Dennis Kucinich - 2008 Presidential Candidate

Dennis Kucinich is far from your ordinary Democratic candidate for president in the 2008 run for that office. In fact, he's far from your ordinary politician. Actually, Dennis Kucinich is far from your ordinary citizen of the world. Kucinich and his ideas - and ideals - have been embraced by many of America's youngest voters and his candidacy has broad coverage as a regular fixture on myspace.com and U-tube. He's attracting the attention of older voters too, though, and the attention of those who are ready for a positive change in our country. But who is this man and what makes him stand out from the pack?

Dennis Kucinich was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1946. The eldest of seven children, his family moved repeatedly throughout his childhood and lived on two separate occasions out of their car. His childhood experiences obviously defined his adulthood, and the ruling principles of his life. Dennis Kucinich seems like a man stuck in the sixties. The truth is he's simply never forgotten the principles and values so many of us embraced in that decade.

One only needs to see the list of congressional committees on which he serves and how he conducts his personal life to know he is "the real deal." Dennis Kucinich is the 2008 presidential candidate who most closely reflects my political and spiritual beliefs. Dennis Kucinich and his ideas can be rather frightening to some folks, though. Any time the status quo is challenged, risk in involved. Can he be elected? Stranger things have happened. I believe more and more of us are tired of the status quo, and are ready for a change.

Dennis Kucinich is a member of the Education & Labor Committee and the Committee for Oversight and Government Reform. Kucinich chairs the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy and is a member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. Other subcommittees of which Dennis Kucinich is a member include Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia and Healthy Families and Communities

According to his responses to questions posed by Project Vote Smart, Dennis Kucinich supports a universal health care program that guarantees coverage to all Americans, regardless of income. In addition to universal health coverage, Kucinich indicated his support of automatic enrollment of children in federal health care programs such as CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) and Medicaid in the same questionnaire.

Dennis Kucinich is the only Democrat who voted against the war in Iraq. One of the first orders of business for Kucinich as president would be to withdraw troops from Iraq. He has an exit strategy and believes it needs to be implemented immediately. Another top priority would be to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace. On Kucinich's myspace.compage, he indicates establishing this department would send a message that we must make non-violence an organizing principle within our society.

Dennis Kucinich is the 2003 recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award. It is clear he was deserving of such an award. Later, in a July 18, 2006 speech to the House of Representatives, Dennis Kucinich concluded,

"Our war on terror has become a war of errors as we blindly exercise our capacity for war making. We have not yet begun to explore our capacity for peacemaking, so we are reduced to a predatory voyeurism: creating war, watching war, being aghast at war, impotent to stop ourselves. We are the most powerful nation, but even we do not have to power to reserve for ourselves, or to grant to our allies, an exemption from the laws of cause and effect. The fate of the world lies in the balance at this time. Until we consciously choose peace over war, life over death, love over hate -- the balance is tipping toward mutually assured destruction. Please... let us reconsider our actions."

Dennis Kucinich is one of the few members of Congress who is a vegan and he claims this way of eating has not afforded him better health, but has deepened his belief in the sacredness of all species. Based on the number of friends on the various Dennis Kucinich for President myspace.com pages, he must not be the only one who believes there is an argument for peace and that we all have a social responsibility to care for each other and our world.

Will Dennis Kucinich be the next President of the United States? I don't think so, but I like to dream about a country with a leader who "live[s] each day with a grateful heart and a desire to be of service to humanity."