Is There Any Good News? A Meeting with Dennis Kucinich

Phil Polizatto, WWH – Congressman Kucinich arrived on August 20th precisely on time at the UCC Bethany Church in Seattle. His vehicle was the smallest car Chevy makes. He wore casual clothes and had no entourage. He is unassuming, very approachable, and if you call him Congressman Kucinich, he would readily say “Just call me Dennis.” He was not there as a candidate, but simply at the request of Rebuilding the Dream, a grass roots offshoot of MoveOn.org. There were no other Washington State or Seattle politicians present… just Dennis and perhaps 100 people. I was lucky enough to be one of them.

The videos below capture the first 20+ minutes of this gathering. He spent no more than two minutes on an introduction before requesting the first question. Too bad I didn’t have more memory in my camera, because he answered questions for an hour and a half, interspersed with jokes, anecdotes, stories of his childhood, and the chronic disease that led him to forfeit “western” medicine in favor of veganism, herbal and traditional Chinese medicine. What I did not capture in a video, I have transcribed from my digital recorder. Since he was not one to waste time, nor shall I.

Q. How would you create jobs?

A. Among other things I would propose a WGA, Works Green Administration, a la the WPA of Roosevelt. “Take NASA for starters. Take their engineering, design and scientific abilities and put them to work to create vibrant solar and wind technologies. Currently we have a carbon based economy dependent on extractive technologies which jacks electric prices to the sky through utility monopolies.”

Under the auspices of the Federal Government, these scientists and engineers could be designing green technologies, installation methods, grid designs, etc, and sell them to the private sector for manufacturing, distributing and implementing. This alone would create many, many jobs. Solar, wind, micro technologies, and efficient storage of that energy… “We could start a technological boom… we could move into a new energy age where we have cheaper electricity and bring down our carbon footprint that is looming so large with respect to our global climate. America’s inventive genius has not died but the capacity to call it forward needs to be strengthened.”

Q. Will job creation determine the outcome of the next election?

A. “As the economy continues to drop from Main Street, people won’t vote. When people have a job they have an investment in what happens. But when they are marginalized, struggling to make ends meet, don’t have a roof over their head, no health care, retirement shattered…people can end up with other things on their minds real quickly.

“This is all about placating Wall Street and about Wall Street calling the shots in our economy. If the unemployment rate continues as it has, and I expect it will for a while, people may look for something different. We are in real decline here which will affect Medicare and Social Security which was put into the (debt ceiling) negotiations. He (Obama) didn’t have to do that. You want to solve Medicare’s problems? Have Medicare for all and take the profit out of health care. There is no problem with Social Security. Maybe by 2032 we will need to deal with it, but in 2011, there is no need.”

Q. Given the profound impact of the financialization of our economy, what is your advice for public education and organizing in relationship to this, especially with the overlap of a struggling economy and corporate personhood?

A. (Sarcastically) “Corporations are people, too! They are people who do not pay their taxes, who pollute the air and water, kill people with bad products… but they don’t go to jail. They just make money. They figured out how to make money without actually doing any work. What a punishment! They didn’t reinvest the money in industry but in financial products. They made money by creating exotic financial products, and then invested their money, thanks in part to NAFTA, WTO, and GATT overseas. We have lost 5.2 million jobs just because of globalized trade agreements.

“We have seen our steel, shipping, manufacturing, automotive and aerospace industries deteriorate. We have to build our industrial economy as we are rebuilding our infrastructure, including rapid transit and new green industries. These are things not only vital to people and jobs, but to our national security as well. This is vital to our future as a nation.

“We still have banks ‘too big too fail.’ When more regulation is warranted, we see a push for more deregulation. Our position as a country has to emphasize making things again, has to challenge this finance economy, has to regulate it, has to tax it and make sure these businesses pay their fare share, has to stop these big companies from off-shoring their profits, and has to demand their be work for the people of this country.”

Q. Is this the Congress or the Board of Goldman Sachs? How do we redesign the banking system in this country?

A. “First thing is to take the Federal Reserve, now the dominion of private banking, and put it under the Treasury. That would stop the Federal Reserve from implementing policies that are good for big business and banks, but not for the country or the American people. It would enable the government to exert more discipline over banks which invest in financial products that we, the people, must indemnify while being exposed to their bad investments. We have to end this system. We also have to break up the big monopolies in banking. We need smaller banks that are invested in their communities. Under the Recovery Act, big banks were supposed to invest in local communities. Instead they took the communities’ money and invested it abroad. We must gain control over banks and how they reinvest or use their resources. We should take a cue from North Dakota which has created state banks.”

Q. Is there any good news?

A. “No!” (Long pause… sings first line of “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,”… another long pause.) “I am an optimist, but it is not bad to be shorn of one’s illusions. We need to see the world as it is. And after we see the world as it is, ask ‘How are we going to change it?’ We can talk about dreams, but dreams have to be put into action. We can talk about hope and faith, but hope and faith have to be followed by good works. As bad as this situation is, yes, we can change it, but it takes mass action at this point. Look at the non-violent uprisings and change in Tunisia and Egypt. Well, we can do that too. If we did that across the country, the smugness of Washington would disappear. Watch what would happen if people began amassing to demand peace, to demand single payer not-for-profit health care, to demand retirement security. Our inheritance is still this ability to create a more perfect union. That was not static history, frozen amber-like, but a living testament to our capacity to change things.

“Just as it took a revolution some 237 years ago, it’s an evolution that we need now. It is time to go out in groups, large groups, which has the potential to change things. Look at the Civil Rights movement. That had tremendous impact. We can still do that!”

Q. With a corporate controlled media how do we avoid being marginalized? Do you think our disenfranchisement is collateral damage to the corporate pursuit of wealth or is it actually a part of the new business model?

A. “The airwaves, just like the Federal Reserve, have been privatized, though through the Federal Communications Act of 1934, the electronic airwaves were declared to exist for the people and had to function with three criteria: in the public interest, convenience, and accessibility. There was no call for private media then. There was a call for the public, which owns the airwaves, to be able to provide franchises for those airwaves in an agreement that in exchange for the franchise, a corporation must show it had a public purpose. That public purpose is gone. Instead what we have are airwaves that belong to corporations to serve their own corporate interests. There is a horizontal and vertical integration of media, entertainment, energy issues, and war machines. Look at GE, NBC, and Raytheon. We have to break up monopolies in the media. If someone wants to own a media outlet, they cannot at the same time be in the business of making weapons. We must break up the monopolies of corporations which own newspapers, radio stations and TV stations and get rid of market concentration.

“Each of us is a medium. Each of us has the capability of getting the word out. Don’t sell yourselves short. When people challenged the governments in Tunisia and Egypt, they did not have control of the media to do that. They saw themselves and they became visible to each other. It was Jung’s collective articulated consciousness which became a consciousness of awareness and a demand for change. So we don’t sell ourselves short because of the media. At the same time, we must impose demands of the media that they present a variety of viewpoints, that they give people time on the air, and federal candidates should have free air time and not have to buy it.

“The disenfranchisement of people is absolutely an intentional result of corporations. We have been told that government must be run as a business. But government is a service. If it were to be run like a business, it would end up privatizing these services and they will have to be for profit. But then that is no longer government. Government is not a for-profit enterprise. This corporate group thing has so thoroughly settled into the body politic that many people do not remember what democracy is supposed to look like. We need a Constitutional Amendment that says there will only be public financing of elections. It is the corporate influence on our election process that makes it almost impossible to be able to come up with something that is in the public’s interests and this is what’s behind the move to privatize Social Security and cut benefits.

“Until we get control of government back and prevent corporations from donating to candidates in any way, shape or form, we are going to have a hell of a fight on our hands. Buckley v. Valeo said that money was equal to free speech. The more money you have, the more you can talk, right? Citizens United ruled that corporations could become directly involved in advocating for candidates, because they are “people.” To say that these are problems is an understatement. I don’t get fixated on whether this is a conspiracy or not, I merely look at what is practically demonstrable.

“Our whole government has been turned into an engine that takes the wealth from the mass of American people and puts it into the hands of a few. You can go over every single area of our economy… health care, agricultural policies, energy policies, trade agreements, banking… it’s all about taking the wealth of the people and putting it into the hands of a few. What do you do about it? First be aware of it. Tear down the illusions. We need a massive campaign to create jobs for all. That helps break the hold. That affects trade policies and the corporate policies which get rid of jobs. It affects the government’s policies as whether to build, or not, infrastructure. It’s all connected.

“There are some progressives in Congress who share my beliefs, but for the most part you get into Congress with a lot of corporate money and then that’s the same way you stay in Congress. For the most part, I raise money from people in small amounts, union members, on the internet…but for the most part I run very low budget campaigns. In 1972, at the age of 25, I had long hair and pretty much a hippie. I ran for Congress, and lost by 1% though my opponent outspent me 20:1. So how do you do it? Wear out that shoe leather. Knock on doors, talk to people… that’s how you overcome this. And it’s not like the world is a monolith. There are many ways to get around the current situation.”

Q. How do we organize to get our voices heard?

A. Through meetings like this. Each of you talks to ten other people as a preliminary for a mass demonstration. We forget the impact we have. There’s no magic to this. The magic is inside each one of us. It’s not that we just organize; it is that we determine we are not going to take it anymore! We have to be visible. The lack of visibility is what causes all movements to be assumed, but not to have an impact. Once you’re visible, then you start to have an impact. Ten thousand Tea Partiers rallied behind the Capitol. They were visible. Democrats said look at those crazies! No. No. And now they have influence beyond their real numbers. They went to meetings. They hit the streets. They’d challenge any Congressperson they ran into. Watch what happens when a group of people decide they are going to change things. Focus on one thing, whether it is jobs, peace, or some other issue. Be visible and start to see how people take notice. That’s what happens. We need to exercise that capacity again.”

Q. What are the possibilities of a single payer health care system?

A. “It’s inevitable. For-profit health care costs us at least one third more than it would if we had a single payer system. I was the last vote for the Health Care Reform Act. I didn’t like it. I wanted a single payer, Medicare for All. But though I didn’t like it, I relented and voted for it, because I felt if we could show even minimal reform to a for-profit system, it would pave the way to the inevitable: a single payer system. Congressman Conyers and I are reintroducing a universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care bill that would not only cover allopathic medicine, but alternative health care as well.”

Q. Would you consider declaring your independence from the Democratic Party and do you see the value of a progressive challenge to President Obama in the Democratic Primary, and if so, from whom?

A. “Well, if from what I’ve said already doesn’t indicate my independence from the Democratic Party, I don’t know what will. I keep trying to bring about change from the inside. But I also see the importance of trying to bring about change from the outside. We have the stupidest debates in Congress. Congress uses the word “jobs” like a magician uses the words “abracadabra. We use the word “peace.” Abracadabra. But we haven’t created peace. We say we are against wars, but we keep on funding them. This system we have right now is failing the American people. So either there will be a shake up inside the Democratic Party, or a third party or more will emerge to challenge the status quo. Quite frankly, it would be a healthy thing for this country when that happens. It wouldn’t be an exercise in temerity to question why we should give this franchise to just two parties. I suspect that it will be six years at the outmost. If change doesn’t come quickly, there will be a challenge from outside the two-party system. We have to make it easier for more parties to enter the political process.”

Q. What are your views on instant runoff voting, fusion voting, or proportional representation?

A. “I’d say yes to any possibility. It’s very fair to start looking at new models. It’s also fair for us to start looking at abolishing the Electoral College. We need the direct election of a President, just as all members of Congress are elected. That will be part of the “greening” of our democracy.

“People tell me, ‘Dennis, you give me hope.’ No! It is YOU who give me hope. And you who give each other hope. That you meet here today gives me hope. People turn out. They care. You are aware and committed to the transformative change of which our system is still capable. That matched to action still has the potential to change everything!”

Dennis thanked the crowd. I sidled up next to him and introduced myself. He put his arm around my shoulder as I asked once more if he saw any merit at all, even if it were just to further the debate, by challenging Obama in the primaries. He lowered his head in thought, then looked at me and quietly said, “I truly do not know. I just don’t know.” But if I were to interpret his body language, I would say his answer was, “No.”

Is there any good news? Yes. And his name is Dennis Kucinich. Stay well, Congressman! Namaste.

To contact Phil or find out more: check out his website and blog For a copy of HUNGA DUNGA
Phil Polizatto – Worldwide Hippies Bureau Chief – West Coast USA, is a graduate of The School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was a feature writer for the overseas division of UPI, a copywriter for CBS, and an award-winning corporate film producer. Mr. Polizatto is a published poet and a regular contributor to Worldwide Hippies as well as a variety of other arts and literary journals. Hunga Dunga is his first published novel. He resides in the Pacific Northwest.