Muslims For Kucinich

I arrived at the site about half an hour early, to make sure I found a good seat. As I was walking through the building to the main congregational area of the church, I saw Dennis standing in the hall talking with some of his staff.

I was able to get a seat in the third or fourth row and right on the aisle. The church would eventually fill every seat. There were a wide range of people present, ranging in age from college students to senior citizens in their seventies and eighties. The local members of Veterans for Peace were all present, and a large group of them were sitting in the pew behind me. Several people approached them to learn about joining the group, either for themselves or for members of their families (one young woman was hoping to encourage her father to join). They were also discussing local activism.

Shortly after 9 a.m. Dennis arrived to address the crowd. He started out by talking about the importance of this coming election as a crossroads. It is a chance for us to redefine our nation and effect a transformation from how the Bush Administration and its allies have defined America. He also talked about the importance of building communities and about the interdependence of everybody on the planet. The decisions we make here affect others elsewhere. He believes (as I do) that a deep and fundamental change is necessary. He expressed this in terms of restoring hope.

After this, he talked about some of his specific proposals. The three major ones that he discussed are universal health care, universal college education, and universal pre-K or daycare education.

His proposals for universal health care are set out in HR676, a bill introduced in the House of Representatives by himself, Congressman Conyers, Congressman McDermott and others. He said that the current system has failed and that we need a new model. He also said that the government has a moral responsibility for the health of the nation. The single-payer plan he proposes sounds expensive at first glance but does not actually cost any more than we're currently paying for health care. As he said, "We're already paying for universal health care, we're just not getting it."

He also talked about universal college education. We currently have public education available through the secondary school level but a college education is increasingly necessary, yet out of reach for too many young people. His proposed plan would cost $48 billion a year - which he points out is just 1/3 of Bush's tax cut. He stressed that education is the path to a better future.

He also wants to extend public education in the other direction, to children ages three, four, and five. Pre-kindergarten or daycare education would be provided at existing public schools. This program would be paid for by taking money from the Pentagon budget, reducing the Pentagon budget by 15%. One of the biggest applause lines was this one about cutting the Pentagon budget. Everybody there really felt strongly that we are spending too much on weaponry and war and not enough on helping people with their basic needs.

Dennis moved from this to talking in more general terms again. He said that the current defense spending is built on fear. He said that we need to summon our courage in defense of liberty remembering that we are not only the land of the free but also the home of the brave. He talked about a statue on the outside of the Congress building called "Peace Protecting Genius". The children of America and the genius of America should be protected, as in the statue, through love and working peacefully with others rather than by war and violence.

Dennis then closed his speech by returning to his opening theme, that this is the time, we have an opportunity now to change the direction America is heading in and bring about a transformation.

After this, Dennis took a break to drink some water while the state campaign coordinator encouraged people to donate and to volunteer and help the campaign.

Dennis returned to talk about his experiences in grass-roots campaigning. He shared an amusing story from his very first campaign, when he was about 20 years old, for the Cleveland city council. He campaigned by going door to door. The very first house that he went to, he knocked on the door and it opened. Before he could say anything, the woman of the house went off somewhere. She came back with some money and held it out to him saying, "I thought I had already paid the newspaper delivery, but here you are". He said that despite this, it had been a serious campaign. In fact, he had been so serious at that age (as 20 year olds often are) that he probably looked older in pictures from then than he does now (he is 56). He mentioned that he won by 16 votes, after a recount.

Following this, he started a question and answer session, walking around the room with a cordless microphone to take questions (having an aisle seat gave me a great view!). In response to questions, he addressed the following issues.

He believes that unchecked corporate power threatens our democracy, not least because of consolidation of the media. Corporations should be good "citizens" and those that are should be supported by consumers. Corporations will be required to have new corporate charters that obligate them to respect workers' rights, human rights, and the environment. These will be enforced by regulations, and monopolies will be broken up.

The government is not an end to itself but the means through which public ownership of public service facilities is exercised. This includes natural resources, utilities, schools, libraries, health care, and other such services. The current public education system that we have is based on this principle and is a model of what he means. This was in reponse to a question about expanding government. He said that we have to ask ourselves "What kind of country do we want?" Is it a country where the government intrudes on our privacy and our rights or one where the government provides services to help people?

He confirmed and clearly stated that he is running as a Democrat and is not going to go third-party. He believes that the Democratic party can be transformed from within and recreated. He said that when he's asked why he runs as a Democrat, he says it's "missionary work", that is, bringing the progressive message to the party. Similarly, people who were disillusioned by the 2000 election need to get involved and get active so that the Democrats win by a landslide and there's no chance of a repeat of what happened in 2000. He also said that citizens in each county and state need to find out what the election systems are that are being used and lobby for ones whose integrity can be guaranteed. This is something that we the people have to work to accomplish in time for the election.

He said that he is working to reach out to communities of color and to get a diverse campaign staff on board. He mentioned a long history of support from African-American constituents in Cleveland. He also mentioned the NAACP convention earlier this week, explaining again that he had to miss the first day because of voting on Medicare in Congress but that he was able to speak later in the week and bring his message to African-American voters.

He talked about the prison industrial complex that our country has built. He said that it shows a moral failure of our society and is a "sick approach". We need to re-evaluate and turn away from punishment and towards rehabilitation. In regard to the war on drugs (which is closely related), he stated his support for medical marijuana (i.e., allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for its medicinal effects) and that we need to have a compassionate approach to drug offenders, concentrating on treatment and rehabilitation rather than punishment.

The same audience member also asked about alternative medicine and naturopathy and Dennis said that this form of treatment would be covered under his health care plan.

He believes that homelessness is another sign of moral failure in our society. He talked about his own experiences growing up. His family were poor and didn't own their own house. Instead they had to rent apartments. At that time, most apartments had limits on the number of children that were allowed to live there and his family was always too large (he is the eldest of seven). He talked about how when they knew that the landlord was coming, the extra kids that weren't supposed to be there would slip out the back. Unfortunately, sometimes they would get caught at this and would be evicted from their apartment. On several occasions, they had to live out of their car. He told this story to illustrate that he knows about the difficult and strange circumstances people can find themselves in or as he referred to it (quoting someone), "the vicissitudes of life". He mentioned that on his way to the church for the campaign appearance he stopped to talk with a homeless man who was living near the church. Also, while in Seattle, he is going to visit Tent City, a moving encampment for homeless people.

He talked about the many negative effects of NAFTA and the WTO and how they've created a "race to the bottom". He said that his first action in office would be to cancel NAFTA. It would be replaced with a series of bilateral trade agreements with each country. These agreements will include guarantees of worker's rights, human rights, and environmental protection, which are not included in NAFTA. He said that trade "can be" a good thing, but isn't always. It can lead to exploitation of people and the environment instead, looking for the cheapest and most docile workforce (i.e., who will work for the least amount of money in the worst conditions). Trade agreements need to be based on economic justice. He also mentioned that in the famous (or, infamous) 1999 Seattle WTO protests, he was there, marching along with the Teamsters Union.

This concluded the question and answer session. He announced a new project that his campaign is starting, called "Dialogue for Democracy". This will be up on the campaign website in about a week, inshallah. It is a program to encourage people to get together in their communities to talk and listen to each others' concerns. I picked up a pamphlet about it and will post the information in a separate blog entry, inshallah.

After the announcement of Dialogue for Democracy, Dennis went out into the hallway so he could greet people individually as we filed out. Here he showed some real cultural sensitivity. The Islamic rules of modesty require that men and women who are not married or related to each other should avoid all unnecessary physical contact. For this reason, Muslim men do not shake hands with women and Muslim women do not shake hands with men. When I came up to Dennis in the line, rather than attempting to shake my hand as nearly all people do, he offered a slight bow in greeting instead. That was really a nice touch!

I really enjoyed getting to see him. He is a wonderful and very inspiring speaker with an obvious passion for what he's talking about. He also clearly enjoys interacting with people. And he has a good sense of humor. Some politicians and candidates come off as "plastic". Dennis is genuine.

I also felt very at home there, that I was with people who share my views and my concerns. It was a real sense of community. It reminded me why I will support Dennis as far as he goes, inshallah - hopefully all the way to the White House! ;)