The more I read, the more I think Kucinich is the right person for libertarian socialists to support. Wait, libertarian socialist? Click the prior links, or if you're familiar with their writings... think Noam Chomsky or Bertrand Russell (my personal favorite) (he was brilliant!) (\end flattery.sh).
So, back to Kucinich. Like all libertarians, he believes people should make their own moral choices. Ron Paul, on the other hand, does not... here is one example, and there are others.
Abortion:
Kucinich is self-described as pro-life. He believes that abortion should remain legal, thereby letting everyone come to their own moral decision on the issue -- because it is a moral issue. He thinks abortion should be minimized through good sex education.
On the other hand, Ron Paul believed first that abortion should be illegal. Since then, due to being heavily scrutinized, he has changed course and says it's a "state's issue". The point is, liberty does not vary by state. Since we have all equated liberty with morality in the US, then morality does not vary by state either.
Ok, fine. Another example?
Gay Marriage.
Ron Paul believes gay marriage should not be recognized, as it is a redefinition of marriage, and people should not "look to the government for moral guidance", whatever that means. Obviously, he is married himself, so by his own reasoning, he himself looked to the government for moral guidance. Also, technically he voted against the FMA, but this was simply because he believes Federal laws should not trump State laws. Another case of liberty/morality varying by state.
Kucinich believes the government should recognize gay marriage, and the general population can decide who to marry for themselves. Essentially this is saying, in the eyes of the government one person should be treated as any other person.
A last note on gay marriage, I think in the ideal sense the government would recognize no marriages -- if it is in fact a religious institution. I don't believe any heterosexually married people would voluntarily give up their government endorsed marriage rights -- including Kucinch and Paul. The second best approach, considering practical things, is opening up government benefits to everyone. What does the government care about the sex of the person visiting their spouse in the hospital? Inheriting money? etc. Also, I'm pretty sure Paul and Kucinich are both open to allowing churches to marry who they want, sans government impedance.
Maybe you're thinking, "Thank you, jamesia, for those two exhaustive examples... Now what does that mean to me/us?" Hey, I'm glad you asked! What this means is that Ron Paul advocates either the State or Federal government to legislate morality, whereas Kucinich believes morality should be decided by you and me. Which is libertarian, and which is your average conservative?
Finally, Ron Paul wants to eliminate most of the government. We all know this. The FDA, IRS, EPA, DoE, etc... I can't agree with any of those eliminations, except maybe the IRS. I hate paying taxes. HOWEVER, upon closer inspection of my own ideas, the reason I don't like paying taxes is because I feel like I have no control over how they're spent. If we Americans did have control -- there'd be no Iraq war. 60-70% of the population wants out of the war, so why is our money still going toward it? So, I can agree with almost none of Ron Paul's government eliminations.
Kucinich, on the other hand, is calling for complete reform. He wants universal health care and probably universal education. Why? He thinks everyone should make their own moral choices, but how can you if you're not educated and worrying about yours or your loved ones healthcare bills? Why would you care about voting if you're continually concerned that the bulk of your income goes toward paying for a debilitating illness? Can you really be expected to treat a different race equally if you've never been exposed, through education, to their views? Basically Kucinich's plan, in a nutshell, is allowing people to make their own moral judgments, but give them the tools with which to make good choices. When you think about it, this is kind of a "well, duh" idea.
That said -
On December 15th, there will be a funding bomb a la Ron Paul for Kucinich. At least pass the link on... we deserve a Constitutionalist that's not insane!
The goal is $100 x 100,000 people = $10 million
Just so this doesn't turn into a Ron Paul bash, I think we can all agree with certain of his ideals. Government reform and a return of Constitutional rights are great goals! But then, there are those other completely incomprehensible ideas of his. I am writing this diary specifically to show the underlining similarity between Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, and pointing out that Paul approaches libertarianism from the right, whereas Kucinich does from the left.
ps. sorry for the verbal diarrhea. i get wordy when excited.