Why I support Dennis Kucinich over Ron Paul

proud2BlibKansan

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Sat Dec-08-07 05:15 PM
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Why I support Dennis Kucinich over Ron Paul

I am a human rights activist. That is what led me to the anti-war movement. And as a human rights activist, I see Dennis Kucinich as the best choice of all the candidates. Ron Paul wants to end the war and impeach the president. After those issues are dealt with, there is nothing about his platform that supports human rights; he doesn't even come close to Kucinich on any of the major issues.

A woman's right to choose is not negotiable with me. Ron Paul supporters say he doesn't want to take this away, he merely wants to let the states decide. Well hello, Dr Paul, I live in friggin Kansas! I do live just a few miles from Missouri, but the talibornagains are doing their damndest to take that state back for Jeezus. And what about the women in South Dakota, where the poorest county in the US is located? On a personal level, I have a family member and a close friend who would have died if they had carried their babies to term. Choice is a deal breaker for me and if Kucinich wasn't pro-choice, I couldn't support him.

I am eligible for Social Security in about ten years and I really want it. That too is non negotiable. Let's also look back and examine why Roosevelt created Social Security in the first place. It allowed our elderly to live with dignity at the end of their lives. I saw both of my grandmothers, my mother in law and my own mother have comfortable lives because they had Social Security. My mother was the only one who had had a career and so she also had a pension and had accumulated some wealth. She would have survived without her Social Security. But that check covered her health care. It allowed her to go into a nicer nursing home than we could have afforded for her without it. And she died with dignity in that nice nursing home.

My mother was a financial genius. She worked full time from the age of 18 to 65. She also went to college in her 30s and earned two degrees, one in business and one in economics. She played the stock market like a pro and was president of a local investment club back when most women were staying at home and letting their husbands manage the finances. My mother's investments allowed her and my dad, who was a teacher and never earned as much as my mom, to put 4 kids through college, pay out of pocket for my disabled sister's medical care (and they made sure she had the best available) and have a few luxuries when they retired. My mom honestly still had the first dollar she ever earned, she was that frugal. And she often said that if the government would quit borrowing from Social Security, we wouldn't even be talking about how to save it. Our contributions are more than enough to maintain Social Security for many generations to come. I told my mom once that I had a better pension as a teacher than my dad had and maybe I didn't need my Social Security. And she said "Are you kidding? That check will cover your medical care when you are 65!" And by George, she is probably right!

So Social Security is another deal breaker. Dr Paul wants to mess with it, Kucinich doesn't. I am a good girl and I listened to my mother. Leave Social Security alone!

But the thing that bothers me the most about Dr Paul is one of the biggest human rights issues of all. As a child of the 60s, I grew up with the civil rights movement. I have spent nearly 30 years teaching minority kids. I live in one of the most racist cities in America. There actually still is a street here in KC that divides the African American community from the white community. I grew up on the white side of that line and I have spent my life as professional on the black side of that line. One of the first human rights issues I became involved with is racial profiling by police officers. And 30 years later, I am still fighting that battle. (The Patriot Act has set us back decades!) And Ron Paul supporters are not going to like hearing this, but Dr Paul is a racist. I just recently read some of his writings on this topic and they are so blatantly racist I am not even going to link them here.

Racism is a HUGE deal breaker for me.

So as a human rights activist, as someone who was taught as a child that my goal in life should be to leave the world a better place for all humans than it was when I arrived in it, I cannot support Ron Paul. Dennis Kucinich meets my criteria on every issue. I can't even remember any other presidential candidate in my lifetime who did that.