These are the words of Representative Dennis Kucinich, as transcribed by me, from my digital movie of the event, last Tuesday night in Keene, NH, 1/3/08. Just in case the media didn't happen to bring you his speech...
Join me below, to begin at the beginning.
Four days from now comes the election. NH has an opportunity and you have an opportunity to take America in a decidedly new direction. In order to do that, I'm appealing to you, to start to consider, what it means when you vote courageously, when you not only stand for the courage of your convictions, but with that, you carry that with you into the voting booth and cause others to do the same. We live in a world today where people have been lulled into accepting a status quo of war and poverty, of wealth accelerating to the top, of the destruction of the global environment, of the destruction of our civil liberties, and yet in our heart of hearts we know, that there's another America waiting to be called forward, it exists in all of us. Another America waiting to be evoked, and it requires our determination, our courage, and our virtue- to call for it, name it, and set it into motion. I have seen time and time again, throughout my life, conditions where people would say, "Dennis- no way. Don't even try that." You know, I'm the first person in my family who actually went to college, and completed the college education - I'm sure it's true of many people here - that you find milestones in your life where you wonder yourself if you're going to be able to make it, but with the help of people, you get... in my political career, when I first started, as a candidate for City Council, twenty years old, people said, "Don't think so. You know, you're- you're twenty years old, what do you know? and you're running against the machine. Forget it." Well, you know, they were right the first time along. And I came back, two years later, and I won an election- everyone said, "you could never beat the ward's machine..." ...A lot of my closest friends told me that... ... But one of the secrets that I found out about life, about standing up for thing you believe in, is that you if surround yourself with people, who have a common vision, you can, sometimes, achieve outcomes, that others would never be able to achieve.
I was elected mayor of Cleveland, thirty years ago, on a promise to save the City's Municipal Electric system from a takeover [applause] by an imperial monopoly. Listen to this story. In 1976 the City Council sold the Electric system. I was told by my best friends then that there's nothing you can do. They already sold. It's a done deal. But I saw something that I knew was wrong. And I decided to get involved. And we organized a petition drive, and had hundreds of people go out, in the freezing weather [!] getting these petitions to put a referendum on the ballot, freezing the sale until the Mayor's race was over. I ran for Mayor on a promise, that if elected I would cancel the sale, and keep the People's Electric System, so they could have a chance for cheaper electricity and to control their own destiny, in that. So I got elected, and it was my- on that promise - Against the odds. The youngest person ever elected Mayor of a major American city. And I mention this to you as a backdrop.
Electric Systems- people said, 'Nothing you can do about it. You can't stop the sales.' We not only stopped the sale, but we were- but that Electric System is still in existence today: over a hundred years of service to the people, even though people had already written it off. We had a steel mill in Cleveland that [was] ready to close down, and I was able to intervene with a civic action: We saved the mill! Hospitals- that were closing down: intervened with a civic action, we changed the outcomes! Libraries that they planned to close- we saved them. Fire Stations- A Fire station- we saved it. And I say we because it was a community effort. But what I've learned from this, and what I want to share with you tonight, is that when you have a group of people, who come together, in a common endeavor, you can change the outcome. Here we are, on the threshold of an election in NH, where some are already making predictions about the way the election will turn out. Let me tell you something. I know, just from the people who are in this room tonight, that if you become very active in the next four days, and help us cover this state- this area as a state, that we can change the outcome of the NH Primary, and shock America with a Candidate who's ready to take America [applause] not just in a new direction, but to help us restrain our government! Help us take back our government! I know you can do it! Do you agree? So much of life ends up being, for all of us, running against the odds. It's long odds for somebody to know- if they're going to have a job from one day to the next. Or education. Or healthcare for their children. Peace seems like long odds... long odds these days. But we know something. We know that we have this capacity within us, to change the odds. So this isn't just about me, it's about you. It's about each person here understanding the power that we have as individuals. The power, of the human heart, to intervene in a situation and change things. Many of you have some of these experiences yourselves, I'm sure. I'm telling you, that when you apply that to national politics, the outcome can be to change America's role in the world to one - a beneficent role that rejects war as an instrument of policy. [applause] To work with the international community, and enforce international law, to work with the community to achieve the security of all nations, to take America in a new direction where we lead the way in the world community in getting rid of all nuclear weapons, getting rid of all biological weapons and chemical weapons, and signing the land mine treaty, joining the international court... this is a chance for us to rebuild our nation, and to rejoin the international community, a chance for America to be US again. An America that will be loved again. A chance for America to be respected again. An America that will show it has a moral fiber that cannot be matched again! But we have work to do. And that work begins, and not just taking a new direction in Iraq, and that direction is out [applause], but it also means, repairing the breech.
I want you to think about this. Look around you at the people who are here, because this gathering could resemble a gathering of people anywhere in the world. People who have aspirations and hopes for the future, their families, the growth of their children, for the loves of their lives, for the careers that they want, the future that they're hoping for. People in Iraq have the same...basic...aspirations... And yet, because of decisions that were made... by our leaders... since 2003, over one million innocent Iraqis were killed, in a war that was initiated by the United States. A war that was not based on the truth. Now let me tell you something. This is the moment in time, when, with all the power of our hearts, we have to reclaim who we are as a nation. We have to reclaim our sense of morality, our sense of self. Our sense of connection with our fellow man and fellow woman. We have to reclaim our capacity for compassion, for putting ourselves in the other person's... positions. When we do this, we will be ready to establish America in a new way. In a way that not only resonates with the hopes upon which this country was founded, but it resonates with the highest principles of humanity. The rights that all people have- not just Americans, but that all people have. For Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness, the self-evident truths that our founders spoke of, that Jefferson wrote about. We have the chance to be a living testament to that. But we're going to have to repair the breech that has been created in our name. And we CAN do this. This is not something that is irreparable. It will require leadership. It will require a President who is willing to go to the Arab world and the Muslim world, and to say... we understand... the grievous... act committed against you. And we want to take the power of our hearts and use it to transform our relationship. That we want to rebuild our connections with you. That we understand how you've suffered, and we've suffered too. But we know that we can work together to create this new world. With this understanding, and with a leader that's ready to do this, America can be in a position where we become safer, where we become more secure, where we become loved again by the world community, and respected again. America never had to assert its strength. The whole world knows about our military strength. But the whole world under a Kucinch administration will learn about our moral strength. Will learn about our understanding and compassion for people everywhere. Will learn about leaders who will reach out to the world community and say that we have reached the point in human history where we must beat our swords into ploughshares, our spears into pruning hooks, that nation shall no longer make war upon nation, that this is a moment in time when we really have the responsibility to reach out in brotherhood and sisterhood of all people. Just as that song, America the Beautiful, evokes: America, 'crown thy good with brotherhood (and sisterhood), from sea to shining sea.' You can feel that kind of America. It's not just the America of some mythic past. It's an America that's waiting to be reborn. Through the power of our intentions. To re-establish ourselves in a way that's consistent with our highest ideals. Yes! I'm an Idealist. But I think that those ideals are the kind of stars we can sail by and create a new nation, if we're not locked into the cynicism, or the status quo, which says that war is inevitable, which says that nuclear exchange against nations is inevitable, that terrorist attacks are inevitable. A few days ago, we gathered together in our communities, in a celebration of the passage of time: one year. I want you to go back, just a few years, to the beginning of the millenium, under our calendar, where we came to a common sense of humanity. We saw all over the world this excitement... about experiencing the joy of- not just the passage of time, but of the connections with each other. In city after city, in country after country, we saw this joyous celebration of humanity and I tell you that is our home! [applause] Our home is not only to be found in the burning and dying embers of 9/11, but we have to create a new America, and that new America comes from the heart, it comes from compassion, it comes from love, it comes from vision, it comes from wisdom, it comes from love of country, and we will raise this country up once again and we will reclaim this country, and its Constitution, and our civil liberties, and our right to live in peace, and our right to economic prosperity, Oh, I'm ready America, and New Hampshire, and if you are ready, let's go forward, and let's create the world we know is possible in our hearts and have the courage to go forth and do it!