less access. This is the
trend. The ONLY way to freeze costs is for a single-payer system that
cares for everyone. Take the profits out so these companies don't have
their hands on your wallet!"

Kucinich exposes budgets bloated by defense contractors' cost
over-runs and waste while working on a subcommittee for oversight of
military budgets. The Pentagon reported $1.3 trillion unaccounted for.
Kucinich wants a 15 percent ($65 billion) cut in military spending.

"This Administration, cycling fear, created pretexts for war. They
became more powerful as they did that. With lies and manipulations,
now, they seek to totally destroy the social agenda of our nation with
a military build up: $400 billion budget, 13 percent increase. We're
rapidly coming to the point where we spend more on the Pentagon than
all other countries COMBINED spend on their defense! What implication
does this have for our democracy?"

As he pauses, I realize no other candidates mention military budgets.

"This continued military build up will be the DEATH-knell for our
democracy. They're SUCKING OUT THE OXYGEN that's needed for the
economy!" he concluded. Kucinich is ranking Democrat on the National
Security Committee. Vowing to cut military spending, "I'll correct
this direction. We'll have a strong defense, but we ALREADY had that
before 9/11. My concern is that we understand that education is part
of national defense, Healthcare is national defense. Having good jobs
and full employment is national defense. Making sure veterans have the
full benefits we promised them when they said they'd serve is national
defense. This is a moment for fundamental and deep change and my
candidacy represents that."

In quoting Martin Luther King Jr.'s phrase "interconnected garment of
destiny," Kucinich confirmed he's not just a critic. Driven by
profound purpose unmatched by his Democratic rivals, Kucinich hopes
for a Cabinet-level Department of Peace (already co-sponsored by 50
fellow Congress-members) exhilarated the crowd. It links both domestic
problems and international relations with the goal of "making
non-violence the organizing principle of our nation." He began by
recognizing the national epidemic of violence against women, child
abuse and youth violence and went on to advocate to expand mediation,
and on the international front, to strengthen the United Nations,
cooperate with other countries and to join the International Criminal
Court.

Kucinich's stump-style is a half-hour speech followed by throwing
himself open to audience questions. An electrifying orator, he also
enjoys engaging people. Diverse issues flung from the audience
revealed more of his positions.

He stated that the prison system's tripled population, largely due to
a failed "drug war," should receive more treatment and rehabilitation,
less incarceration. "Only violent people should be locked up." He
opposes the federal death penalty.

He expressed support for sustainable energy as sound for the
environment and invigorating for the economy.

Some insist Kucinich has an Achilles heel: abortion. His first two
terms in Congress, he voted anti-choice. Skeptics contend he
'flip-flopped' in order to seek the Democratic nomination. This
reporter pressed him hard about how and why he's become pro-choice,
committed to Roe as the "litmus test" for judges.

"I became increasingly disturbed about politicization by the
Republican Party and moves toward the criminalization [of abortion]."
Kucinich cited extremist legislation proposed to ban contraceptives.
"Mostly, I listened to a lot of women. What became clear to me is this
isn't only about choice. If women can't make these decisions for
themselves, they can't take their equal place in society. That's what'
s at stake."

Kucinich's depth on issues was further revealed in his pro-choice
position, which included preventing unplanned pregnancies with access
to contraceptives and sex education-both of which are under right-wing
Christian attack. Unlike anti-choice politicians pushing "welfare
reform," Kucinich sees supports for mothers and children as critical
to women having real reproductive rights. Many feminists don't act
beyond upholding Roe, so, I was utterly convinced of Kucinich's
sincerity. His record is consistently courageous on controversy.

Mainstream media primarily asks about Kucinich's fundraising and
"electability." Unlike Sen. John Kerry's $16 million or Dean's $7
million in corporate contributions, Kucinich adheres to the campaign
finance reform he's worked to pass. In the last quarter, he raised $2
million, half on the Internet, with contributions averaging $77,
indicating that it is private citizens who make up the base of his
monetary support. Half of those contributors are giving money to a
campaign for the first time.

"When you connect with people's hearts, money always follows," he told
the rally's press conference.

Regarding "electability," U. S. Senate candidate, Minneapolis
performance artist and self-proclaimed "electoral politics junkie,"
David Daniels has crunched the numbers. "All Kucinich needs is to win
the states Al Gore won plus one more-that extra would be his home
state Ohio. He doesn't even need Florida and he'd have the Electoral
College votes."

Historical perspective also challenges pundits' premature judgments:
At this point in the campaign process, Bill Clinton had 6 percent and
Jimmy Carter didn't make the polls at all, yet, both won the White
House. Kucinich is polling 7 percent in Iowa, even without media
coverage. Some call Kucinich the "Seabiscuit of 2004."

As Howard Dean expropriates Paul Wellstone's memory, a reality-check
is in order: Kucinich worked closely with Wellstone in Congress'
Progressive Caucus, sharing concerns and positions on issues. Some see
Dean as a more genteel version of Jesse Ventura: a social libertarian,
conservative on everyting else.

Beth, a Kucinich supporter, described a recent Iowa candidates' forum.
"As soon as Dennis came on stage, he got a standing ovation-before he
said a single word! None of the others got close to that kind of
reaction."

Deeply ethical, hard-working, informed by facts and empathy, impishly
humorous: These are some impressions of the livewire Congressman from
Ohio who's kept the courage with which he began his political career.
Burned through war-induced despair and Bush-generated fear, Dennis
Kucinich inspired hundreds of people to imagine victory.

===========
Hear Dennis Kucinich interviewed on "Catalyst" Tues., Aug. 26, 11 a.m.
on KFAI, 90.1 FM Minneapolis 106.7 FM St. Paul (available for two
weeks after broadcast @ http://www.kfai.org) See
minnesotaforkucinich.com