So far only two candidates out of the eight running in the Democratic primary for president have convinced me that their ideas are the best for this country. The Village Green made an early endorsement for
Mike Gravel, due to his spectacular penchant for pointing out the obvious in the face of polite pretense.
The Village Green has also endorsed
Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards and the
rest of them as well!
Those were early days and I for one was happy to see such a sizable and diverse field of interesting and intelligent candidates. I've followed the debates and the public events where candidates give speeches on cable TV and so far, the candidate who speaks best to the issues is Dennis Kucinich. I've taken the time to read his
issue position papers on his web site and I find myself in agreement with just about everything I've read there.
I'm especially excited by the idea of a Department of Peace. Instead of saying No to Drugs, we need to say No to War. I can hear the voices raised in protest that we must have a strong military in order to defend our glorious nation from attacks on our soil. Funny how "our soil" tends to become Viet Nam, Cambodia, Panama, Grenada, Iraq, and other assorted hot spots containing something our leaders want.
The pursuit of war as a social tactic is no longer valid, if it ever was. There really are weapons of mass destruction, just not in Iraq before the war began. Billions of human beings inhabit this planet now -- we're fast approaching 8 billion -- all reaching for the same diminishing resources of land, air, water and food. If ever this country needed a department of Peace it is now. George W Bush has no talent for cooperation, no respect for law, and is totally lacking in social conscience. The government and its people are in need of an infusion of tactics based upon peace and collaboration to solve the huge problems facing the planet. Instead we are having 8 years of greedy grabbing for oil, money and power by the few to the great detriment of us all. Those who laugh at Dennis about this idea are not willing to face reality, which is ironic because they often accuse Kucinich of waging a fantasy campaign.
In the news tonight, we find some
evidence that John Edwards and perhaps Hilary Clinton were involved in finding ways to exclude certain candidates from the ongoing debates. This on top of the
exclusion of Mike Gravel from the debate on gay issues shows us that in elections, we still allow money to make all the decisions.
The primary campaign is the time to hear everybody's ideas and to see how those ideas compare and contrast with others. I'd like to see the end of all paid television commercials in all campaigns. Public access television channels can provide more than enough coverage of campaign speeches, debates and presentations. The campaign ads are a waste of time and money and only show us who hired the best advertising people. Most reasonable people agree, and yet nothing ever changes.
Good to see more comments in support of Dennis at Pho's blog. Check 'em out
here.
If you live in Akron and you are interested in peace initiatives and art, be sure to visit the Yoko Ono art
exhibit at the University of Akron's Meyers School of Art. You can get a handy peace stamp, button and Onochord device -- all for free. And you can contemplate the work of Yoko and John Lennon -- and if you don't get choked up at some point during the exhibit then there is no hope for you -- go join the Republican party!
