Strangechord

I’m definitely a member of the “anyone but Bush” camp - it’s not about some hip, vague Bush-hatred, it’s about the fact that I oppose about 99% of his administration’s policies and practices. Anyway, although I’ll definitely vote for Howard Dean (whom will most likely clinch the nomination), Dennis Kucinich is really the candidate who had me at hello.

Where I stand opposed to nearly everything coming from Bush, at the other end, I agree with nearly everything from Kucinich’s platform. He is truly the progressive candidate. I borrowed the following from his mailing list; I think it lays out his platform nicely as well as reiterating why he is electable. Bolded are the points which resonate with me the most.

1. He opposes the “PATRIOT Act” now, and is the only candidate who voted against it. He opposes the war now, and is the only candidate who voted against it or who opposed it from the start.

2. Dennis cannot be attacked for planning to cut services or raise taxes because he is the one candidate with the guts to cut the bloated Pentagon budget and end the occupation of Iraq. He makes proposals and explains how he will pay for them. And his tax plan is laid out in detail at http://www.kucinich.us/taxes_under_kucinich.php

3. Dennis and most Americans want single-payer universal health coverage. President Bush and most other candidates want to keep the HMOs and private insurance companies in charge.

4. Dennis is the only candidate with a plan to end NAFTA and withdraw from the WTO, replacing these corporate trade agreements with fair bilateral trade based on workers’ rights, human rights, and the environment. The other candidates side with the current President in wanting to maintain NAFTA and the WTO.

5. Dennis has a history of attracting swing voters and “Reagan Democrats” in winning elections against better-funded Republican opponents, it is Dennis Kucinich. He has repeatedly defeated entrenched incumbents. He beat a Republican incumbent for mayor in 1977, for state senator in 1994 (overcoming the national right-wing tide) and for Congress in 1996.

6. Dennis’ Congressional district includes the suburb of Parma, Ohio, described as “one of the original homes of the Reagan Democrats.” An Ohio daily calls it a “conservative Democratic district,” which he carried by 74% in 2002. Being a success there may be a better predictor of national success than holding statewide office in a liberal stronghold like Vermont or Massachusetts.

7. Dennis, unlike some other candidates, opposes the death penalty, will end the war on drugs, supports the Kyoto treaty, will take us to 20 percent renewable energy by 2010, and will back no justice who will not uphold Roe v. Wade. (Amen to all that!)

8. Dennis attracts third party voters and Ralph Nader supporters.

9. Ohio has 20 electoral votes. It is the state that is key to national victory; only two candidates in the 20th century have won the presidency without carrying Ohio.

Do check out his platform - it’s a thing of beauty. What other candidate is saying things like, “It is a high expression of humanity to question, and to resist, the homogenizing power of global economic structures.”? Like many others I know, I’m planning to switch my party affiliation from Independent to Democrat soon just so I can vote for him in the primary.