Kucinich calling for universal health care
Originally published in the Portsmouth Herald
Kucinich calling for universal health care
By Nancy Cicco
PORTSMOUTH - Sharing sidewalk space with teenage Hacky Sack enthusiasts and guitar players, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich brought his presidential campaign to Market Square on Thursday, before enthralling about 100 voters later in the evening at the South Church.
At the church event, the Ohio Democrat pledged that his campaign would update President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies by offering the American people "a true deal."
"My candidacy seeks to reconnect Americans with a sense of hope," he told the audience members, many of whom interrupted his speech several times with hearty applause and standing ovations.
But he’s got some selling to do with most other voters. Only 2 percent of Democrats questioned in a nationwide poll conducted Aug. 12-13 by Fox News/Opinion Dynamics said they would vote for Kucinich if a presidential primary were held now.
Meanwhile, according to a poll conducted Aug. 15-18 by the American Research Group, zero percent of registered New Hampshire Democrats and unaffiliated voters said they would vote for Kucinich if the New Hampshire primary were held today.
No matter. Kucinich said he is poised to open a campaign office in Portsmouth very shortly, and diehard supporters say he’s their man.
"He is, in my opinion, the only peace candidate," said Vivian Bingham, of Dover. "He would get the troops (in Iraq) out now, pronto, and turn the whole situation over to the U.N."
That is one of Kucinich’s main campaign positions. Co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, he voted against the Iraq war resolution last October.
The war "was set for phony reasons," he said on Thursday, adding that if he’s elected president, he would work to right the United States’ relationships with foreign countries.
"I want to get the United States out of Iraq as soon as possible," he said. "The U.N. should be handling the contracts" for rebuilding Iraq.
He also believes the Patriot Act "must be repealed," he said, and that the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t necessarily made the nation more safe.
Instituting a single-payer universal health-care system is another cornerstone of Kucinich’s campaign.
"Everything’s covered - from the cradle to the grave. We cannot leave the private sector in charge of it anymore," he said.
To fund the plan, Kucinich would reallocate existing health-care dollars and raise money through a 7.7 percent payroll tax to be levied on employers, he said.
Kucinich believes in increased funding for education and would also establish universal, free kindergarten for all 3- to 5-year olds, with an option for fully-funded day care.
To pay for that program, he would slash about $60 billion from the Pentagon budget. The national missile program would be among the defense initiatives that would fall by the wayside under his plan.
Kucinich said he will release his full proposal on Defense Department cuts next week.
If elected president, he would also work to abolish all nuclear weapons.
"We’re arming ourselves to the teeth - what are we afraid of? The security of the United States now depends on international cooperation," he said.
Marge Greene, vacationing in Portsmouth from Florida, was one voter who stopped by at Market Square to hear Kucinich speak.
"Sounded good," she said. "Somebody’s got to straighten out this country. I hope we get the right one, and I think it is going to be a Democrat."
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