A democrat's Democrat

Walking Chomsky after work tonight, I happened upon Georgeanne and her small, yellow, wig-shaped dog, Wolfi. "Did you hear about this new candidate?" she asks. "Kucinsky?" I corrected her: Kucinich. He had made good sense when she saw him at St. Paul's Central High School a few days ago, she said. "He gives us a real chance to have a Democrat to vote for in the next election." I didn't miss the nuance of her words. While Howard Dean has borrowed the Wellstone adage, "I represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," it's really Kucinich who's the standard bearer for real, homegrown, progressive democratic government.

Lydia Howell, writer and KFAI radio reporter, interviewed Rep. Kucinich during his visit to the Twin Cities over the weekend. Here's a bit of what he had to say:

We’re ALREADY PAYING for universal healthcare. We’re just NOT GETTING IT... Insurance keeps going up. What do insurance companies do? They make money by EXCLUDING coverage. Everyone knows this. More deductibles, higher co-pays, less access. This is the trend. The ONLY way to freeze costs is for a single-payer system that cares for everyone. Take the profits out so these companies don’t have their hands on your wallet!

On the USA Patriot Act, which President Kucinich would repeal:

As the Administration has propelled fear, they’ve become more powerful and the American people have become less powerful. With less power politically and economically, you have a population easier to manipulate and control.

On the war:

This Administration, cycling fear, created pretexts for war. They became more powerful as they did that. With lies and manipulations, now, they seek to totally destroy the social agenda of our nation with a military build up: $400 billion budget, 13 percent increase. We’re rapidly coming to the point where we spend more on the Pentagon than all other countries COMBINED spend on their defense! What implication does this have for our democracy? This continued military build up will be the DEATH-knell for our democracy. They’re SUCKING OUT THE OXYGEN that’s needed for the economy! ...I’ll correct this direction. We’ll have a strong defense, but we ALREADY had that before 9/11. My concern is that we understand that education is part of national defense, Healthcare is national defense. Having good jobs and full employment is national defense. Making sure veterans have the full benefits we promised them when they said they’d serve is national defense. This is a moment for fundamental and deep change and my candidacy represents that.

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