Dennis Kucinich on This Week with George Stephanopoulos

"Letter to Editor"

08/13/2007

One of the things Kucinich talked about was the failure of the US
doctrine of "Peace through Strength." It has not brought us peace and is
weakening us both economically and politically (the latter due to
rampant anti-Americanism). Kucinich says we need a policy of "Strength
through Peace." He says we need a President who understands the world
is one, that using even tactical nukes spreads radioactivity throughout
the atmosphere. I would add that Obama was right to rule out first-use
of nuclear weapons, and wrong when he said "scratch that". When other
candidates criticized Obama for the first statement, they showed
themselves unqualified to be President. Kucinich pointed out he was
right the first time about Iraq (2002-2003) and has remained
consistently right since then. He says the American people want and
need a President who will be right the first time.

George asked Dennis about the more "moderate" Democrats, the DLC.
Wouldn't they have a better chance of winning in November? Dennis
replied that the center of the political spectrum has shifted to the
left, that he is now in the center and the rest of the candidates are
all to the right of center. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but I
certainly agree the political spectrum and mood of the country has
shifted in Dennis's direction. People want peace and an end to the
foreign interventions that fuel anti-Americanism and terrorism. They
want single payer healthcare. They want retirement protection, education
and infrastructure and are beginning to understand we can't afford those
things as long as we have the most bloated military budget in the world.
But the spectrum still hasn't moved far enough.

To get the spectrum to move even further, it's important for the other
candidates to start adopting Kucinich's positions. If the so-called
"mainstream" candidates were articulating these positions and explaining
them, even more people would come to understand why we need to withdraw
completely from Iraq, why we need a non-interventionist foreign policy,
why we should not be undermining the NPT, which is our most potent tool
to discourage nuclear proliferation and why single-payer, Medicare for
all will work and will reduce overall healthcare costs. The
"mainstream" candidates won't do this if the rank and file don't force
them to. They'll continue talking (as all "front runners" have been)
about withdrawing only combat troops from Iraq, keeping all options on
the table with Iran and penalizing individuals who don't purchase
corporate health insurance, as Massachusetts under Romney has done.

If you agree with Kucinich's positions (and I think most rank and file
Democrats and independents do agree), it's important to support him as a
candidate. When pollsters call you and you tell them you're for
complete withdrawal from Iraq, you're against starting a war with Iran,
you want the nuclear threat off the table, Medicare for all and tougher
corporate bankruptcy laws to protect workers' pensions, that does
absolutely nothing to encourage "moderate" candidates to push your
agenda. They will ignore those polls. The only polls they will care
about are the ones that show Dennis Kucinich with 50% or more of the
primary and caucus support.

So, if you're a Democrat and a pollster calls to ask what candidate
you're for, tell them Dennis Kucinich. If you're a Republican but
you're a principled conservative or libertarian who's tired of our
foreign interventions and corporate bailouts, tell them you're for Ron
Paul. Leaders of both parties need to know that these two men are their
strongest candidates. I believe Kucinich is right when he says the
American people are looking for a new direction. We're looking for
peace and for a President who will restore principle and integrity to
the office. We won't get what we want if we don't ask for it.

Bill Rood