In Janet Youngblood’s book, Learning Democratic Practices: Political Parties, Media and American Political Development, Youngblood goes beyond the traditional third party analysis of the Democratic and Republican Parties of both being corporate parties because they are funded by the same corporate masters. Youngblood redefines the Republican and Democratic Parties as corporations themselves, whose sole function is to provide political leadership to serve the other corporations that run our society. Undertaking that analysis, it is clear that Dennis Kucinich is nothing more than a sweet-talking manager at a War-Mart store whose loyalty at the end of the day is to his employer.

Kucinich may espouse progressive values, just as a War-mart manager may sing the praises of small town America, but when the day has ended they both have killed the thing they claim to support. Kucinich spent a good part of the 2004 election season not seeking votes from Democrats, but seeking to undermine America’s Peace Party, the Green Party. Kucinich created videos imploring Greens to switch to Democrat, though he knew their numbers would make no difference overall in winning the nomination. Kucinich spent a great deal of time campaigning in districts held by Green elected officials even though the delegate payoff was small. Kucinich had his volunteers calling Green households imploring them to switch enrollment to a War Party, the Democratic Party.

And these actions were not for any greater good at the end of the day. Here is how Ralph Nader summarized Kucinich’s actions at the 2004 Democratic Convention: “Again, it’s what Greg Kafoury said in the movie “An Unreasonable Man,” you don’t go past February, if you do the primaries. Besides, the kind of compromises that they force people to make, including Dennis Kucinich, say, they forced him to make, totally intolerable to anyone who believes in freedom of the mind. They told Dennis to shut up, put his hand up in favor of Kerry, and they wouldn’t give him a comma change on the Democratic platform. He wanted certain things that were any old Democratic Party would have accepted when they were developing the Democratic platform in 2004. And they gave him nothing. He was a loyal Democrat; went through all the rules in the primaries. They gave him nothing. Not even an antipoverty platform.”

And forget about any mention of peace in the platform or on the convention floor. Kucinich rolled over on the one issue he was supposed to stand for. No peace in the platform. A delegate couldn’t even wear a peace symbol on the 2004 Democratic Convention floor, or they would be dragged away.

I don’t see any other purpose for Kucinich other than to keep whispering sweet nothings to progressives so that they keep shopping at the War-mart, and to keep them from supporting a Peace Party. Progressives are supposed to keep believing that if by some miracle Kucinich is made head of War-mart, he will re-make it into Peace-mart. His performance at the 2004 Democratic Convention shows he doesn’t have the backbone to make the change, even if the long-shot paid off. When the pressure was on at the convention he caved and toed the War-mart line. Why would anyone expect him to cave any less than Gore as a Presidential nominee?