Muslims For Kucinich

Some will cheer it while others fear it, but Rick and Ellie Hall, new Bend residents of just five months, might be a sign that Central Oregon is becoming less conservative, at least in its politics.

The couple, recent arrivals from Sacramento, Calif., were at the back of a crowd of more than 200 who packed the Bend Community Center on Monday night for a true rarity: a campaign appearance by a major-party presidential candidate on the dry side of the Cascades. (The only other recent one that comes to mind is a certain sitting president and his healthy-forests campaign stop in Redmond last year, itself a history-making visit.)

Granted, Dennis Kucinich, who fired up the audience with a passionate speech about the need for “a Democratic Party that stands for something,” isn’t claiming he has any chance of claiming the White House, what with presumed nominee John F. Kerry holding more than enough delegates to clinch the party nod at this summer’s convention.

But while Kucinich was, in effect, preaching to the progressive (some would read it liberal) choir of the Democratic Party, the Ohio congressman also was reaching out to those Oregonians who are tired of being the caboose at the end of the party-nomination train.

He urged those who share his views on a variety of issues to send a message to the party apparatus with a vote of conviction in the May 18 primary, by backing a Democrat who’s still on the stump, long after Howard Dean packed it in – still fighting against the war in Iraq, for universal health care and against NAFTA, among other top issues (see an exclusive interview with Kucinich, www.bend.com/AR-14821).

Why not support Kerry in the spring, as well as the fall? “He’s too … Kerry,” Rick Hall said after a pause as the crowd waited for the speech. The couple are lifetime Democrats, and no doubt will back the party’s nominee in November. “’Anybody but Bush’ is our slogan,” Ellie Hall said. “Except Ralph Nader,” her husband added, clearly fearful of the idea that the third-party nominee might again spell the difference and hand Bush a second term.

That message is getting through to at least some independents, as well. Pat Ackley, chairman of the Deschutes County Democratic Central Committee, told the crowd that the party locals re-registered about 100 non-affiliated voters at their Earth Day Fair booth on Saturday, largely those who want a chance to back Kucinich in the primary.

As is traditional at such functions, local party candidates – Randy Gordon for county commissioner, Judy Stiegler in House District 54 – got to give their campaign pitches before the main attraction.

“This election is about putting people before politics,” Stiegler said before Ackley introduced Kucinich.

“Hello, Bend!” Kucinich said to cheers, having spent the day making stops in Madras, Warm Springs and Redmond.

Universal health care not unrealistic

While the nominee has it locked up, “the direction of the Democratic Party has not been decided yet,” the candidate said, pointing out that Oregon, coming at the end of the primary season, can send a message not that long before the party platform is hammered out and the delegates prepare to travel to Boston in late July.

No single issue, Kucinich said, more clearly demonstrates “a disconnect between Washington, D.C.,” and the rest of the country than the issue of health care, as people are forced to cash in their retirement savings, just to pay their medical bills or drug costs.

The congressman introduced his “Medicare For All” legislation two years ago – a single-payer, universal health care system that would “cover every medical need.” The critics, of course, ask: “How ya gonna pay for it?” Kucinich said, bringing the microphone close to his lips for emphasis.

“They don’t ask that about $87 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. They don’t ask that about waging war in Iraq,” Kucinich said, winding up the tenor of his remarks with each line, as he did several times to stir up the crowd and draw the cheers (and later, the checks of support in blue buckets passed around the crowd).

“You already pay for a universal standard of care – you’re just not getting it,” Kucinich said, arguing that the billions which go into maintaining the for-profit system would easily cover any gap in spending that now represents 15 percent of the gross domestic product.

“It’s doable,” he argued. “There’s industrialized nations, democracies all over the world doing this.” And he said that issue alone could bring voters to back the Democrats. But he said his idea was rejected by the Democratic platform-builders four years ago, worried about disturbing their ties with companies that would be hurt by such a system.

The congressman touched on his own past, to show he’s not speaking about such issues from a blueblood perspective. “I grew up in Cleveland, the oldest of seven,” he said. “Our family never owned a home. As the family grew, we kept moving and moving. By the time I was 17, we’d lived in 21 different places, including a couple cars.”

So politics, to the former “boy wonder” mayor of Cleveland, is “more than just waving a banner at election time,” but to “stand for something.”

He blasted NAFTA and the World Trade Organization as badly written treaties that allowed American jobs to head overseas, leaving Americans with a massive trade deficit and three million fewer jobs. “We’re losing our sovereignty,” he said. “We’re losing control of our government. It’s all about cheap wages. … Everybody wants to sell to us. Why aren’t they buying from us?”

“I believe we have to maintain our ability to make things in this country,” from steel to wood products, Kucinich said. “If we lose that ability, we lose our ability to secure ourselves.” And he attacked the Patriot Act, asking how it makes any sense to send Americans to fight and die overseas while we’re “giving up the very freedoms and rights we’re sending these people to defend?”

Still, he tried not to just be critical: “Despite the fear that’s out there, there’s a lot of hope. … All over this world, I believe, and I think many of you believe, that the tide is toward humanity. Most people want to find a way to live and let live. We’re not looking for dragons to slay – yet some of our leaders are dragging us into it.”

Audience gets involved

There were guaranteed applause lines, such as when Kucinich spoke of needing to “work to get rid of all nuclear weapons.” And a standard line he uses: “I don’t think we want to exchange a Republican version of war in Iraq for a Democratic version.”

“Leaders in both parties say, ‘We must stay the course. Don’t cut and run,’” Kucinich said. (“Vietnam!” someone in the audience shouted. “It’s all a lie!” someone else added.”

Kucinich said it’s important to have stability in Iraq, but drew cheers when he added, “Why Iraq became destabilized is, America invaded it.”

The Democratic candidate said the only way to bring true stability to the country is to get the United Nations involved again – and for America to stop playing kingmaker by trying to privatize the country’s oil and other assets through global corporations and “sweetheart deals” to companies like Halliburton. And he said, “We have an obligation” to let Iraqis freely choose their new government, even if it’s one not all that friendly to America.

Not only should America rebuild what it destroyed in Iraq, Kucinich said, but it should “pay reparations to families of innocent civilian non-combatants,” about 10,000 so far, killed in the war.

Kucinich also took questions from the audience, the first dealing with his stand against genetically engineered foods. “We’re all having experiments conducted on us,” he said. He also said the country has not done anywhere near enough in terms of pushing sustainable energy sources, from solar and geothermal to biomass.

Rather than tax cuts for high-income Americans, Kucinich proposes a “New Deal”-type massive public works program to create jobs and rebuild America’s infrastructure. He also spoke of more education funding and a universal program to help parents get day care.

The health care issue can be spun, though, Kucinich warned his audience, as politicians say they ‘want everyone to be insured.’ Watch out – they want to subsidize insurance companies the way Medicare subsidizes pharmaceutical companies.”

A questioner expressed concern that backing Kucinich would help to keep Bush in office in November. “I’m not running in the general election,” Kucinich promised, urging the Democrats to reach out and be inclusive of everyone from the Greens and Libertarians to the Natural Law Party: “Big tent!”

Toward the end of the Q&A, Kucinich spoke about the fears that have pervaded America since 9/11, and how the root of the word “courage” is French for “heart.” That led him to speak of Francis Scott Key and the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner, about “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” tying “freedom and bravery, democracy and courage.”

And soon, believe it or not, he led the crowd in song: “Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave…”