Progressives Should Vote Kucinich

[dweller]

Progressives Should Vote Kucinich
by RONNIE DUGGER

(posted online on February 17, 2004)

Dennis Kucinich is the one candidate for President whose vision, eloquence and commitments on the issues can lead us to rise to and surmount the worldwide crises precipitated by the Bush Administration.

First and foremost, Kucinich is inviting us to stop being aggressive nationalists and start being brothers and sisters with the entire human race. It's a euphemism to call Bush's war on Iraq "a war of choice"; it was a classic unprovoked war of aggression. Kucinich is the only member of Congress running for President who voted against the resolution authorizing Bush to attack Iraq. Kerry, Edwards, Gephardt and Lieberman all voted for it, while Kucinich led almost two-thirds of the Democrats in the House of Representatives to repudiate their own party leader on it. In the national disgrace of our war on Iraq, the public figure who did the most to uphold American honor is Dennis Kucinich.

Late last month the top general of the Army said we may have to keep troops in Iraq another three years. One hears no talk of withdrawal from Edwards, and in Des Moines on February 14, Kerry said that during his first 100 days as President he would send over 40,000 more US troops. Kucinich demands that we turn the situation in Iraq over to the UN and get our 130,000 soldiers back home in ninety days. Otherwise, he forecasts that the $155 billion war we didn't have to fight will cost us a trillion dollars, and the 550 dead Americans will become thousands--not to speak, as usual, of the tens of thousands of Iraqi casualties.

Under President Kucinich, the Bush Doctrine of first-strike wars would be junked--we would work with other nations and the UN "instead of acting like an empire," waging a permanent war and undermining the ABM, biological weapons, chemical weapons, small arms, International Criminal Court and Kyoto treaties. Kucinich would create a Cabinet-level Department of Peace to rank alongside the Departments of State and Defense and to "establish nonviolence as an organizing principle" in domestic and world affairs. His space preservation treaty would ban weapons in space.

Where else would Kucinich lead us as President?

more

dp

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[5X]

1. what he said

I heard someone interviewed on npr saying she might vote for Dean in
her primary to show support for his platform.

Anyone considering this should definitely vote Kucinich.

Dean keeps saying he is the only one that was against the war.
This is a lie, we all know that.
For too long Dean supporters have said 'I like Kucinich, but'
If Dean drops out, that 'but' no longer matters and your vote should
go for the only progressive left and the one true progressive
from the start.

[ixion]

2. of all candidates, I like Kucinich the best. However

This time around my primary goal is to get the Bush cabal out of the WH.

[zonmoy]

7. What good is getting bush out

If the other guy ends up having the same policies, the same viewpoints, and was a member of the same secret society (skull and bones) as bush.

[ixion]

8. absolutely. I agree.

However, I don't want to see AshKKKroft and Rummy and the rest of the thugs at the helm anymore. I'm no great fan of Kerry by any stretch, but I simply can't stand the Bush cabal.

[revcarol]

3. 98% record for the unions??!!

THE LABOR CANDIDATE

How can any working person vote for a lesser candidate?

[terryg11]

4. I'm with ya

I'm so proud of my family, too bad we dont live in the same precint. We were all Kucinich supportrs but were not viable although I think my uncle got a delegate out of theirs in Des Moines. Anyway, if all the people who said they like him but don't support him because they think he is going to lose would vote for him, he'd be in the thick of it. It's very frustrating watching him get overlooked when he's a very good candidate. Smart, witty, principled, good grief what's the matter with people?

[Ricdude]

5. Even more importantly...

Even more importantly, if Kucinich actually picked up a few percentage points in the polls (say above 10-15% or more), people might actually hear more about him than how he's constantly coming in second to last in the primaries...

I have a theory that as long as the Democrats keep courting the moderate voters, i.e. the Republican-lite platform, we're going to be stuck with a Republican controlled government. I'd like to see the Democrats start courting the progressive side of the democratic party, myself. I think they'd find a lot ot the country supports that platform. Those supporters-in-waiting just need to be convinced it's worth getting out and voting. It also might keep "otherwise" democrats (like myself) from defecting to the Green party.

I've seen statistics that break down a lot of the swing states into exactly how few votes per precinct are required to alter the outcome of the election, and a lot of swing states can be swung (g?) by just one or two votes in every precinct. I've found this statistic to be fairly useful in convincing a lot of the "My vote doesn't count" crowd that, perhaps, their vote *does* actually count.

[dweller]

6. Welcome to DU Ricdude!

:hi:

It would also help if the media at least acknowledged Kucinich with some front page reports...my theory is they are afraid of him, so they ignore him. Can't have the media giants broken up now can we?

peace,
dp

[newyawker99]

11. Hi Ricdude!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[dweller]

9. self serving

:kick:


dp

[mac2]

10. Kucinich is a different choice than all the rest.......

He has vision that we all want for our future. Don't be scared. We have to stop what is about to ruin our country.

Space weapons, nuclear weapons, and biological warfare could destroy us..or at least part of the world.

They could win if they addressed the concerns of the workers. There are 60% of voters waiting for representation.

[yo-yo-ma]

12. DK - incredible

that's why I don't understand why Dean supporters are all talking about sitting out the primary, third party etc. when there's Kucinich -- so much more the real thing.