Dennis Kucinich

As counterpoint to my previous post on Ron Paul, I present Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He dropped out of the presidential race early this time but the important part is what he does while he's in the office he already holds, not his single-digit presidential campaigns. However, I tabled for Dennis in 2004 and stand by that. There are few people I would support more for the President of the United States of America.

Truly Peaceful

Now that we've realized that the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are a mess and that we can't really control the direction of another country easily, anti-war sentiment has become more popular. In contrast, Kucinich voted against going to war and against renewing funding for the war. He would support replacing the Department of Defense (formerly, the War Department) with the Department of Peace, dedicated to finding peaceful solutions instead of military buildup. He supports nuclear disarmament. He is a strong supporter of gun control and has proposed legislation to ban handguns.

Thoughtfully Pro-Choice

Dennis has held a pretty staunchly anti-choice voting position in the past. However, Bush's push towards a full-on ban and criminalization has pushed Dennis to reconsider his position. Through much thought and soul-searching, he has decided that it is more valuable to keep abortion a legal option for women. I like this much better than knee-jerk pro-choice Democrats.

Equal Rights

Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate to support full equal marriage rights for same-sex couples instead of mealy seperate-and-unequal "civil unions". He also voted against the PATRIOT ACT (which I have also worked against).

Government-Sponsored Murder

He is a strong opponent of the death penalty and has proposed legislation to ban it on a federal level.

Drugs

Dennis supports lowering the drinking age to 18 in order to lessen the allure. He has supported decriminalization of marijuana and opposes the so-called "War on Drugs".

Environmental Concerns

Dennis is a true environmentalist. Not simply jumping on the bandwagon of cheap solutions like ethanol and coal (electric cars -- the primary source of electricity in America is coal). He opposes genetically modified foods. He is also a Vegan (as am I).

Universal Health Care

He is a co-sponsor of the National Health Insurance Act.

Immigration

Dennis supports promoting a clear road to legal citizenship for illegal immigrants. He was a co-sponsor of a bill to give legal status to all immigrants who have been in the country more than five years.

There are many other positions which Dennis Kucinich has actually acted upon which show him as a true Progressive. We need to understand and support some of the actions he has done in Congress.