Buzzflash has an interview with Dennis Kucinich. It's a good one, for those who wish to read what he has to say.
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/01/int04002.html(Mods, I donlt think copyright is an issue here, so I'm uncluding a few more paragraphs.)
EXCERPT:
BuzzFlash: People have branded you as an idealist whereas many of your supporters would say that you're actually quite pragmatic. For example, giving people universal health care is very practical considering emergency room costs and profits given to HMO's, insurance and pharmaceutical companies. How do you respond when people brand you as an idealist?
Rep. Kucinich: Well it's true, I am an idealist. But why should we assume that our ideals do not have a practical basis? I'm idealistic about peace. But what could be more impractical than war – particularly this war in Iraq? I support health care for all. It's an ideal, but it's very practical too because there's so many people without health care today because of a for-profit system.
We could turn this around and say that war is cynical, and that war profiteering is cynical, that unemployment is cynical, and all these things lead to despair. My candidacy is about a celebration of hope. It's about an end to cynicism, an end of despair, an end to fear and the beginning of hope. We have to have confidence in the authenticity of our ideals. We have to have confidence that we can make those ideals part of the life of our nation.
What did our fathers do except to take an ideal of independence, and liberty, and justice, and make it into a Constitution? But we're forgetting the basis by which our nation was formed. We're forgetting the cause of nationhood, which is to create a more perfect union. And what was the Preamble of the Constitution except a recitation of ideals? What was the Declaration of Independence except a statement of ideals? What's the Constitution about except a structure that reflects and embodies our ideals? So, yes, I'm an idealistic person. I think the ideal of the United States as a nation among nations, a nation that stands for liberty and justice is something that we can live and fight for. And that's what my Presidency will be about. It will be about a living testament to the ideals for social and economic justice.
BuzzFlash: You stand in contrast to many other candidates in your position on free trade and jobs. Could you tell our readers what your position is on NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and free trade, and how your presidency would create more American jobs and keep jobs here at home?
Rep. Kucinich: We have to recognize that we've lost 3 million jobs since July of the year 2000 and there are several reasons why. NAFTA and the WTO (World Trade Organization) were chief among them. NAFTA has produced a system that enables corporations to set lower wages in other countries and make a profit by moving jobs out of this country - into Mexico in particular - and where they pay Mexican workers even less. And the WTO was set up to facilitate global trade without regard to workers' rights and human rights, and environmental quality principles.
I stand for global commerce, but global commerce that's based on morality, based on the rights of workers to organize, to bargain collectively, to strike, to have decent wages, to have a safe workplace, and to have a secure retirement. It's based on human rights, on protecting people from being exploited, on prohibitions on slave labor, child labor and prison labor. My trade policies will be based on protecting the environment, protecting the quality of our air and our water and our land. Until we cancel NAFTA and the WTO, and return to bilateral trade, conditions on workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles will never be able to reclaim the essence of morality in our commerce because global corporations are setting the rules. And they're setting the rules without regard to the interest of people or countries. And that's why my presidency will return to bilateral trade, where we'll set the conditions. And this way, we can elevate the cause of workers not only in this country but everywhere.
We can also create jobs by moving quickly to rebuild America with a WPA-type program – the sort that Franklin Roosevelt sponsored. We can rebuild our cities, our suburbs, and our rural areas. We can build new water systems and sewer systems, and bridges and roads and ports. We can create conditions where we can put millions of people back to work. We can rebuild America and help create investments for business. My plan to build new technologies to help create the jobs of the 21st Century in energy and the environment will help lead to a more sustainable America. And my plan to help create universal, single-payer health care will create not only more jobs, but we will have a healthier America and a healthier workforce. So there's so many ways in which we can restore America's economic vitality.
We must end the tax cuts that are going to people in the top brackets. We have to end this war in Iraq, which is sapping our national economic vitality. We have to end our commitment to the Pentagon, with higher and higher amounts of our resources going for this war machine. We can be safe as a nation, but we have to also take care of our basic concerns of health, education, jobs, and our veterans. That's what I stand for.
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