| From West by Northwest.org Bummers & Gummers Thinking the Unthinkable: A Real Person for President, Part II By Lokiko Hall Aug 25, 2003
The following is a transcript of his speech and the Q&A session that came after. Words in italic, underlined, or in caps are Kucinich's emphasis. My goal was to preserve the character of the speech, which was given without the use of notes, so that you could have as much information as possible for forming your own judgment. Also, I hoped to preserve for your examination "the structure" Kucinich speaks of at the end of the Q&A. Words in brackets are my observations concerning the responses of the crowd to Kucinich and my recollection of statements from the audience I was not able to catch clearly off the tape. - LH Hello Eugene! Hello Eugene! Welcome! Welcome to this celebration of our democracy, a reclaiming of the power of each individual to create transformational change. Welcome to this opportunity where we can collectively have this dialogue about democracy. This is the time for us to begin. Thank you so much for being here to be a part of it. I think the path towards the restoration of our democracy is not to become mired in the anger that all of us certainly feel. We have to understand that this anger ultimately cannot lead us to a path that will lift this nation up. There's a point at which anger dissipates and leads us into despair. But the path toward restoring our democracy is one where we connect with our highest aspirations, our hopes for this country, and reconnect with the essential optimism of the American character which really is our heritage. It's time that we redirected the energies of this nation. My candidacy is about reconnecting with the higher aspirations of America. We recognize the challenge of the moment. - Don't we? - We recognize that America has been misled. But we also know that the conditions that have been created are also subject to change. And that we have within the power of our hearts and through the power of our spirits, the ability to transform conditions of war to peace. Of poverty to prosperity. Hopelessness to optimism. That it's us - we! - we are the ones that we've been waiting for. We're the ones we've been waiting for! It's not just about me; it's about all of us. So my campaign is not about me, the person, it's about we, the people. This campaign is not simply a campaign; it's about a movement. About a movement to reclaim the banner of social and economic justice. For the United States to reclaim its role in the world as a nation among nations. As a nation that works cooperatively with the world. - It's so lonely. Politics of preemption and unilateralism are - so - lonely. And we recognize that as we isolate ourselves from the world we lose the potential that we have to not only change the world, but we lose the potential that we have to help this society to evolve to meet the needs of its people. So my campaign is about reclaiming the real power of America. And the first step towards doing that is to remember who we are. A few weeks ago we celebrated the 227th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Many of us had the opportunity participate in various types of celebration, because not withstanding the grim nature of the hour we still maintain the right to preserve the part of that America that we love so much, that we refuse to concede to those who would sully our nation's heritage by claiming the cause of war. And that part of the nation we love so much, part of the heritage that is really inside of us as citizens is best described, I think, in the challenge of Francis Scott Key, when he wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." Now we hear that all the time. And there are times that we hear it when the nation is involved in an unjust war that we feel the words with such grief. But when we look at the challenge that Francis Scott Key gave when he asked: "Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave / over the land of the free and the home of the brave?" He made a connection that is so important to the American character. He made the connection between democracy and courage. For a moment I'd like you to think about this. Because it is the path of courage that will enable us to break the spell of fear which put this nation on a path towards war against Afghanistan, against Iraq, which led to the passage of the Patriot Act, and led to the huge buildup of the Pentagon budget. It is fear that has dropped across this country like a dark cloth. And fear that has caused us to be paralyzed in reclaiming the essence of America. Fear that has set neighbor against neighbor. Fear that has caused us to doubt that we could bring back a benign role for America in the World. So my candidacy is about reclaiming our optimism and encouraging the American people as we encourage each other to remember who we are. Land of the Free. Home of the Brave. Democracy. Courage. Remind people. Help our brothers and sisters to make the connection. Because as we reclaim that essential courage and what it means to be in a democratic society then we begin to break the spell of fear that is holding our nation captive right now! And that's the path to true victory as American citizens in 2004! [Emphatic buildup in last three lines. Then he waited for the applause to die down.] It's as though we have to shake some of our friends and say, "Remember who you are!" This is a nation which claimed a role in the world through vision, through looking forward. We've made mistakes along the way, but never in American history have we faced the kind of challenge and crisis we have today. Where America has set itself apart from the world. Where America has declared itself opposed to the world through a national security strategy of preemption and unilateralism and a nuclear posture revue that reserves a first strike right. How then can America rejoin the world community? As President of the United States I intend to lead this country in a direction to help America pick up the banner and work with the community of nations to achieve TOTAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT! It is time! - [Drowned out by applause.] And - AND - that's just the beginning! Because as we rejoin the world community that will necessarily mean a president who is willing to put his signature to - the Biological Weapons Convention! - The Chemical Weapons Convention! The Small Arms Treaty! The Land Mines Treaty! And to join the International Criminal Court! [shouted over continuous applause] IT IS TIME FOR EQUAL JUSTICE BEFORE THE LAW THROUGHOUT THE WORLD! [over howling cheers] Those principles were important at our founding and they are important at the founding of a world order dedicated to justice. And an American president, if he's dedicated to justice, must be willing to participate in the International Criminal Court. It's the only way America can achieve credibility throughout the world. As the next president of the United States, I will work with you to achieve for America a new leadership towards sustainability and towards responsibility for the world's global climate. And we will begin by signing the Kyoto Climate Change Agreement! It's time! [Pause for more cheering, foot stomping, etc.] Because! - because as citizens of a common planet we have a right to air fit to breathe, water fit to drink, and all the citizens of the world depend on the United States being ready to step forward to achieve a sustainable global climate! It is time that we begin this work! We owe it to our generation! We owe it to future generations! And we owe it to the survival of the planet itself! AND AS WE [cutting over the applause] - as we reclaim a role for America in the world, we set aside the politics that have produced this massive buildup in Pentagon spending. Because the fear which is engendered in this country is the fear which led us into Afghanistan, Iraq, which passed the Patriot Act. Is the fear which produced massive increases in military spending, massive increases in a Pentagon budget, which on a trajectory would go to 550 BILLION DOLLARS WITHIN TEN YEARS. I tell you that as we break the spell of fear in this country we will stop this profligate spending in the Pentagon and we will make sure that we will reclaim a domestic agenda for America and take the money - at least 60 billion dollars out of that Pentagon budget and put it back into education, back into health care, back into housing, back into feeding the hungry, back into reclaiming of our standing in our own nation! - IT IS TIME! Let no candidate come before you and tell you that he or she is for peace if they're not willing to challenge this Pentagon budget. Because I tell you this: this Pentagon budget, at 400 billion dollars now, simply becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for war. The more money it gets, the more they have to have war, to justify getting more money, to justify having more war, to justify getting more money. - I mean that is the scam that is depriving our nation of the resources that we need to meet the needs of the American people. Do you know that the Pentagon has over a trillion dollars in accounts it cannot reconcile? - "T!" Trillion! - And it has tens of billions of dollars in inventory it has trouble tracking. And the Pentagon has stopped auditing its books. - Oh yes! - Now at least, you know, Enron, at least Enron had crooked auditors, right? The Pentagon doesn't even have crooked auditors! It has no auditors! And so we're faced with the condition where you have out-of-control spending with no limitations whatsoever. This Pentagon budget now is preparing for doomsday. Weapons of mass destruction in space. The thinking behind it is: America under a program called "Vision 2020." [Wraps hand around mike to change his voice.] "We'll dominate the world!" What's that about? Using a platform in space to be able to fire anywhere in the world to achieve world dominance. This Pentagon budget includes money for building new nuclear weapons in anticipation of executing a first strike strategy. This Pentagon budget has money in it to build a national missile system - now get this - those of you who've been following know - that they tricked up the test results to try to make it appear that this thing works in order to justify more spending. This adminstration demands that our school children must pass tests in order for districts to be funded. But missile systems don't need to pass tests! So we have a condition here where we have an administration which is preparing for the end of the world. - Now I have an idea: Let's help their (political) world end in 2004. LET'S LIFT THEIR PLIGHT! Let's release them from their misery and from their fear! Because America as a nation cannot walk in faith and fear at the same time. And an administration which is so overwrought with fear of the world, which would misinterpret intelligence data based on fear - or based on caprice - is an administration which is really not up to handling the affairs of a great nation. And so, my friends, the challenge of the Pentagon budget is a challenge of whether or not we intend - [a feedback squeal of increasing intensity interrupts. As people work to squelch it, someone in the crowd says, "Surveillance."] - Did I tell you how much I like John Ashcroft? [laughter] - Hello John! - [more laughter] - I love you, John. - [and still more] - Take the covering off those statues, John. [laughter, cheers and applause] - And so we have this condition where we're led to believe by fear that we have to be building up this budget, and we're shredding our domestic agenda. I'm actually the only candidate in this race who is ready to call to accounting not just the Pentagon budget but the ethos behind it that drives us towards more and more war. America's place in the world can be recaptured as we work with the world community and also as we begin to address the basic needs of our people here at home. As America becomes a nation which focuses on jobs, on health care, on education, on sustainability, renewable energy systems. - Right now this country is in a "perfect storm" of sorts: increased military spending; lies which brought us into war; and nonsustainable energy policies, which became a cause of war. We are also in a perfect position, because through realizing who we are as Americans, realizing that even at this dark hour, that we have the potential to reclaim our nation. That we have the potential to literally rise to the fullness of our strength as Americans. Some of you will remember the great political philosopher, Lewis Carroll, in that wonderful political tractAlice in Wonderland, where there was a point at which little Alice was being confronted by the minions of the queen. They're marching on her. Little Alice felt that she was about to be done in. And Lewis Carroll writes about this, characterizing her fear. But then Alice gained courage, and Carroll writes that Alice suddenly grew to her full size and sweeps her hand out at these advancing cards and says, "Who cares for you! You're nothing but a pack of cards!" Alice understood what happens when we reclaim the power of our humanity. And in this moment, my fellow Americans, as we reclaim the power of our humanity, so we reclaim our nation. As we reclaim our courage, so we reclaim our democracy! As we reclaim our strength to participate in the political process so we reclaim the political process for ourselves and for future generations! Let's move forward in 2004 to create the America of our dreams! To create the America that opens up the hearts of the world! To create the America that will fill our own hearts with light and the world with greater possibilities! Thank you very much. Thank you, Eugene! Thank you! I want to hear your questions. And as you think about your questions - if any of you may be required to leave momentarily - I ask you to please go to our website at http://www.kucinich.us. This is a powerful grassroots campaign. It depends on individuals such as yourself. We're getting thousands upon thousands of people involved in this campaign every week now. And your efforts in helping us canvas this state, going door to door, making the phone calls and contacting people, helping us fundraise, will create this kind of mighty tide, this powerful force, that will be undeniable and that will be catalytic in creating a new nation. So thank you, and let's go to questions. Yes? Q. [Young hairy man asks veiled question about using industrial hemp.] A. Oh, can you use hemp? Of course. What's the issue? But let's go one step further. I was in San Francisco last month, where unfortunately the federal government chose to prosecute a doctor who was taking care of his patients. And I at that time felt it was important to speak out very strongly. As President of United States I'll do everything I can and sign an executive order that would make it possible for doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to their patients. This isn't even a close question! I mean, it's like, get over it! Okay, next question. Q. [Middle-aged woman asks question regarding his origins.] A. Ahhh! [Puts hands over mike again, says in robot alien voice:] I come from another planet. Ah, actually - the name Kucinich - my grandfather, John - over there they call it "COO chin ich," was from a place in eastern Sclavonia known as Batonya, now in what's known as Croatia. And he left there at a very young age to take a boat to Reyeka and sail to America. When he landed at Ellis Island and gave his name, they added the "h" to his name. So anytime someone tells me to "get the 'h' out of there" I always remember - [laughter] - His wife's family came from what is now known as Slovakia and they were married in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and they had about thirteen children of which my father, Frank, was one. My mother, whose name was Norris, Virginia Norris, her family - their ancestry - was from Ireland. Many from County Mayo. So coming from a family with a background from Croatia and Ireland - now you understand what my problem is. - No. - My mother was a spitfire, my dad was kind of a laid-back, low-key guy. And life at home was always interesting. And I'll tell you it is important to remember where we came from. Because in that way we connect with the story of everyone and we can identify with everyone's journey. I remember this song by Simon & Garfunkel, it begins "let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together, we've all come to look for America." This experience, where we come from, is very powerful. And it's instructive at this moment when we have leaders who are afraid of the rest of the world because we come from the rest of the world. It's who we are! WE'RE AFRAID OF OURSELVES! Yeah. We have met the enemy, as Pogo said, and he is us! And the idea of who we are as Americans is very important right now, the diversity of this country - the first motto - E Pluribus Unum - out of many, we are one. Remember who we are, America! Remember who we are. A country which embraces diversity. A country which necessarily survives on tolerance. A country where people from dozens of nations sailed to Ellis Island with a promise and a poem by Emma Lazarus. Some of you know that. It's worth thinking about because it talks about the character of America. At the base of the Statue of Liberty is written: "Give me your tired, your poor, / your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, / send these!, the tempest toss'd, to me. / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" That's a promise to people all over the world of an American which is benign, compassionate, of felicity. And I want to see that role for America reclaimed in this world. It's time to remember who we are! [applause] And! - Religion, oh yes. My own religious training is Roman Catholicism. But my religious view, my philosophy, is really based on a wholistic view of the world. I see the world as interconnected and interdependent. And so through my own religious experience I connect with the universality of all. I see all of us as one. And, see, religion is just one path out of, and to, a universal presence. Religion often becomes a thing that separates us. It becomes a vehicle by which people become alienated from one another. But in a society where we celebrate freedom of religion - our first amendment right - we can then take heart from the appreciating everyone's religion and appreciating those who don't believe. And so my administration will rely on a spiritual philosophy which embraces the power of all, the sanctity of all, and the transformative capacities of all. We have the potential to bring spiritual principles into this material world and therefore help to elevate the world and bring peace, and justice, and equality, and love, and I think that's - you know - okay, right? [laughter, followed by applause.] Yes? Q. [This middle aged man's question relates to what can we do about restoring confidence in the United Nations.] A. Well, first, pay our dues. Just last week, before the House of Representatives, I don't know why, but they added amendments to try to cut funding to the UN. And there are people who have a view of the world as America's being insulated and isolated from the world. My belief is that the advancing tide in this world is towards human unity. We feel it. We all feel it. We know it. When I talk about viewing the world holistically, as being interconnected and interdependent, that's not a revelation. We're seeing technical systems that already reflect that. We're seeing systems of communication, of transportation, systems of trade. This human intercourse that goes on is what connects us and has connected us. And with the Web increasing connects us. So any way that tries to go against that is really resisting an advancing tide. But what I hope to do as the next president is to quicken this possibility. And the one institution which exists worldwide in which to make that happen is the United Nations. How much better would it have been for the United States to have relied on UN weapons inspectors? Who could have told us what everyone knows now, which is that there were no weapons of mass destruction. As the next president I will see that the UN is fully funded and that the United States fully participates with the world community through the United Nations. Next question, right behind - Q. [Woman asks something about hindsight from 2001.] A. Well, let's talk about what could have happened. The question is: Based on hindsight, how would you have responded to September 11. One of the things I think we lost in this country after 9/11- besides all the lives in this enormous tragedy, which to this day still is a searing memory - one of the things we lost was the opportunity to connect with the rest of the world, which had opened up their hearts to America. I certainly was getting calls from all over the world, people saying "I'm so sorry this happened." People were grieving with us. And the America that could have connected with the rest of the world is the America that could have then set itself on the path towards resolving the security challenges which we face through international cooperation, police work, detective work - but not bombs. We could have done that. But let's talk some more about we could have done, because it lends itself to reflection on where we might be able to go. Another thing I think would have been useful for the American people - I mean let's face it, the country suffered great grief. We all felt it. When anyone experiences loss of that sort, we always need people to talk to. We needed a national discussion about how we felt, about what it meant. We lost that opportunity. And perhaps after this election we can go back into having a discussion about it. And you know we need to do it with compassion for ourselves, not judging our country. We can love our country and at the same time have a pretty clear view of what America could of, should of, would of - so I think it's important for America to have a period of truth and reconciliation about 9/11. I think it's important because something else happened after 9/11. I want to share this with you because it' so sad. The day after 9/11 there was a meeting in the National Security Council in which Secretary Rumsfeld said - and this was recorded in a book called Bush at War by Bob Woodward - he said that the administration could use the opportunity to go after Iraq. Now to me it's important to remember - this shows why this administration did not want a 9/11 inquiry to be pursued in a public way, because that then would have proved definitively that there was no connection between Iraq and 9/11. So, lacking that, they were able to build a case based on false information that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. So not only did we lose the opportunity to be able to have a real discussion about what actually did happen and why, but we lost the opportunity to try to heal our grief. And then there was another grief that came through - I have to share this with you as something that I experienced: after the passage of the Patriot Act, looking at what had happened in this country as we were just - going into a - an area that I didn't even recognize. - And I'm sure many of you had this same feeling: This is America? Where are they taking this country? And I was feeling a real sense of anger at first. Anger! What are you doing?! To my country! But finally there was a moment when I was just listening to music when finally the anger lifted and I realized that what was under that was grief. What I felt was grief over the direction that America was going. This country needs some healing. About 9/11. About policies in Iraq. About the direction the country's been taking with the Patriot Act. About the change in our national priorities. We need some healing. And I think that one of the things that I can do as president of the United States is to help our nation go towards that path. Compassion for all Americans, whatever their political views. Without judging our nation, whatever mistakes have been made, but realizing that as we explore this very deep territory of emotion that we can then have this lifted from us, lifted from our hearts. And enable us to make our hearts lighter and to make lighter our presence in the world. Q. [Middle Eastern woman asks a question, something about having no rights here.] A. Okay, the question is - you are a Muslim American, an Arab American, and you want to know what can be done. - First of all, may I say - Salom melika. Thank you for being here. Part of our healing is to reach out to our brothers and sisters who have a background that comes from many different Arab countries but who are good and great participants in this nation and who have been stereotyped and scapegoated, interned, subjected to the kind of treatment that reminds us of the treatment that Japanese Americans were subjected to during World War II. Yesterday I visited Seattle and I had the opportunity to go into a restaurant that had a transparent floor that enabled the visitor to look down and see the belongings of Japanese American citizens who were hiding their families in the basements of businesses in order to avoid internment. The policies of America have caused so many of our innocent Arab American brothers and sisters to come within this arc of suspicion. Have caused their families to suffer. Have created a stigma where people have to come out all the time and explain, "Well, I'm a good American!" It's insane. That's why the healing must occur in this country. A healing that enables us to embrace each other. That enables us to connect with each other. That enables us not to fear each other. So we know when we have our sister stand up here, we know that there are real practical consequences from the policies that this country is experiencing. That people in this country suffer. They're suffering spiritually, and emotionally. So let this cause, this celebration of the potential of our democracy, also be a cause of the moment when we understand that we have so much to do to feel part of this nation. And when we do that, when he can once again look at each other without fear, when we can achieve once again a nation where we are not afraid of a stranger or someone who has a different ethnicity, when we can do that, that's when we can really redefine the essence of what it means to be an American. And I think we can do that. I think these next few years will put us on the path to doing that. Thank you. Q. [Older woman makes statement about having to get her news from other sources such as The Guardian out of England. She was drowned out by the applause elicited by her statement.] A. Well that's good. - How many people in this room agree with this woman? That the media is biased? [Several hundred people in a crowd of several hundred raise their hands.] Q. [continues "when we have disinformation going out instead of knowledge, what can we do?"] A. Thank you. [More applause followed by reflective silence for Kucinich.] This is a question which comes up inevitably everywhere I go in America. There's a sense that we're not getting the truth. We're finding out. We're finding out that when the media were "imbedded" - I like that word imbedded, it's kind of a clean way of saying "in bed with" - with the administration, we understood that the opportunity for us to get a fair and impartial story was unlikely. Of course we have to know that this is not the first time this ever happened in American history. James Aronson wrote a book 30 years ago called The Press and the Cold War, which chronicled the media's odd alliance with the military and the buildup of fear in this country that helped precipitate hundreds of billions of dollars in spending during the Cold War. Mark Hertsgaard, in a book called On Bended Knee, talked about the relationship between the White House and the media in the Reagan administration giving Ronald Reagan a number of passes on serious foreign policy issues. So this is not a new matter. But what is different is we're in a climate where the concentration of media is greater than ever. We're in a climate where there are fewer alternative mass media outlets. We're in a climate where the concentration occurs where one company can own 1200 radio stations. Where one network can have control of a massive part of the country and at the same time have in its, uh, arsenal of investments, military contractors. This is a serious matter when you have media interests tangled with defense contractors. So what can we do? Let me tell you what I intend to do as the next president of the United States. I intend to have the Justice Department file suit to break up the monopolies in the media. [Loud extensive cheers] A hundred years ago! - this is not a new idea - except the media's new - a hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt understood the need to challenge the Trust of his time. And today, with the economy going the way it is, with wealth concentrating in fewer and fewer hands, corporate power being increasingly adverse to the interest of democracy, it becomes urgent to have a White House with a Justice Department that's prepared to break up the monopolies, not only in the media, but in energy and agriculture as well, among other areas. It is time! [yeah, yeah, more applause] In addition! - in addition - you know the 1934 Federal Communications Act, when it was passed establishing broadcast license fees, said that the electronic media is supposed to operate, quote: "in the public interest, convenience, and necessity," unquote. Oh how far we've come from that vision. But you know, as president of the United States, what I intend to do in an early executive order? Is to write an executive order which will require that every broadcast licensee must provide for all federal candidates free time as a condition of the license. [more cheering] Now, think about this - I've been in Congress, this is my fourth term, and before I got to Congress - I mean I actually got elected on my fifth try. [hoots of encouragement] - Oh yeah. You're looking at a person who, if nothing, is determined. [laughter] And - and let me share this with you: members of Congress - and there are many good ones, and you have one of the best here with Pete DeFazio - members of Congress, many of them spend a lot of time performing a ceremony we call "dialing for dollars." You know, it takes hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars to run Congressional campaigns. There are members who are good people, that when they get into Washington, they go right to the headquarters of respective parties and they get on the phone and they start dialing and when they hear the bells ringing they go over to the House floor and they vote. People are under enormous pressure to raise money. I mean, think about this crazy system: you raise money and, the system the way it is today, the money you get primarily is from corporate interests and you use the corporate interest money so you can get on corporate interest broadcast media. So obviously something's wrong with that system. One of the things I will do as president of the United States is begin the discussion in our communities and in our states about the need for a constitutional amendment to ban corporate money in elections. We need to reclaim our democracy! [Thunderous applause] And - AND! - this a subject I know a little bit about because my background is bachelor's and master's in speech and communications from Case Western Reserve - I've taught media related issues, studied the media - there's one other thing I want to share with you: Let's shift the discussion. No matter how inaccessible this system is - we must never lose sight of our power. This is so important. I want to share this with you. Uh, media is a word that has both Latin and Greek derivations. And in Latin the singular nominative case is "medium." We're all mediums. We all have the power of our own intellective consciousness to communicate with others. It's interesting to see when you made your statement - what's your name? - Betsy - it's interesting to see when Betsy made her statement how many of us in this room agreed. That's instructive. It's a moment worth remembering. Because what it demonstrates is - no one told us this - we sure weren't told that on tv or the radio - but we understood it to be true. Because as a community we're aware of how woefully inadequate are these corporate systems of communication. The philosopher and psychologist Jung talked about the collective and unarticluated conscious - that there exists shared aspirations that we don't always vocalize, but that we in our hearts feel are true. Resonating with the words of Emerson in his essay "Self Reliance:" he speaks of believing that what could be true for you could be true for everyone. This idea of our shared awareness and aspirations is important, so notwithstanding what the media will tell us about the social construction of our reality, we have to come to understand that we're the ones who have a say in how that reality is described. And that we're the ones that through the integrity of our own awareness and our willingness to share it with others have the ability to change this reality. And so never doubt, as Margaret Mead said, the ability of one dedicated person to make a difference. So your willingness to have this awareness of the capacity for change, of the woeful inadequacies of this system, is the beginning of the transformation. You've shown that this evening. And I'm so grateful to be present in a community of people who have this kind of powerful awareness, because it's communities such as this in Eugene, Oregon, which gives America hope. Which gives America the promise that we shall overcome. Which gives America the ability to go forward and create light in the darkness! Thank you! Eugene, Oregon! My friends, I'm being given the hook. But we'll take two more questions. I ask you to have restraint here and - yes? Q. [Jim Kness of Cottage Grove raises his white cane and starts talking about developing alternative energy systems.] A. Okay. I will do that. We need to move towards more sustainability. And the way we must do that is to stop any kind of subsidy for nonrenewable energies. That means stop the Oil Depletion Allowance. That means stop subsidizing coal. That means stop this Point Source Review program that grandfathered in old coalburning plants. That means beginning to phase out nuclear power, which is dangerous and too expensive. That means phasing in renewable energy and helping to provide incentives for it, for hydrogen, for solar, wind, and all the other technical possibilities that we have. This is vital. It's vital to the American economy. It's vital to the survival of our ecosystems. It's vital to the international policies of this government. It is implicated in everything we do as a nation. It also relates to sustainability at a local level. I mean part of this nation's economic recovery will come through making it possible to have sustainable living communities of small business who then can share their wealth with a community. That kind of a transition will only be possible as we move toward energy alternatives. I'm going to take one more question and I'd like it to be from the youngest person we have here. Yes? Q. [Young woman asks what part he plays in his own speeches. Audience laughs.] A. Wait a minute. One person asked what role do I play in writing my speeches and someone else said, "Well, we're not used to that." [more laughter] Well, did anyone notice this string in my back? [Turns around makes motion of tugging a pullcord. Then he turns back and spreads his hands in a conciliatory gesture.] I write my own speeches. Is that okay? I write my own speeches. [cheers, cheers, cheers] And - I mean if one would not put words in his or her own mouth who will put words in our own mouths? - To me, to me it's an intellectual activity, working on speeches. A year and half ago I gave a speech, "Prayer for America," which had a resonance around the country and this fall, in September or October, Nation Books will be publishing a volume of speeches that I've written. I think it's so important to be able to communicate a message and to structure a thought, because for any of us who do speeches, you understand that what remains when you communicate is that structure. It's a message, almost an interior message. And to me - to me it's a joy to have a chance to communicate with people, because in a sense it's not as if it's just my voice. All of us have this experience that through each of us works the voices of many. It's important to remember that. Through our hearts is expressed the heart of the world. Through our spirit is expressed the spirit of the world. And working with our voices, our hearts, and our spirit, we come to understand the transformative potential for this world. I'm so grateful to have a chance to share this time with you. And to let you know that each one of you truly has the potential to change this world. Each one of you has the potential not only to be president of his or her own life but to help create for this nation a presidency which truly belongs to the nation. Thank you so much. *** If readers wish to support Kucinich the time is NOW. If they want to vote for him in the primaries, they must be registered as Democrats by the end March 2004. -L.H. See Thinking the Unthinkable" A Real Person for President, Part I by Lokiko Hall *** To subscribe to "Bummers & Gummers" (the full zine in print) send your name and address plus $10 as carefully concealed cash or a check to: Bummers and Gummers Box 66 Yoncalla, OR 97499 © Copyright 2000-2004 by West by Northwest.org |
