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 One True Voice on the TrailPosted on Jan 7, 2008
By Chris Hedges This article was originally published by The Philadelphia Inquirer. I am tired of living in a country where 16-year-old girls die because insurance company profits are more important than human life. I am tired of a government that runs offshore penal colonies where the detained are tortured and denied the basic protections of the Geneva Convention. I am tired of living in a state that makes war against countries that do not threaten us. I am tired of watching basic constitutional rights, such as the right to privacy, taken away from citizens. Most of all, I am tired of being told every four years that I must vote for candidates who do nothing to stop the brutal and callous assault by corporations on the American working class, sending their jobs overseas and stripping workers of benefits and human dignity. And so—to be sure that this year my vote goes to someone who does more than pay lip service to the moral and physical deterioration of the nation—I will pull the lever for Dennis Kucinich. I can hear the collective groan. He won’t win. He has no real following. It is a wasted vote. But this is the groan of the comfortable, those who have health insurance and a decent job. This is the groan of those who can send their kids to expensive colleges and probably went to one. The groans of the poor in this country, including the increasingly impoverished working class, are no longer audible to most of us. Their lives have been rendered invisible, of little interest to the advertisers who sell us products on television or take out full-page color ads in the newspapers and glossy magazines. And when the corporations write you off in America, everyone else does, too. Any vote is wasted that does not address the terrible injustices being done to tens of millions of people who have lost the opportunity to earn a living wage. Any vote is wasted that does not, even if it ends up being a protest vote, attempt to halt our transformation into an oligarchic state where a tiny, privileged elite controls our money and our politics. The irony and tragedy of the Kucinich candidacy is that, in many ways, he is proclaiming the failure of his own party. Again and again, he says what his party should be, but no longer is. He has championed democratic freedoms and defended the interests of the working class, from which he comes, for decades. He was alone among the major candidates to vote against the Patriot Act, against authorizing the war in Iraq, and he wants to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and withdraw from the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has called for the impeachment of the vice president and public financing for elections. If you compare his voting record with that of any of the other major candidates, he is the only one who has steadfastly remained free from corporate control. I went to see Kucinich in Washington. I asked him during a two-hour interview why the Democratic Party has failed so badly. Why did the party, despite the midterm elections, refuse to cut funding for a war that is probably the worst foreign-policy blunder in U.S. history? “Lack of commitment to democratic principles,” he said after a long pause. He then began to list the reasons: “No understanding of the period of history we are in ... unwillingness to assert congressional authority in key areas which makes the people’s house paramount to protecting democracy; the institutionalized influence of corporate America through the Democratic Leadership Council. “Oil runs our politics, corrupt Wall Street interests run our politics, insurance companies run our politics, arms manufacturers run our politics, and the public’s interests are being strangled,” he added. He stands as a maverick within the party, denouncing the series of trade agreements, many put in place by Bill Clinton, which have devastated U.S. workers. “What I see is that the Democratic Party abandoned working people and paradoxically they are the ones who hoist the flag of workers every two and four years, only to engender excitement and then turn around and abandon the same constituency. This is now on a level of a practiced ritual.” Kucinich advocates a full-employment economy, calling for a new version of the 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA), which employed millions of Americans. He wants to put people to work to rebuild the country’s crumbling infrastructure, from its roads and bridges to its dams, levies, sewer systems, libraries and mass transit. He has introduced, along with Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette of Ohio, a bill, H.R. 3400, that would provide federal funds for this jobs program. He has called for the government to invest in wind and solar technologies to be retrofitted into tens of millions of U.S. homes and businesses. Kucinich is the only candidate in the race who advocates a single, not-for-profit health-care system for all citizens, in essence a national Medicare. He coauthored H.R. 676, which would provide universal health coverage. This coverage would, he said, not only assure that people will not suffer or die from lack of medical care, but would also stem the epidemic of personal bankruptcies, half of which are attributed to people who cannot pay their medical bills. He rails against his party’s refusal to end the war, blaming the Democrats’ decision to continue funding the war on “an implicit understanding of the power of those interests that profit from war and the power of war as an idea.” I asked him if he was ever frustrated, given his lonely status as an outsider. He was excluded from a Dec. 13 Democratic debate in Iowa sponsored by the Des Moines Register. His lack of corporate money has seen his campaign subsist on $2 million while Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama each raised $100 million in 2007 for their presidential bids. “What you do in life is you stand up and fight for those things you believe in,” he said, “and you do it without question or pause, to take a phrase in one of my favorite songs. I don’t have any complaints.” Previous item: A Conversation With Dennis Kucinich Next item: The Battleground of New Hampshire Elsewhere: . Comments: 86 Published. Add Yours?Are you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. |
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By hetzer, January 11 at 5:03 pm #
(167 comments total)
Zionism is a criminal movement.
Yes, it is nationalist and supremicist, but it’s basic belief is that it wants whatever it wants and will do anything to get it, including bilking and sacrificing its own.
No Zionist should be allowed in a major position of responsibility anymore than a dedicated
Communist or Nazi should be allowed there. It is not that they are Jewish. The problem is that they are criminals who live the life of criminals. They could worship the great banana for all I care. We have Zionists at all levels of our society, and the Neocons and Leo Strauss have shown us what they are capable of.
The media plays us like a piano for all sorts of reasons. Unfortunatley Zionist protection and silence is one of them.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Sepharad, January 10 at 11:19 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
As one of the two
As one of the two Presidential hopefuls who are actually qualified* (*morally and effectively) to run this country, I find it odd that Kucinich is endorsing Obama, who may be moral and may be effective but has yet to identify any specific ideas beyond hope and change, rather than endorsing Edwards, who shares Kucinich’s beliefs and is continuing to tilt at the cash-sucking windmills of Hillary and Barack. Our consumer society has finally OD’d, or it wouldn’t be placing its pathetic hopes on rock-star-type celebrities. Oprah has spoken and we’re gonna get suckered again (unless Obama actually has some good ideas as yet hidden, and we are luckier than we deserve to be).
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy kesa, January 11 at 6:37 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Re: As one of the two
You will find that Dennis stated it is because of Edwards’ ties to Wall Street that he cannot endorse him. But for me, I am writing in Dennis no matter what.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 10 at 6:33 pm #
(167 comments total)
So many filthy crooks, so little time.
Gun, poison, or knife. I will be proud to hold your coat.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Gabir, January 10 at 5:28 pm #
(84 comments total)
"How Does It Feel ???????"
How Does It Feel ?
How Does It Feel?
To Be On Your Own .
Like a Rolling Stone .
(Bob Dylan)
How does it feel Dennis ?
Reply to this | Report thisTo speak the truth and be treated like a leper by your beloved party , to be treated like an outcast , to be locked out of your own “house” ?
Yet you plod on , speaking to deaf ears , allowing your colleagues and the American press to paint you as a whining complainer .
Ralph Nader knows the hollow feeling , and is still whincing from the welts of the punishment doled out by the dysfunctional Democratic “Family”.As I watch your hopes of a presidential run fizzle , I can’t help but sense that there is something missing deep inside you , something that Ralph Nader , and even former Senator James Jeffords of Vermont possess . They had the courage to walk away from their respectve dysfunctional parties and walk away with heads held high and no looking back .
You have been involved in politics for quite some time now and you must realize how what used to be a fair process is now a tightly controlled ,staged “drama” by both party’s national committees . The outcome of the process is already written , but we must go through the traditional motions to assure that the American voters believe they are in control of this fraud .
Yet you are satisfied to talk the talk , not courageous enough to take the wak outside . So while you are being buried , take the time to write your own political obituary and then lie down like a good doggie .You honest and all the good stuff , but if you remain a Democrat you might as well face the oblivious future ahead of you .
I wish you were the Democratic Party’s choice , but you must know by now they are no longer the party of the people and you are being orphanned . You must either take a walk in uncharted waters (for you) or face reality - as a prospective Democratic candidate you are already done and there is only one solution to that dilemma - walk . Do not look back . You may not become President , but maybe you would turn some heads and gain the public respect you need direly at this moment in time .
By karim29007, January 10 at 12:57 pm #
(42 comments total)
My dear Dennis,I am writing
My dear Dennis,
I am writing this just because you have been respected as a politician or may be due to the fact that you are not a politician.
You have been marginalized not because you have spoken against WTO, NAFTA, Iraq’s occupation and not even the impeachment.
The day and the moment you mentioned the word AIPAC in that “discussion” on FAUX news, in the presence of Blitz!, you have been condemned since and shall be chastised until America wakes up and regain it sovereignty.
How dare you to speak out!
Did you not know that the people and institutions that ever have the tenacity to utter the word AIPAC have been destroyed for the last 60 years?
Allow me just to begin with the Kennedys.
JFK refused to be bought while campaigning before the 1960 election and having been elected made a “request” to inspect the Israeli’s nuclear facilities with the full commitment to support it!
Well we all know what happened in Dallas, don’t we?
Take the case of Mervyn M. Dymally, a Dem. Congressman in 1982.
The first black American to go to Israel, paid his total homage with perfect credentials as a supper supporter.
However he made the cardinal mistake of asking on 2-occasions about aid to Israel and on “1” occasion abstained on the said subject.
On the same year he lost his seat!
The scope of this posting does not permit to go through the list.
On this point it would be quite sufficient to have a look at the manifest of the “legislators” whom attended the last year’s dinner and dance of AIPAC!
You may find that more than 60% of them were present in that happy gathering!
The consolidated Zionist consortium with AIPAC as its CEO is in control of every aspects of Americans’ way of life.
Sometimes I resist dredging further into the swampland of Zionists and Zionism doctrine, it is sort of like trying to decide how far one can go before overwhelmed by the nauseating stench of its vile and evil contents.
Last week Giuliani’s Secretary of State to be John Deady, in a very clear and concise terms publicly demanded for the extermination of 1.2 Billion Muslims.
This zeal for genocide is only the latest entry in a list of fascist qualities embodied by their dedicated and well looked after agents.
J. Deady is an honest politician!!
And an honest politician is the one that once bought stays bought, specifically with AIPAC blood drenched money.
America has got Zionist problem and until such day that the said problem can be solved the genocides will continue in Palestine, Iraq, ………
And Dennis YOU are just another casualty.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 10 at 9:44 am #
(167 comments total)
Murdered at the end of the second act.
All of these candidates are scripted to be murdered at the end of the second act. They won’t even be kept as extras in the great filthy opera.
Reply to this | Report thisBy im4mary, January 10 at 8:22 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Excellent points; and I wholeheartedly
Excellent points; and I wholeheartedly agree. I’m voting for Dennis because my vote doesn’t count anyway, so I’m going to vote for who I really believe to be the best of the candidates.
I live in a very Republican (aka devolving) state where granite is blasted away in our hills but moves nary an inch in our government. By the time I get to vote, the decision will already have been made and I’m assured that none of the delegates here will carry my vote forward in the upcoming national convention.
I’m proud to say that I am a Democrat in name only, something that I subtley resent, actually. I prefer to be undeclared because I’m not one much for group activities! But the only way my vote might have been heard was to declare so I could vote for Dennis (if he’ll even be on our ballet; we didn’t get Nader before either).
I would honestly hope that I could get another chance if Dennis would seriously consider running on an Independent ticket. But, again, my vote won’t count because the electoral college has declared so in the past.
If we want a democracy, we’ve got alot of work to do!
Reply to this | Report thisBy Conservative Yankee, January 10 at 5:51 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
By voice of truth, January
By voice of truth, January 9 at 3:30 pm #
what a piece of crap
“As for people who can not pay their medical bills.... What is your priority, to have a cell phone and flat TV and shiny car, or pay for health insurance? You can talk all you want about “Social Darwinism”, but it will only get worse as more people pretend they do not have to take any responsibility for themselves or their actions.”
Now let me see, I can get a flat screen TV for $649 at Target, but I need a operation for prostate removal at the local hospital $42,645 which should I purchase.
AND I do not know what figures you are viewing, but the “class below middle” has been increasing for the last 15 years, and is now 22% above what it was in 1992. See if this adds up.
over the past 10 years wages have been static, rents, energy, and food prices have increased. what happens to the folks on the lower end of the middle class? What about the sub-prime crisis? are these folks “climbing the ladder?
Come on VOT stand up and take responsibility for your words?
Reply to this | Report thisBy Outraged, January 10 at 12:20 am #
(866 comments total)
I see your point.
I see your point. However, even if we disregard the article’s author, which I agree appeared biased. Still, even in my own determination. Why did Kucinich endorse Obama and then Nader endorse Edwards? What don’t we know?
To look at policy, Nader should’ve endorsed Kucinich (at least in my opinion) but he didn’t. So is Kucinich trying to “say” something or is Nader? I have no problem voting my conscience however I think both Nader’s and Kucinich’s opinion are worth taking into account. It is in this regard I find myself in a dilemma.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy fsuthai, January 10 at 1:42 am #
(14 comments total)
Re: I see your point.
Outraged:
I’m fairly certain that I read Nadar had endorsed Edwards days before Kucinich told his supporters to switch to Obama if they couldn’t muster enough support to qualify his candidacy in Iowa. (That, in itself,is really not an “endorsement” for Obama.) Dennis stated that he could not support Edwards this time (as he had in ‘04 which helped Edwards win Iowa) because of Edwards’ participation in some sort of corporate hedge fund that was helping to finance his campaign. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the details and did not do any subsequent research but it sounded like a reasonable explanation at the time. Besides, I don’t trust any of the ‘big 3’! I too would have preferred that he not suggest that his Iowa supporters switch to any other particular candidate but didn’t let it overly concern me.
What did concern me was the poor response Dennis received from the NH voters. Why is his message not bringing out more support, other than the ‘online’ community? More exposure would certainly help but we can’t blame it all on the pathetic MSM. Where is the “spark”? How can we get the voting mass “charged up and ready to go” (as Obama puts it). And why is the Chaney impeachment seemingly “on hold” again? The holidays are over. We need to tell the House Judiciary Committee to get their asses in gear and bring charges against that pompous arch-criminal while there is still time. And start the same against Bush or he’ll just pardon Chaney!!! If Pelosi is still ‘obstructing justice’ then she needs to be removed as “Speaker”...and from her House seat. Sure wish I could vote for Cindy Sheehan to replace her!
Reply to this | Report thisCheers & “chok dee” (good fortune)!
PaulH in Thailand
By Pat Henry, January 9 at 11:14 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
I love the image.
I love the image. But aren’t Diebold and the RNC holding the football? (See last Sunday’s NY Times Magazine Section).
Reply to this | Report thisBy fsuthai, January 9 at 10:53 pm #
(14 comments total)
I found the comment by
I found the comment by “Outraged”, regarding Kucinich’s quasi support of Obama in Iowa, interesting and went to the Z-Mag article by John Street that lambasted Dennis for doing so. Frankly, I think Mr. Street has been consuming too much fermented corn. I respect Ralph Nadar also but his endorsement of Edwards before the Iowa caucuses does not, ipso facto, mean that Kucinich’s “lean” toward Obama was a “petty” reaction by Dennis to Edward’s elitist agreement with Shillary that under-funded Presidential candidates were “messing up their debates”. The fact is that Dennis was winning those debates and getting the most favorable responses from his ‘addressing the crucial issues’ than all of the platitudes & posturing of the already bought-out “big three”. Edwards puts on a good show but, like all trial lawyers, he has been trained well to lie convincingly! Kucinich is the only true democrat left running and the only one that could---and would---effect meaningful change to the way our government conducts its Constitutionally mandated business!
What really pissed me off about John Street’s article was his inexplicable and almost venomous dismissal of Kucinich as ‘someone who believes in fantasies and UFOs’. Dennis courageously admitted that he had seen a (one) UNIDENTIFIED flying object, when he shouldn’t have even been asked that question by corporate shill Russert, posing as a reputable reporter. So what? 14% of the American population have reported seeing a UFO on at least one occasion and probably millions more, myself included, have witnessed ‘unidentifiable’ objects in the sky without reporting it. I find it hard to believe that any intelligent person can so vehemently deny the existence of UFOs & label everyone that doesn’t as some sort of delusional ‘kook’ (religious blinded fanatics automatically excluded, of course)! But the point is, seeing a UFO does not, repeat NOT, disqualify the most intelligent, most experienced, and most dedicated candidate remaining to change the direction of American policy and governance! Kucinich has shown his integrity and foresight repeatedly with his voting record. ALL of the others are lying to us again and counting on the media “dumbed-down” voters to inflate their egos a bit more. They all have good writers and deliver their speeches well, with smiles or grimaces or tearing up, as needed...but they are funded by the enemies of the people and will not change the “status quo” if elected---except to mouth more platitudes as it gets much worse for 90% of the population. The debates without Kucinich & Gravel & Paul are like “dog & pony” shows!
Reply to this | Report thisWAKE UP AMERICA; We’re in serious danger of losing our country!
VOTE KUCINICH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By hetzer, January 9 at 10:41 pm #
(167 comments total)
Larry Brandes sounds like another right-wing crook or sucker.
Your guns are male jewelry. They are useless, just as they would be if you lived in Iraq (where everyone is armed). Get some smarts. The NRA is a protection racket that cultivates suckers to support the arms industry. If you belong to this collection of crooks, your NAME is probably held by the FBI now. The only reason they don’t care about your guns and your fantasies is that they know your guns give you a sense of false security.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Outraged, January 9 at 9:57 pm #
(866 comments total)
Hetzer,On this I just have
Hetzer,
On this I just have to agree!
“The Republicans set out to destroy the middle class by destroying America’s government infrastructure. They should all be tied to lamp posts wearing signs that say “Traitor”.
Only thing is what to do with the traitorous Dems? Same thing I suppose.....
Reply to this | Report thisBy Outraged, January 9 at 8:41 pm #
(866 comments total)
RdV:Very good article. I
RdV:
Very good article. I felt Kucinich shouldn’t have endorsed Obama either, and I was more than a little curious as to why he had. Of course I’d be angry if I were Kucinich and heard Edwards’ comment. On the other hand, we’re in some serious shit here and there’s no room for petty bullshit (if that’s what Kucinich’s endorsement of Obama was about).
Almost simultaneously Nader came out and endorsed Edwards, and I thought WTF? So I decided someone obviously “knows” something I don’t and I’ve been contemplating these issues ever since. To me Clinton and Obama are one and the same. Their policies are so similar that it’s hard to tell one from the other.
I like Edwards, although I sometimes feel he’s like the nursery rhyme about the little girl with the curl...you know...when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. Is that a better thing...? I don’t know, but Nader I like. Smart man. So what do ya do....and what’s going on? I did expect something out of the ordinary to emerge here somewhere during this campaign.
Anyway, I thought your link was great(thanks) and thought I’d quote a portion here:
“Why has the avowed left-progressive Dennis Kucinich embraced the corporate-centrist Obama (justly rejected in no uncertain terms by the iconic progressive Nader) over the labor-populist Edwards (embraced by Nader)? My guess is that Edwards helped create this sorry episode by letting himself be overheard (last summer) agreeing with Hillary that lesser candidates (like Kucinich and Mike Gravel) were messing up the presidential debates.
That was a bad and authoritarian thing to say - and think. It is corporate media (whose God-like power Edwards dares not criticize in an election season) that most relevantly poisons the debates and the campaigns overall and Left candidates need to be heard.”
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=14637
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 9 at 7:46 pm #
(167 comments total)
Another sucker
Republicans are either crooks or suckers. The voice of truth is probably a sucker or he could be a crook. The Republican filth took over this country in a coup using the cheap perfume of Reagan. In very little time the media was turned radically right and America caught a good dose of the clap from the Bush family.
The Republicans set out to destroy the middle class by destroying America’s government infrastructure. They should all be tied to lamp posts wearing signs that say “Traitor”.
Reply to this | Report thisBy CJ, January 9 at 7:26 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Que-cinich
As for tonight’s comedian: Dana Milbank (who appeared on Olbermann’s “Countdown”), who mentioned Dennis Que-cinich as well as que-linary workers in Nevada. We know Bush knows perfectly well how to pronounce, “nuclear,” but that he prefers (in his ongoing attempt to come over as Slim Pickens, who was a whole lot brighter than Dubya) to pander to those who don’t or just won’t. Supposed print reporter, Milbank, actually doesn’t know how to pronounce Koo-cinich’s name. Nor how to pronounce “cul-inary.” Not to nit-pick or anything, except what does this fairly gross inaccuracy tell us?
More serious news (I think?) is that culinary workers are endorsing Obama, who, far as I know, has never expressed much interest in labor per se—unionized or not. Whereas, Kucinich has had and does have a lot to say to labor, as does Edwards to a lesser extent.
Is it really the case that media alone is responsible for the fact that even union labor doesn’t know which person would best represent its interests? (Thereby, interest of all in the end) Not likely. Like I was saying last night…about the neurotic terrified of actual change (“…fear of fear itself.”). Thanks to processes of socialization that begin upon emerging from the womb.
This amounts to a society-wide pathology that is much more deeply entrenched than what Lakoff contends: “framing” of issues in patriarchal terms—as opposed to matriarchal. Far deeper than what Phillips contends in, “What’s the Matter with Kansas.”
Reality is that Americans—as a WHOLE (not every single one, obviously)—have only contempt for labor, not to mention for those in poverty, all of whom by dint of indoctrination are believed (BELIEVED, no matter reason) to deserve their fate. Such is the final result of a plutocratic meritocracy, by now on the verge of out-and-out fascism. Or maybe more correctly: neo-Feudalism, as I prefer to think of latest version of capitalist “democratic” political-economy, attended by an ideology that runs deeper than any religious belief ever has. To the point society-wide pathology seems the only words to characterize what has gone so wrong. Though it’s been a long time in the realization. One symptom of pathology is rampant consumption, mostly of goods sold, not actually needed. Among other symptoms.
There is no easy answer, no single entity to blame, though it would help were big media to admit to failure, tell it like it is. But that’s not about to happen. As we know every couple years when someone like Kucinich, or Nader, is shut out of media, but also thought in the minds of most as ridiculously idealistic. That judgment, as was the case with McGovern, is on the electorate in the final analysis, as it were.
Big media is just biz as usual, not about to change it’s ways when bosses interests are being so well-served.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Sodium, January 9 at 6:26 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Dennis Kucinich is a man
Dennis Kucinich is a man of substance.In order to
Reply to this | Report thissucceed,he needs audiences of substance and ultimately
a society of substance.Sadly,it no longer exists.
By voice of truth, January 9 at 3:30 pm #
(170 comments total)
what a piece of crap
“Any vote is wasted that does not address the terrible injustices being done to tens of millions of people who have lost the opportunity to earn a living wage”
This is such BS. Please, someone, tell me what are the injustices that were done to these individuals that deny them the opportunities abundant in this country???
What the hell is a “living wage” by the way?? What is the “working class?” I work my ass off, shouldn’t that put me in the “working class?”
There is one fact, the middle class is being lessened. However, that is because, if you look at census data, the group below the middle class (the lower class?) has not changed in size at all, but the middle class is smaller. Where do you think they went? How about they made there way up the ladder!!!!
As for people who can not pay their medical bills.... What is your priority, to have a cell phone and flat TV and shiny car, or pay for health insurance? You can talk all you want about “Social Darwinism”, but it will only get worse as more people pretend they do not have to take any responsibility for themselves or their actions.
Reply to this | Report thisBy ocjim, January 9 at 2:40 pm #
(353 comments total)
People Don't Really Accept the Kucinich Philosophy
The issue is not the establishment or the media not accepting Kucinich. It’s the people. Yes, Hedges is right that we should support someone who is right about the issues, but we are not ready to adhere to the philosophy of general welfare over the individual.
It took the American people five plus years to see Bush for the mediocre fraud that he is. They saw that he was not the stalwart cowboy that Rove’s image machine tried to depict him as. His stubborn stands on the war and everything else were just that—blind exercises in headstrong self-delusion.
Trouble is we still want a stalwart cowboy who represents the individualism our culture says we must aspire to.
Marketing, movies, business, government all want us to subscribe to this myth. To do otherwise threatens their existing empires.
So it’s the people who can’t discard this myth and it is the power structure that wants to make us all cowboys.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 9 at 1:52 pm #
(167 comments total)
I gave 1000 bucks to Kerry
What a total chump I was. I was paying him for protection.
Every leading candidate is a vicious crook. Just assume it.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Tim Hollis, January 9 at 1:28 pm #
(5 comments total)
Right on. Think of what
Right on. Think of what cultural strides we could make, even during the long process of healing, with someone at the helm who isn’t crazy?
Reply to this | Report thisBy larry brandes, January 9 at 1:21 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
wake up red necks!!
I am a hunter, Mr. Kucinich is a vegan. I eat deer I shoot with my longbow, he eats everything else I do except the deer. Every gun squeezer in this country should know that well there hero george ha professed to never take away their guns, he has managed to strip away most of the rights that make the working class right wing free thinking Americans. the massive brain washing methods have worked brilliantly on them. While they are conditioned to respond viciously to anything that sounds left wing, they are blind to all the rights and freedoms they have sacrificed for the one freedom to squeeze a gun. Kucinich doesn’t think anybody should have AK automatic weapons, he is not about to take away their rights. In fact he is in favor of restoring all the rights they are to brain washed to realize they lost. Rednecks you want to vote for someone who will stand up for your rights? Vote for Kucinich!!
Reply to this | Report thisBy loveinatub, January 9 at 12:28 pm #
(81 comments total)
In a primary you vote your conscience!!!!!
It’s great to read about other Nader supporters! I also supported Nader in 2000 but I also voted for him in 1996!!!!! And Nader was the BEST choice of ALL possible candidates back then!
In a primary, yes, you should vote your conscience based on your understanding of the issues. So why is it that Americans don’t vote their conscience?
Supposedly a bevy of New Hampshire woman voters pushed Hillary to the top which is why she came out first. Now what was the overall reason for why these woman voters chose Hillary? Was it her “positions” on the issues? Somehow I don’t buy it. Her gender was reason alone to vote for her and that’s what happened. Hillary is no liberal and she’s a “democratic” neo-con to boot. New Hampshire supposedly has one of the best educated electorate in the country. So what allure does Hillary have other than her gender
The tragedy about why the United States ends up with such poor candidates for president (and yes, I don’t think Bill Clinton was a great president by any means) is because voters constantly vote with the idea that it’s either “evil” or the “lesser of two evils” which they are stuck voting for. And most people end up voting for the “lesser of two evils.”
Well in a primary you have the chance not to vote for ANY EVIL! And Kucinich is damn well proof of that!
I sure hope Hillary falls FLAT ON HER ARSE come the next slate of primaries and I sure hope California goes either Obama or, surprise, KUCINICH!!!!!!!!!!
By mackTN
Ralph Nader
I was absolutely positive about Nader in 2000. I gave him money, I worked in his behalf, I voted for him. Apart from my vote for Harold Washington, I have never felt prouder when I punched that Nader/LaDuke chad.
In a primary you should vote your conscience based on your understanding of the issues. It’s the American way.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy mackTN, January 9 at 8:32 pm #
(166 comments total)
Re: In a primary you vote your conscience!!!!!
Did the votes appear for Hillary because of something she did or something Obama did? I have my theory, and I should tell you that usually I am right.
Obama didn’t just barely lose--he lost big, huge. And he should be extremely troubled about this, and here’s why....
Oh, sorry--right post but the wrong article for it. I’ll finish it on the election analysis article.
Reply to this | Report thisBy loveinatub, January 9 at 12:28 pm #
(81 comments total)
It's great to read about
It’s great to read about other Nader supporters! I also supported Nader in 2000 but I also voted for him in 1996!!!!! And Nader was the BEST choice of ALL possible candidates back then!
In a primary, yes, you should vote your conscience based on your understanding of the issues. So why is it that Americans don’t vote their conscience?
Supposedly a bevy of New Hampshire woman voters pushed Hillary to the top which is why she came out first. Now what was the overall reason for why these woman voters chose Hillary? Was it her “positions” on the issues? Somehow I don’t buy it. Her gender was reason alone to vote for her and that’s what happened. Hillary is no liberal and she’s a “democratic” neo-con to boot. New Hampshire supposedly has one of the best educated electorates in the country. So what allure does Hillary have other than her gender?
The tragedy about why the United States ends up with such poor candidates for president is because voters constantly vote with the idea that it’s either “evil” or the “lesser of two evils” which they are stuck voting for. And most people end up voting for the “lesser of two evils.”
Well in a primary you have the chance not to vote for ANY EVIL! And Kucinich is damn well proof of that!
I sure hope Hillary falls FLAT ON HER ARSE come the next slate of primaries and I sure hope California goes either Obama or, surprise, KUCINICH!!!!!!!!!!
By mackTN
Ralph Nader
I was absolutely positive about Nader in 2000. I gave him money, I worked in his behalf, I voted for him. Apart from my vote for Harold Washington, I have never felt prouder when I punched that Nader/LaDuke chad.
In a primary you should vote your conscience based on your understanding of the issues. It’s the American way.
Reply to this | Report thisBy William H. Bassett, January 9 at 11:46 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I watch in horrible fascination as . . . .
I watch in horrid fascination as the media and press – C-span included – persists in what might metaphorically be described as providing a celebratory backyard weenie roast for the fire-fighters while the house is fully engulfed in flame.
None of these ‘firefighters’ who each claim to be the one to save our nation, to place America on the ‘right path’, to restore our ‘national reputation’ – not one has honored his or her oath of office requiring that they protect and defend the Constitution. Only Dennis Kucinich, who the press has put at the end of the hotdog line at this weenie roast, has called out for investigations, for hearings to commence immediately into the MANY allegations of IMPEACHABLE OFFENCE leveled against the Bush/Cheney team.
The house of our democracy, the Constitution, is being burnt down, while the nation is being distracted with the bread and circuses of the caucus and primary process that is being played as a great sporting event.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 9 at 6:32 am #
(167 comments total)
I'm not kidding
Blame the media first. It is the crook media that should have been hanged a long time ago. They get all the payoffs. They decide who gets to act on the stage.
Reply to this | Report thisEvery election is participatory farce, where you cheer a team loaded with steroids.
By Timothy1119, January 9 at 6:11 am #
(6 comments total)
3%
So how precisely can his failure to get more than 3% in a small state after a year of effort be blamed on the media?
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy Tim Hollis, January 9 at 10:36 am #
(5 comments total)
Re: 3%
He gets 77% in polls that include him. He has been silenced by the corpoarate media. Where have you been?
Reply to this | Report thisBy CJ, January 8 at 7:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Hear, hear, Chris Hedges, the
Hear, hear, Chris Hedges, the good. I hope those, the bad, who still (stupidly) blame Nader for Gore’s defeat read Hedges’ piece. Todd Gitlin? Most militant of Nader haters. Ian Masters? Another one. Let us name names of those ostensibly on the left, but who like their right-wing counterparts insist on “realism.” Which means only that Dems should have voted for Gore/Kerry. I’m tired too, not least of these so-called leftists who do nothing but whine about the authentic left because it insists on democracy, as opposed to lesser of two evils or evil of two lessers. Note that likes of Gitlin and Masters do just fine in their ivory towers, while LA’s Richard Alarcon just pointed out that the federal government’s standard for determining whether or not a family of four lives in poverty is just a tad low for Los Angeles reality, at $21,000 per annum. Alarcon suggested that for LA reality is $54,000-$70,000. Yeah, more like it.
I assume that $21,000 per annum for a family of four is no problem for candidates and their ideological backers; in particular, for Clinton AND Obama, maybe Edwards too. That to earn more than $21,000—no doubt between mom and dad—is to rise out of poverty in all of America. Twenty-one thousand dollars is pathetic ANYWHERE in America, never mind Los Angeles.
I call these figures, “realism.” Only Kucinich and Nader and a few other even more obscure candidates recognize THIS realism, which serves to shorten life-span in the final analysis. People quite literally worked to death. Not performing work they just love, but performing tedious, extremely strenuous tasks that keep this society functioning for all our benefit.
I write these words in response to Hedges’ piece while listening to “the ugly” comedians at Comedy Central II, aka MSNBC, comment on New Hampshire primary. As though New Hampshire remotely resembles America. I guess comedians (Matthews, Olbermann and Barnacle, not to leave out [little-Tim] Russert, Brokaw, even vanden Heuval) haven’t heard that New Hampshire is where well-heeled, Birkenstock Liberals are going to retire. Repubs went for war-/fear-monger (maverick) McCain, while Dems are going for Clinton/Obama, both of whom advocate “universal” healthcare—in the event family of four makes at least $54,000 per annum so as to afford mandated coverage. So long as taxes are never raised and healthcare and housing not matters of human rights. (Paul and Huckabee have a whole other extremely regressive plan when it comes to taxation.)
Clinton, recall, is “experienced,” while Obama is for “change.” Neither has an actual plan to delay further transfer of wealth to top one percent—Mitt Romney territory.
Comedians at MSNBC have spent the entire day commenting as to how Obama is riding a “wave.” “Wave” about to drown Hillary, apparently. Comedians refer to events as real “politics.” Yep, Matthews said so.
Of course Kucinich is ignored, both by media AND by electorate, which, after 100 years of constructing empire, is terrified of New Deal-style change, not too different from a neurotic in need of deep therapy because systemically constrained as a result of having spent a lifetime constructing defense mechanisms, which while largely delusional, serve the purpose of keeping the neurotic safe and more or less comfortable, despite feeling alienated at the same time. And so, McCain (or Huckabee, or Romney, or Giuliani), as well as Clinton/Obama/Edwards—any of them, so long as “change” doesn’t amount to change, which, let’s just admit to it, might involve some minimal sacrifice in the general interest of those suffering the most. That would be just TOO egalitarian (Mr. Paine), given capitalist democracy, an oxymoron if there ever was one. Not THAT surprising comedians, candidates and electorate are all so confused. Kucinich is down to one percent in New Hampshire, where motto (not applicable since Redcoats were sent packing) is: “Live free, or die.” Yeah, yeah…right, whatever.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy fsuthai, January 9 at 11:34 am #
(14 comments total)
Re: Hear, hear, Chris Hedges, the
Excellent commentary, CJ!
I thoroughly enjoyed both the interview and the subsequent article on Kucinich by Chris Hedges, plus your contribution as well. (Bet they don’t get ‘aggregated’ by the corp.-controlled mass media!)
Interesting to see that my annual income is so far BELOW America’s poverty level. No whines, no complaints; just “my bad” for not planning to live this long. I live very modestly but extremely happily in northern Thailand, retired here after BushCo managed to steal the Presidency in 2000. Its not a perfect country either but is a hell of a lot more hospitable than the one I left...and still love.
Reply to this | Report thisVOTE KUCINICH
By hetzer, January 8 at 6:14 pm #
(167 comments total)
Tom Semioli's Vote
“Like a good for nothing cock, without having won the victory, some walk away from the grim reality and crow”
Plato (sort of)
Reply to this | Report thisBy Tom Semioli, January 8 at 8:37 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I am holding the Democrats
I am holding the Democrats responsible not only for the illegal occupation of Iraq, but also for excluding Dennis from the debates. Ditto the Republicans for the “war” and Ron Paul’s exclusion. So I will proudly vote independant once again. I urge my fellow Americans to do the same.
Reply to this | Report thisBy hetzer, January 8 at 3:31 am #
(167 comments total)
When you vote, do it with full knowledge of how little it matters.
Vote, of course, but do so with a black hatred. It is always Lucy holding the football.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Pat Henry, January 8 at 12:54 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
I like your example: "...
I like your example: “… Why you should pay for the bridge, even though you don’t drive? ... “ It, and similar examples, might help explain why we should support public education to those who champion school vouchers ...
We’re senior citizens a half-century removed from our own public school days ... but we are passionate about the urgent need for high quality public education for all Americans and are willing to support it with our tax dollars.
But that’s all off topic ...
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy cyrena, January 9 at 10:38 am #
(4023 comments total)
Re: I like your example: "...
Ya know, when I was speaking of paying for bridges, I wasn’t referencing people that don’t drive, or don’t use them. I was referencing people that DO drive, and WOULD use them, IF they could afford the TOLL.
Same thing with mass transit. States like Texas don’t have it. They don’t have it, because the people with the money, don’t want to spend it on mass transit, because THEY have cars, and can afford to put gas in them, and pay the insurance, and all the rest. So, since THEY don’t need mass transit, why should their tax dollars pay for it, right?
Never mind the folks who can’t afford it, they can just stay stuck on their side of whatever fringe they’ve been assigned to. As long as they don’t get in anybody’s way, and nobody has to see them, or deal with them, what’s the problem?
And, the same people who don’t wanna pay for roads, and don’t wanna pay for mass transit, also don’t wanna pay for schools. (Ron Paul’s group). They either don’t have kids, or they send them to private school. Why should their taxes go to provide education for ‘lesser beings’.
Now of course I’m willing to pay taxes for ALL of these things and you’re willing to pay taxes at least to educated all Americans, (thanks, maybe there IS a god, or at least a sign of intelligent life in the world) but overall, these libbies don’t wanna pay for any of that. They think that home schooling is just fine, and anything else...well, you’re just on your own.
They call it, ‘freedom’.
Reply to this | Report thisBy Joe, January 8 at 12:20 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
cyrena, January 7 at 5:30
cyrena, January 7 at 5:30 am peed to windward with:
“For instance, Texas, (Ron Paul’s state) is falling apart at the seams in its own infrastructure, because Texas does not collect a state income tax, to provide for these things, within their own state.”
1) What does collection of a State or Federal Income Tax have to do with allocating resources and avoidance of (ruinous) debt? My take is that consumption/sales taxes are far less intrusive and costly to administer and, in most States, will bring in massive revenues.
2) re: your claims as to infrastructure, from “The Dallas News:”
[ “In written requests he (Congressman Paul) submitted to the House Appropriations Committee, the Lake Jackson Republican asked for $8.6 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the Texas City Channel and $10 million for the Galveston Rail Causeway Bridge. He also asked for money for a nursing program, expansion of a cancer center at Brazosport Hospital, a seafood testing program, a Children’s Identification and Location Database and $8 million for Wild American Shrimp Marketing requested by the Texas Shrimp Association.
continues:
Tom Lizardo, a Paul aide, said Mr. Paul has always asked for spending for his district in response to local requests.
concludes:
“He feels the IRS takes the money and so it’s [his] job to make sure money comes back in the district,” Mr. Lizardo said.” ]
C- Your take on Ron Paul’s positions continues to be feelings-based and fictional. But I still like you.
If it means anything, I’ve concluded Hillary or any of the Democrats will move the world in a decent direction.
Reply to this | Hide 1 reply | Report thisBy cyrena, January 9 at 5:18 am #
(4023 comments total)
Re: cyrena, January 7 at 5:30
Admittedly, my opinions have some passion to them, but the passion is based on fact, not fiction.
In reality, the sales tax (alone) in Texas doesn’t cut the mustard, which is why there is such a huge disparity in so many areas, but specifically in public education – K thru 12. The reason is that the majority of money for that comes from property taxes. (yep, I paid them, even though I didn’t have kids attending school). And, I never minded that…not a single bit, because I honestly do believe that we have collective interest in maintaining an educated populace.
It’s the same principle with the toll roads and the bridges. The Dallas area has LOTS of toll roads. And, it’s easy enough to say that one shouldn’t have to pay for it, if they don’t drive it. The other side of that is that if you can’t afford to pay the toll, then obviously, you aren’t going to drive it, and that creates an automatic social Darwinism, because it basically prevents the poor from accessing certain areas of the city or county, for employment opportunities, goods, and other services. This is nothing new, and it’s clearly not fictional. If anything, it’s GUARANTEED. You see it anywhere that such a system is practiced.
For Texas, it’s the same thing with mass transit. I lived there for 17 years, and every time the issue came up for a vote, ALL suburban areas voted it down. Didn’t want to spend the money, but they also admitted that it was because they wanted to keep the ‘riff-raff’ out. (you can interpret that however you want). I made my way back to civilization 7 years ago, but I remember asking my ex recently, if they’d ever gotten around to approving any form of public transportation, (since now of course, the hoity-toity’s are squealing themselves, about the price of gas for their F-10 pickups) He said no, and that the bridge leading out of the little ‘ritzy’ enclave (where they didn’t want the ‘riff-raff’) had just collapsed, and he was trying to figure out how he was gonna get to work. I recommended a brisk swim, but he was worried about messing up his work uniform. Oh, I should mention that with those toll roads, there are NO alternate routes. It’s pretty much that way all over the area. So, if you get on say HWY XYZ, and there’s a back-up of some sort, (accident, dead armadillo in the road) you might as well just park that sucker, and take out the picnic basket, cause there ain’t no where else to go. (of course those with rifles installed on their hoods can sometimes shoot their way through)
BUT…they don’t have to pay state income taxes. Must save them a good what…$800-1,200 a year? Maybe more for the rich ones? I thought it was a grand idea when I first moved there from California. At least until I started getting those $400.00 a month electric bills, since the place stays hotter than hell 10 months out of the year. I finally realized that the ‘no income tax stuff’ just wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. So, ya’ll can have the ‘rugged individualism’ and I’ll just bite the bullet on the easy side, and pay the flippin’ taxes.
As for Ron Paul, a closer check at his hidden agenda, (well documented in his Congressional record) is of course pure fact. He’s a religious whacko and an obvious authoritarian control freak. I’m not the least bit happy about trying to force prayer in public schools, or nullify Brown v Board.. (more social Darwinism). Now, if your house was on fire, would you prefer that a fireperson come out in a truck with a hose and maybe a ladder, or would you be OK with somebody showing up in a preacher suit with a bible, and just praying over it?
It’s the same with potholes in the roads, or freeway signs that are tacked up lopsided, with incorrect spelling, and drivers that refuse to use turn signals. (they don’t want anybody to know their business – I swear)
As for the Corps of Engineers, they didn’t do New Orleans much good now did they? They called the right shots on the doomed levees, and nobody did a thing about them.
Reply to this | Report thisBy john from ojai, January 8 at 12:13 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
The media is owned by
The media is owned by conglomerates that have one goal; to make money. Any candidate that can hurt the bottom line will be marginalized. Approximately 6 conglomerates own all of the media in the U.S.. Most of these also have businesses involved in military supply and nuclear energy.
Kucinich would break up the media, end the war in Iraq, not go to war with Iran, and promote energy solutions that have none of the dangers of nuclear. Do you think these industries wouldn’t marginalize Kucinich when they got the chance?
The answer is yes they would. The first ABC debate was rigged to give Kucinich very little time. Even with that huge obstacle he was the winner of the ABC online poll asking who won the debate? When it became clear that Dennis was winning, they removed the highly visible poll. They also removed him from the group photo of debaters.
Kucinich not newsworthy? Did you know that he has won most of the major online polls by large margins? DFA, Nation, Progressive Democrats of America, Independent Primary.Com. You probably won’t read about it in the media.Did you know that Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate to oppose the Iraq war and its funding,the only one to oppose the Patriot Act, the only one to introduce impeachment legislation, the only one to not take donations from corporate lobbies. These are all newsworthy stories that you won’t read about in the media.
If you would help Dennis enact media reform you will hear much more information that you’ve been denied. Make your contribution to dennis4president.com
Reply to this | Report thisBy anambrose, January 7 at 11:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
No I'm not talking 1990's.
No I’m not talking 1990’s. You have to go back to 1890’s right up until the Great Depression to find the same kind of corruption of government by the corporations. It changed after many died at the hands of the hired guns of the mine,mill owners and manufacturers who killed those who came into their territory talking of organizing workers. The Great Depression had at least 25% unemployment as far as numbers could be counted and the thousands who just gave up and died because there was NO safety net of any kind are not measured. What you have been a witness to and a reluctant participant of is the great unraveling of the gains that were made after 1932 only after much pain and sorrow. That has precisely been the goal of the right ever since 1932 and you have uncle Milty Friedmann as its main instigator. Pain and sorrow was common diet for all but the wealthy few. The middle class such as it was was smaller and more elite aping their betters manners without ever being let into the club except on rare events and occasions and never encouraged to think they really had a shot. That changed after WW2 as a direct result of the GI Bill as rich people and their kids served and died in the war and it was acknowledged that class alone would not be smart enough and large enough to manage the coming postwar boom. So as in the war we made a huge investment in infrastructure of education, transportation, health and just about anything else that was important. What kept it solvent through various administrations were the regulations in place to make sure the market worked as fairly for the rest of us as it did for the rich. Now that’s been erroded to the point where your cell phone providers, banks, credit card co’s all cheat you by bait and switch tactics and hidden fees and mandatory binding arbitration that gets you no justice at all and you have to eat it. They’ve spent millions finding out how much pain you can take and if they get an extra $100 out of each of the millions of suckers they take all the better for them except our republic is in shambles and being run by thieves for thieves and all of that blood sweat and tears got flushed down the toilet because some boomer decided he didn’t want to pay taxes to pay for someone else’s kids getting a good education. You know anyone rich enough to send their kids to Andover? Tell them they’re just throwing money at the problem? Have they stopped laughing yet? All the way to the bank which they own.
Reply to this | Report thisBy mackTN, January 7 at 10:12 pm #
(166 comments total)
Ralph Nader
I was absolutely positive about Nader in 2000. I gave him money, I worked in his behalf, I voted for him. Apart from my vote for Harold Washington, I have never felt prouder when I punched that Nader/LaDuke chad.
I started out supporting Obama--raised a lot of money, spent a lot of money. Some things irked me, however, and as time went on, I just couldn’t keep supporting a disturbing vagueness in his issues. My questioning seemed to irk all the college kids and transformed Republicans who couldn’t understand why I just couldn’t accept the change, man. I’m voting for a president, son--not a body snatcher. I booked.
John Edwards hit a nerve, especially after the spineless Dems, who couldn’t get up enough backbone to tell Bush to kiss their ass, suddenly got all fired up to hustle a corporate-written immigration reform bill through the senate--not once but three or four times. Let’s feed the corporatocracy the slaves it needs for all those profits that don’t make our lives better. Who can say Edwards is wrong when he warns that you leave health care as it is, they’ll still be denying liver transplants and mental health counseling and maintaining the profit margins? Those people play hardball to the death, and they’ll own us if you don’t kick them in the nuts.
In a primary you should vote your conscience based on your understanding of the issues. It’s the American way.
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