Why I’m still voting for Dennis Kucinich
Here is frequent commenter Dennis O’Brien and his take on why he is Still voting for Dennis Kucinich
If you believe that America is strong when the middle class is strong, then Dennis Kucinich must receive your vote for President. Kucinich, and only Kucinich, has the experience and plans needed to close the gap between rich and poor.
Dennis Kucinich understands the struggles of the poor and working classes because Dennis Kucinich grew up poor. When they could, both his parents worked. Yet they were constantly being evicted. They even lived in their car from time to time; a feat made all the more amazing considering the family totaled nine. Kucinich scrubbed floors in Catholic schools to pay the tuition for his siblings and himself. He scalped tickets to Cleveland Baron hockey games and shined shoes to help his parents with money. He was a caddy, an orderly, a copy boy, and a full time college student when he first ran for city council in Cleveland at the age of 21. He lost that election and shortly thereafter almost lost his life, even having his last rites given in the hospital during a devastating bout with Crohn’s disease. There is not a candidate out there that can relate better to struggling families than Dennis Kucinich. If you believe this matters, you must vote for Kucinich.
Of course, experience without wisdom means nothing. However, Dennis Kucinich has not forgotten his past, and he uses his experience to craft specific proposals to help all Americans, especially those in most need. Kucinich’s health care plan (H.R. 676) establishes Medicare for All. This single payer, not for profit system allows for all Americans to be insured. He lived the struggle of no health insurance, and wants to make sure that the 46 million Americans without coverage are able to live long and healthy lives. Working class Americans can not join the middle class and achieve the American dream as long as one illness can wipe them out financially. If you believe that our health care system needs to be overhauled to serve us instead of its pharmaceutical masters, you must vote for Kucinich.
Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate that has consistently voted against war. This includes invasions AND appropriations. Kucinich supports the troops by trying to bring them home. Not by voting money to Iraq and saying they need to be equipped. He knows this is politically unpopular. These other candidates enable Bush to continue a war that Kucinich said from the beginning was illegal. He knows the cost of war is needlessly high, in lives and money. Kucinich authored House Resolution 1234 ‘to end the United States occupation of Iraq immediately.’ This resolution outlines a plan to do so, with a specific time frame. If you know that the War in Iraq is unjust and too costly to continue and if you believe in principle over politics, you must vote for Kucinich.
Dennis Kucinich needs your vote to bring America back to its working class roots. Our government once stood for protecting the little guy. Kucinich is the only candidate who knows and remembers what is to be the little guy. From opposing the war in Iraq to universal not for profit, Kucinich has specific plans to get our country back on the right track.
It’s one thing to take a stand when there’s not much at stake. I do that sometimes in presidential general elections, knowing that New York’s electoral votes will go to the Democrat no matter what.
But in an election like tomorrow’s, when there’s a real chance that every vote will matter and when there’s something real at stake, I can’t imagine using my vote on a candidate who, honorable and admirable though he may be, has already dropped out of the race and has no chance of being our next president.
If you really support Kucinich, better to throw a few bucks at his Congressional re-election campaign. He stands a chance of losing his seat this fall, and that would truly be a shame.
I have a difficult time believing Senator Clinton will not carry NY in double digits. Knowing that, a principled vote of displeasure sounds like a good idea to me.
If this were a winner-take-all situation, as it is with electoral votes in November, I’d agree with you. But it’s not. And in a race that won’t be settled after Tuesday, I’d rather use my vote to count - potentially adding to Obama’s delegate count against Clinton - than to stand on principle so the candidate I’d really have liked can register 0.62% instead of 0.61% when the night is over.
And looking at the national polling and Obama’s momentum, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Clinton’s lead is held to the low single digits tomorrow in NY. That’s what I’ll be using my vote to try to accomplish, anyway.
Go ahead and pull the lever for Kucinich. I did it for Dean in 2004 so I completely understand. But don’t waste any of your other votes….by this I mean delegates. There are no delegates to vote for on the Kucinich line, so why not vote the the Obama delegates???
MAKE EVERY VOTE COUNT!
There seems to be a misunderstanding here about how the process works.
Yes, you cast votes for delegates - BUT - and this is a big but - the only vote you cast that really matters is the one for the candidate. It’s THAT vote, and no other, that determines how many delegates will be awarded, in a complicated proportional system that’s based partially on statewide vote totals and partially on the vote total in your congressional district.
If I understand it correctly, the votes you cast for delegates only determine which of the delegates pledged to a specific candidate get to represent you at the convention. But they don’t actually determine how many delegates go from which candidate’s camp.
So voting for Kucinich and a bunch of Obama delegates is still, essentially, throwing away a vote. The votes you cast for Obama delegates don’t ad to the overall Obama delegate total.
Make sense now?
i agree that clinton will clean up. i have not decided what delegates to vote for. only ones for rochester for sure, but to whom they are committed, i don’t know. and i have sent money to the dk congress campaign. that primary is march 4, for interested parties.
Thanks Dennis