Why Dennis Kucinich Still Matters

Several months ago I wrote an article that appeared on the Huffington Post called "Why Not Dennis?" and received an email from his campaign staff to thank me for the posting and for the sentiments expressed in the article. They also offered me work and I took it, gladly.

Now after spending several months thinking about and writing about the things that Kucinich ran on, we are looking at the choice we are left with between Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee in the Democratic twosome ready and able, they assure us, to get to work on the first day in office. Well, I sure hope so or else why bother even getting into the race? I listened on the radio to their debate from Cleveland last night, the home of Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich and where an awful fight is going on in the primary for Dennis' seat in Congress. He is up against a man who doesn't live in his district and is supported by the same moneyed interests that have always been opposed to Dennis because of his stand against them. Fair is fair, if you are not with us you are against us. But there are reasons on both sides and what gets lost in all these debates are the reasons for things.

While Hillary and Barack were going after each other about the ways in which they had campaigned against each other, one of the comments Barack made struck me. While defending his campaign's use of a smear against Hillary in his campaign literature, he said that this is the way he has learned things are done in a campaign and therefore it was okay for him to do it too. Oh really? Is that so? First of all, that no one called him on this blatantly disingenuous statement and that he is just given this free pass to say the most insipid things as if he had come here from Mars and never been involved in politics before this run for the presidency is just a laugh we should all share together because we can.

Then from the other side of her mouth, Hillary goes on and on about how she is always picked first to speak. How that is really okay with her, she is up to the task but she wants to call attention to it. Yeah, Mrs. Clinton, they are saying two things to you: Ladies first and then of course, stick your foot in it and let's see what Barack does with it. We know that play and have seen it over and over, because they have been doing it over and over.

But you know what? It matters so little in the scheme of the real world in which the voters live if Hillary is called on first, if Barack is just learning how campaigns work. What matters are things like the rally in DC on Monday for the first responders to the attacks on September 11th and Mrs. Clinton, the Senator from New York, was not there. She was not there to speak up for her constituents who are getting screwed by this government and denied health care along with the men and women in the Armed Services who are also being denied coverage. Dennis Kucinich was there. He left Cleveland in order to stand with those who had gone in and risked everything and now have nothing.

Listen up, you two front runners; the world really can't be bothered with your bickering. It has got to stop or our current president will look out of his window as he flies overhead and decide we are not ready for an election. He will decide that we don't yet know what a democracy is and he will cancel them. Oh yeah, he may have some excuse at hand like calling for a war with Iran and thus a national emergency that these same people voted for in allowing him his Military Commission Act which they don't talk about because the matter of who has to answer questions first takes precedence and they probably didn't read it before voting on it.

It may be time to pay a little more attention to the warnings of what is happening to our Democracy and Democratic Party here at home by paying more attention to what Kucinich was saying when he was allowed to participate in the debates. Wouldn't you rather have a president who gets it right the first time and read this Act and voted against it?