Half the world's population lives on less than two dollars a day. In 2003, 10.6 million children died before they reached the age of five. Without hope and stricken by the AIDS pandemic, religious strife and no opportunity for an education; desperate poverty is a fact of everyday life for the majority of the world's people. It manifests itself in war, terror and genocide over scarce resources, hopelessness and intolerance. Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich will make it a national priority to fight poverty worldwide. He understands that the path to a safe, strong America is through peace, tolerance and committing our nation to eradicating the root causes of global poverty.
Dennis Kucinich on Poverty:
“America is losing its way at home and in the world. We have no money to rebuild America's cities, but we have money to blow up cities in Iraq. No money to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless in America, but money to rain death, destruction, and starvation on Iraq.
Once again, the hopes of people of two nations are being smashed by weapons in the name of eliminating weapons. Let us abolish weapons of mass destruction at home. I am from the inner city. I have inspected these weapons.
- Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction.
- Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction.
- Hunger is a weapon of mass destruction.
- Poor health care is a weapon of mass destruction.
- Poor education is a weapon of mass destruction.
- Discrimination is a weapon of mass destruction.
Let us abolish such weapons of mass destruction here at home. Eight and a half million Americans are unemployed.
Bankruptcies are up. The number of uninsured without health care is up. The price of prescription drugs is up. Poverty is up. Crime is up. Homelessness is up. Hopelessness is up. Fear is up. Let us use the trillion dollars which some would cast upon Iraq in bombs and warring troops, instead for the restoration of the American dream, to rebuild our economy, to rebuild our cities and to expand opportunities for all.
Those who say we can have guns and butter do not know the cost of guns and do not know the bread you would put your butter on is being stolen. America may spend over a trillion dollars for war in Iraq. America can give a trillion dollar tax cut to the rich, spend a trillion dollars to put weapons in space, but not a dime more for temporary assistance to needy families.
I believe the American people are people of strength, wisdom, and courage. They have a right to expect their government to be truly representative! It is time to say stop this war. It is time to recognize that the terror we visit on the people of Iraq will bring terror to our own people. Bring our troops home.
Come home, America. Come home and fix your broken streets and mend your broken dreams. Come home and rebuild your cities and create full employment, put millions who are unemployed back to work. Come home and establish a living wage, let workers share the wealth they create. Come home and provide affordable housing. Come home and provide single-payer, guaranteed health care for the 41 million Americans who suffer illness with no relief. Come home, America. Come home and provide free public college for all who aspire to attend. Come home and act affirmatively to make sure that all opportunities are afforded to all Americans.”
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Comments: 33
Kucinich has all these great plans, but he also wants to limit free speech and restrict or ban gun ownership, he is anti-business, and is pro-amnesty for illegal, criminal immigrants. He wants to leave Iraq and does not care about the consequences. He is a loony.
But I will admit that he is one of the few people in Congress who actually believes what he says. He has voted against funding Iraq every time, and the US would have withdrawn a long time ago had the rest of his "anti-war" democratic friends in Congress voted with him. I dont like the man at all, but I can sort of respect him for practicing what he preaches.
Kucinich's plan for Iraq has always taken into consideration that country's future. Yes, Kucinich would seek to begin the withdrawal of American troops once elected. But he has always said that he would work to replace our troops with an international force of peace keepers, ideally led by the United Nations.
Even the Bush administration had originally hoped that U.S. forces would be replaced by an international force soon after Saddam was removed from power. They realized that the initial good will towards U.S. forces would wear off in time, and that U.N. leadership and the involvement of peace keepers from Arab states would be key in terms of bringing stability to Iraq. Of course that option is currently off the table because Bush was too impatient and invaded Iraq without U.N. support.
But under a new president, the U.N. and the international community may be willing to help. The U.S. should continue to help finance the rebuilding of Iraq, and Kucinich has said that he will do just that as president. The vast majority of the money we have spent in Iraq has been spent on military operations - not rebuilding the Iraq's shattered economy & infrastructure. With international help we can bring the troops home, provide security in Iraq through peace keeping forces provided by neutral nations, and fund efforts that will actually begin to rebuild Iraq. And it will cost tens of billions of dollars less per a year than we are currently spending on Iraq.
The alternative: Continue to spend $100 billion plus per year on an occupation that has failed to provide stability or security in Iraq. Allow Iraq's economy to sink further into oblivion, thus further fueling the insurgency. Ensure that Iraq remains the gathering place of anti-American militants from around the globe. Sounds like bad plan to me.
Notice again no Dem candidate has any plan for the money being spent in Iraq to be returned to the taxpayer, instead they are advocating numerous new ways to spend it here and gain votes. The whole affair is sad and worse is that those advocating spending increases here do not care a whit for the taxpayers forking over the funds.
You wrote a good article and thanks for letting us know , what he is all about. As for me, I am not interested in the Dems stratagy of raising the taxes. I feel we are taxed to much now.
I find it hard to believe how poorly informed most people are about our nation's welfare system. Having spent time working as a public servant, I can assure you that concerns about government "handouts"are grossly over blown. If anything what angers most people applying for benefits - most of whom have worked hard their entire lives and are hesitant to ask for help when they need it - is the mountains of paperwork that stalls access to federal benefits. Paper work that was created to prevent fraud.
What most Americans fail to realize is that most of the administrative costs associated with "welfare" stems from the need to employ large numbers of civil servants to process such paperwork. Is fraud a danger? Certainly. But fraud costs taxpayers far less each year than employing so many people to process the "red tape" associated with collecting federal benefits. So make no mistake, it is the paranoid view of welfare advocated by the right that is really increasing your tax burden.
Welfare is not just a "hand out". Most people have paid taxes for many years, so in essence they are just using the system that they helped finance. These programs were set up to help people in a time of need. We, as citizens, pay for them. And they should be here when we need them. People get hurt or sick. Business close. Many factors beyond our control influence our economic lives.
As far as a 40 year war on poverty, as suggested by Charles, one can only laugh and say, "Where is that happening?" Certainly not in the U.S., where the right has waged a long war against every program designed to help U.S. citizens during tough times. Even on the Democratic side of the aisle, politicians talk about helping the Middle Class, not the poor. Poverty has been forgotten in America. It is a sad state of affairs.
The simple fact of the matter is that there are many ways to reduce taxes for the average family. Will that ever happen under a Republican president or a centrist Democrat? No. Cutting funding for education or for other social programs that benefit every American is no solution. What we can do is cut military spending by making intelligent decisions about what we need and don't need to maintain our national security.
For decades the government has contributed to our economy by investing in private firms via the Pentagon. The myth that has come out of that tactic is that military spending is the only way to keep the American technology machine rolling. But the government could invest some of that Pentagon bound money in projects aimed at creating renewable energy sources, or in improving our nation's deteriorating infrastructure. That would create jobs and improve our economy.
Imagine a government that benefits every American. That is the Kucinich vision.
Question do you think everyone should go to College?
The problem is if everyone goes to college than they are no better of than when everyone graduates from high school. The bar would be pushed higher and the seperating point would be those with Master of Doctorate degrees. It is a vicious cycle.
Second, how does he pay for all this? It is great if the federal government pays for everything, but you dont get it for free people will be paying in taxes. This country was founded as a free country and I dont see how you can just say higher taxes because that takes away freedom. It is not the job of the fedreal government to provide these fuctions look at the constitution.
Anyway, Kucinich does want to make America a socialist country. What he wants is completly un-American, like what Michale Moore wants. He wants to limit free speech, restrict/ban gun ownership, raise taxes, promote anmesty, multi-cultrualism, and other things that will erode this country. He also wants to withdraw from Iraq before the job is done, and that idiotic.
A lot of the things that Kucinich wants are the very things that have made Europe such a wreck. Even Hilary and Obama and Edwards are not that radical. Hell, I would vote for them before Kucinich. But the great thing about Democracy is that you can support anyone you want. To all you Kucinich supporters, good luck, because God knows you will really need it.
Excellent youtube clip!!
Roll down the windows to that Chick Car you are driving. You are farting way too much and the intestinal pollution is affecting your brain.
Welcome back buddy.
We left looking losers still love ya.
Your car is the least of your worries. The mind-rot should be first on your agenda. However, I'm sure you'll continue to spout the hatred that we've all come to expect and laugh at.
Don - You had it right with your self-denegrating 'loser' comment. Keep beating yourself up over it.....lol.
Stick with the loser moniker - it fits.
Think about the opportunities out there for college students. Say you have one student whose parents covered the cost of tuition and related expenses. This student is free to pursue unpaid internships and volunteer opportunities that will provide them with valuable real world experience when it comes time to find a job. Another student is paying their own way. They have to work full time at a local restaurant to pay for school and rent, and have no free time or cannot afford to pursue the meaningful but unpaid opportunities their wealthier peers can enjoy. Plus when the graduate they have accumulated tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt. Not exactly an even playing ground.
Education benefits everyone. Employers are better off then they have well educated employees. America is better off when voters are well educated. High education provides students with professional skills - but is also makes them good citizens (or at least it should).
I actually think Kucinich has a few good ideas. Where I object is how he intends to pay for them. He has stated on numerous occasions that he thinks the rich pay too little in taxes, and he wants to raise the taxes of that group to pay for his new programs. I completely disagree with that plan. The top 10% of all U.S. income earners pay 86% of all taxes paid. The lowest 50% of U.S. income earners pay only 3% of the total of all income taxes. Anyone with a brain can see that the rich are funding everything. Why heap on more taxes? Is it just popular to dog-pile the rich, even though everyone knows it isn't equitable or reasonable to do so?
Y'all crack me up! Keep up the good work so I don't have to look at the Sunday funnies.
I can just read these amazing comments.