Kucinich makes Boone, NC, stop
Originally published in the Watauga Democrat
Kucinich makes Boone stop
04/05/2004 By Scott Nicholson
U.S. Representative of Ohio and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, in a Boone campaign stop Saturday, made a point of admitting that Sen. John Kerry already had his party's nomination locked up.
"Look, I can count," he said, referring to the primaries and delegates that have assured Kerry of the Democratic spot on the general election ballot. "The nomination's assured but the direction of the country is not, nor is the definition of what the Democratic Party stands for."
Kucinich's speech at Appalachian State's Rosen Hall received enthusiastic reception from an audience of several hundred. He had made an earlier stop at the Hospitality House in Boone.
Kucinich's message was a mixture of optimism and challenge, and though he made no apologies for his liberal views, he also urged understanding of the people on the other end of the political spectrum.
He addressed "the cycle of violence in Iraq" and said either the United States would have to push violence there or take a new approach.
He said the current "pacification program" would only lead to more civilian and American deaths. "We're in a very grim moment with respect to this policy in Iraq," he said, believing that war is caused by a world view that often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"We have people that believe in the inevitability of war," he said. "And what do we get? War. We're the inheritors of this view and it's urgent to summon all the powers within our humanity to challenge that view."
Kucinich made metaphorical use of light and darkness, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and urging people to choose love over hate. He said working for peace should begin in one's own community.
He said in 2001 he introduced legislation to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace to enhance common unity and provide a mechanism to work on issues from the community to the international level.
He said some organizations already worked on the ideas and people rarely address the attitudes that lie behind violent and destructive behavior.
"Imagine if we make that the work of the nation," he said. "Where is it written that war is inevitable?
"I believe in all my heart that people all around want to come together. We have this capacity to ascend and become better than we are. In a way, that's what we're here for. We need to ask that of each other and we certainly need to ask it of our government."
He urged the audience not to attack President George Bush's humanity, saying dehumanization was the first step in failing to understand a person or culture. He said it was one of the things that happen in war, when the enemy is portrayed as less than human.
Kucinich said the attitudes that lead to war aren't partisan, which is why he's still in the race when the other presidential hopefuls have dropped out.
He said he didn't want to trade a Republican war for a Democratic war and challenged those who oppose the Bush policy in Iraq to offer alternatives.
Kucinich also espoused universal health care, job programs and the protection of civil liberties and to "do it in a way that won't turn people away from government." He supported accessibility of higher education and attacked the Bush administration tax cuts.
"Somehow the cause of our nation is to help those who have the most," he said. He projected spending in Iraq at $200 billion at a time when the Pentagon's budget was "going through the roof."
At the same time, three million jobs had been lost because of trade agreements that didn't balance out. He said the tax cuts of $87 billion a year for wealthiest Americans would have more than paid for the $72 billion needed to pay college tuition for all high school graduates.
In response to an audience question about electronic voting this fall, Kucinich urged people to learn more about their local systems. He said people all over America were concerned about the use of touch screens and how those votes could be verified late, saying the system needed a paper trail and audit capability. He also said a bi-partisan entity or non-political entity should develop the technology, not a corporation.
"We have a right to a fair election, but we seldom get it," he said. "It's a telling moment in our nation's history that we lack such faith in our voting system."
Asked about abortion rights, Kucinich said the first step was to make abortions less necessary by providing sex education and birth control.
He said the challenge to a woman's right to choose derived from "principles of a patriarchal society, which, by the way, is where war comes from." He said it was a divisive issue but the best approach was to engage in non-judgmental discussion without condemning those whose views were different.
On trade, Kucinich said the abandonment of America's factories was "all about corporate greed." He said the country's $550 billion trade deficit was evidence that "somebody's taking but not giving." He supported the break-up of monopolies, establishing a new set of trade laws and rebuilding the manufacturing base.
He said development and use of sustainable energy sources would create millions of jobs.
Kucinich took a moral stance that favored understanding and peace. "The advancing tide in this world is toward human unity," he said. "This election is about what we stand for as a nation."
Kucinich is one of five candidates who will appear on the ballot for the Watauga County Democratic presidential caucus scheduled for Sat., April 17.
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