Reply #11: Why we have a problem with Dennis in my opinion.

[ChipperbackDemocrat]

I supported Dennis Kucinich in 2004. He's my pick in 2008.

I read a lot of people here and everywhere who see him as "kooky" or as the misfit, or as the 5'6" rather unappealing guy who may be saying the truth..but the package is bad. That may be, but I also see something deeper.

That fact is, Dennis Kucinich's main thrust (and the reason I support him) as that he is discussing a United States of America for the 21st century. He is discussing a future where America's role will change and he is putting forth a program that is diametrically different than just about anything most of us are used to.

In 2004, Dennis Kucinich asked a question on the stump: How much of a change are you ready for?

The changes he is calling for are not business as usual. They will be difficult. It will not be easy to push against entrenched power who profits from the current system of violence, aggression and exploitation in the world. Never mind that turning away from that system would make America better and stronger because the entire world will be better and stronger. That change involves a certain humility, and Americans and humility don't mix as well as you think they may.

I don't agree with how Dennis wants to get out of Iraq, but agree with the premise that we need to end our unilateral policy there and replace it with a world network of support. An immediate "Saigon evacution" is unfeasible and foolhardy. It has to phased military withdrawal combined with what DK is calling for. We need a worldwide effort to rebuild infrastructure and help the Iraqi people help themselves and build their own self-determination. We also need to work to build institutions to help bridge gaps in the world through trade and knowledge as opposed to violence. Yes, I do believe in creating a Department of Peace. The really strong do not need to prey upon the weak.

I agree with his concept on national health care, but he has the buck 50 years+ of mental conditioning that would equate national universal health care with the Soviet Union. That is a change that will be very difficult to broker with many Americans, even those who would say are progressives.
Expanding education to really teach kids? Universal college education for all who want to go and can meet the standard? The proposals are things I've wanted to see for years, but we are living in a time where so many have been sold the idea that education works best as a commodity as not a part of the common wealth of a society. If you don't think that is so, think about what happens everytime a school board raises a bond issue. There is a definitive Bronx cheer that comes out against it or another call to privatize.

The change he calls for will pit the average citizen against the big money, the big lobbies, the corporations, the defense contractors, etc. and that will not be a fight that ends in 2 hours or 13 weeks. It is a fight that won't end on January 20, 2009 when Dennis Kucinich takes the oath...That will be the beginning. A good number of Americans are fighting for the other side, and a good number who aren't may not have the stomach for that battle. Winning that battle will mean, we all will have to sacrifice. We may have to sacrifice the Madison Avenue dream of success for something greater. We may have to sacrifice the concept of "kick-ass" America for the sake of building a better, cleaner, safer world. We may have to sacrifice simple jingoism for our higher ideals.

This is not to say that any other candidate doesn't think or feel this way. They may. However when I see who they are shaking hands with, and when I see what their plans are, I see in many cases that they are seeing America's future in the prism of distorted past. Too much of the Democratic Party is looking to the Clinton 1990s. It beats the Republican Party-Grover Norquist vision of a future built on a return to the McKinley 1890s. Neither vision passes muster for the USA of the 2020s and 2030s that my children and grandchildren will live and work in. This is what Dennis Kucinich is talking about. That is why I support him. It may also be a large part of why many others aren't.

Memo to Dennis Kucinich, YOU ARE A SERIOUS CANDIDATE, DENNIS! SO ACT LIKE IT!

To my fellow Kucinich supporters: FEEL NOWAYS TIRED. WE'VE ONLY BEGUN TO FIGHT!