Kucinich urges smaller Pentagon budget
Originally published in the Nashua Telegraph
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Kucinich urges smaller Pentagon budget
By ALBERT McKEON Telegraph Staff
BEDFORD – U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Tuesday challenged America to aim for improved national security through non-violent means and strong educational and environmental policy.
The Democratic presidential candidate warned that the United States must reconsider its approach to countless fundamental issues – including its military strategies – or it will otherwise squander a valuable opportunity.
"America’s strength comes from courage," the Ohio congressman said at a "Politics and Eggs" breakfast at the bucolic Bedford Village Inn. "As president, I would call upon the innate courage of the American people to face the future confidently and courageously."
Kucinich sees that courage materializing through a national self-examination that would have the United States redefine its foreign policy and focus more on education and the environment. This recommitment of resources would strengthen the nation more than an aggressive military, he said.
Speaking to members of the business community and some Manchester public schoolchildren, Kucinich vowed to trim the Pentagon’s budget by 15 percent. The United States could still have a "muscular defense" with this lower level of military spending, he said.
Kucinich said he would use the 15 percent on a universal day care program. He also promised to tax more vigorously those in the top-tier income bracket and use that money to provide free college education to 12 million Americans.
Kucinich spoke slowly and paused often for effect. His speech mostly avoided the detailing of policy, but rather focused on large themes, underpinned by his call for a renewed America.
Domestically, he tied a strong economy with sound environmental practices. He called for greater reliance on transferable and sustainable energy, saying the pollution pouring out of smokestacks also represents business profits.
Kucinich likened his idea to sell government-created energy technologies to private industry as something akin to President Kennedy’s space race challenge in the 1960s.
He also promoted a commitment to the present-day NASA, greater government spending on transportation infrastructure and the cancellation of the North American Free Trade Agreement to protect U.S. jobs.
Much of his talk, though, centered on U.S. foreign policy. He recalled his congressional opposition to the Iraqi war and spoke of the need to promote peace. He proposed having a cabinet-level secretary of peace and called his approach "not a naive view . . . but optimistic."
Kucinich faulted the mindset that fear from terrorism justifies increased military spending, saying the United States has outgrown the conventional thinking that supports war.
He urged the country to work with the United Nations – "however imperfect it is" – and to explore non-violent confrontation to make war "truly archaic."
"What is this thing with war?" he said. "Why can’t we call upon our capacity to evolve?"
The New England Council and the New Hampshire Political Library sponsored the breakfast.
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