When Congressman Dennis Kucinich sat down in Los Angeles one night just over 10 years ago to write the prophetic speech that became known as "A Prayer for America", the invasion of Iraq was still just an evil gleam in the eyes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Tony Blair. Yet Kucinich had the political courage to stand up by himself, and declare his opposition to the neocon lies:
"Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq. We did not authorize the invasion of Iran...
We did not authorize war without end. We did not authorize a permanent war economy."
On February 15, 2003, the day the world stood up in opposition to war with Iraq, Kucinich rallied with half a million activists in New York City.
On October 24, 2001, Dennis Kucinich was one of the few who voted against the Patriot Act.
Dennis Kucinich, with Tim Robbins, protesting the war in Iraq in 2007 (photo by Rob Kall)
Congressman Kucinich co-authored, with Congressman John Conyers, the single-payer health care for all bill.
4 years ago, Dennis Kucinich offered 35 articles of impeachment regarding Bush/Cheney Administration crimes against the Constitution.
When the time came to officially certify the 2004 Bush versus Kerry presidential votes in Ohio, Kucinich was one of the handful of progressive House members who joined Senator Barbara Boxer to oppose that certification.
He is one of the very few members of Congress who has voted to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by cutting off the funding for those wars, the same way the Congress acted to end the Vietnam War.
Dennis Kucinich supports full equality for gays and lesbians. He opposes the Keystone Pipeline project to exploit Canada's Tar Sands, opposes increasing the retirement age for working people, and fiercely opposes cuts in Social Security and Medicare. He supports the Dream Act, supports significant cuts in the military budget, and has long supported fair trade.
All in all, I would argue that no one has fought as hard for progressive issues year after year after year as Kucinich has.
So take a second and think back--wouldn't you have missed Dennis Kucinich if he had not been there standing up for us these last 10 years? And won't you miss him if he's not there to fight for us in Congress next year?
If the answer is yes, there is still a short time to help Kucinich in his tough, gerrymandered primary battle on Tuesday. You could go to www.kucinich.us and thank Dennis Kucinich for his brave--and often lonely--work on behalf of progressives, fairness, and peace.
[Steve Cobble worked on the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson and Dennis Kucinich, helped found AfterDowningStreet.org and Progressive Democrats of America, and currently works on the fight to roll back the awful Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.]
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