Another Path to Peace: The Case for Kucinich

If you don't know Dennis Kucinich, watch him in this recent interview on CNN: http://kucinich.us/node/4300/play

Kucinich argued against the war prior to the vote to authorize it, published his case against it, helped persuade his colleagues to vote No, voted No, and sued the President to try to prevent the war.  He proposed a detailed plan to end the war over three years ago, a plan that is largely still right and embodied in his bill, HR 1234.  He has voted against every new funding bill for the war, including the recent Supplemental.  He supports using the power of the purse to end the war.  He opposes any attack on Iran and proposes formally forswearing the use of so-called preventive war.  He has proposed the creation of a Department of Peace to address international and domestic violence.  He would ban the weaponization of space and work for nuclear disarmament.  His chief tool would be diplomacy, not death.  We might persuade one of the other candidates to move toward one or more of these anti-war positions, but their change of heart will not be based in the deep understanding of peace and violence that drives Dennis Kucinich.  And we will almost certainly never persuade any of them to take Kucinich's position in favor of slashing wasteful Pentagon spending in order to fund useful non-military projects.  Only Kucinich would move us toward an economy not driven by war.  And, ultimately, that is the only way we'll prevent future wars.

Wow.  Wonderful.  But is that how to win the swing voters? 

Well, did you ever wonder why the Republicans seem so much less obsessed with swing voters?  Chris Bowers has presented a strong case that these mythical creatures do not actually exist.  [ http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/50646 ]  Only 4.7% of voters changed their mind during the last election from Bush to Kerry or Kerry to Bush.  Kerry may have been swiftboated, but hardly anyone changed their mind from backing Kerry to backing Bush.  What did happen, of course, is that millions of supporters of Kerry (and of Bush too) didn't bother to vote or to register to vote.  What would it take for the Democrats to register and turn out likely Democratic voters in sufficient numbers to beat election fraud?  It would take a candidate who wasn't for the war before he was against it.  The mushy middle turns potential voters away.

There are peace activists who favor the creation of a third party, and who argue against backing Kucinich because they think he'll lose and then endorse a less desirable candidate.  But Kucinich is less likely to lose if those who agree with him support him.  Supporting him now will serve primarily to help end the war prior to the election.  And supporting Kucinich will not make the task of building a third party any more or less daunting.  A third-party peace candidate would need everything Kucinich has and much more in qualifications, and much, much more in money in order to have a chance. 

And here's something interesting about Kucinich.  He supports all the reforms to our election and campaign finance systems that would make it possible for third parties to compete, and he does not go back on his word after he wins elections.  When Kucinich was elected mayor of Cleveland at the age of 31 on a promise not to privatize the city's electricity, he stuck to his word in the face of an all-out assault from the city's media and corporate rulers.  When his decision was vindicated years later by the fortune he'd saved the city, he re-entered politics.  When the Democratic leadership pulled out every trick to pressure congress members to vote for the Supplemental spending bill that now sits in conference committee, Kucinich voted no.  Efforts to build decent third parties like the Green Party are to be applauded, but backing Kucinich is one way to do that.  Check out Kucinich's substantive and specific positions on a hundred and one issues facing this country: http://kucinich.us/issues

Let's try a new approach to peace.  Go here http://www.kucinich.us and click on the left side of the website to make a contribution.  It's the easiest and the most effective step for peace any of us can take right now:

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David Swanson is the Washington Director of Democrats.com and co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and of the Backbone Campaign. He serves on a working group of United for Peace and Justice. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign.  In April 2007, Swanson began consulting part-time for Kucinich for President 2008.  His website is www.davidswanson.org.

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