This email came to Kucinich Supporters this morning on the eve of the March 20th protests in which Dennis will be addressing millions of anti-war rally folks in NYC. See the below letter for the fight for the platform of the DNC.
Dear Friends,
We are very aware that there are many people who have worked with our campaign who feel that we must not lose sight of the fact that our work together is based in a movement that seeks to make significant change in our world. Please be assured that those of us working at the center of this campaign have not lost sight of this fact. Please also be aware that when we began this journey together, we made a commitment, as did the candidate we all so enthusiastically support, to see this process all the way through to the convention in Boston in July. There are still states which have not yet had their primaries and caucuses and in full support of our democratic process, we feel it is essential that their voices be heard.
The movement that we all support and will continue to give our energy to for many years into the future is growing within our campaign and we will nurture and support this as we remain steadfast in our promise to see the nominating process through to completion. It is essential if the movement is to survive that we make certain that the principles that form its base are fully heard at the democratic convention.
Bobby Kennedy liked to quote George Bernard Shaw, "Some look at things as they are, and say 'why'? We choose to dream of things that never were, and we say, 'why not.'" That is what this campaign is about, our dream of things that never were and our enduring commitment to ask, "Why not?"
Granted John Kerry has enough delegates to be the nominee at the convention in July, but we are still in the race. We are not going anywhere. We are here to stay. Why you might ask? There may be unity around a nominee. But there is yet to be unity around the message and character of the platform - the soul of the Democratic Party.
This presidential campaign is about more than just choosing a nominee. This campaign is about standing up for what the Democratic Party can be in the opening decades of the 21st Century. The ideals that Dennis Kucinich continues to articulate in this campaign are, in fact, the ideals of the Democratic Party.
His voice, our voices, must continue to be heard if we are to truly transform the political process, the Democratic Party, and the future of our human family. The possibility to affect significant change has been demonstrated a number of times by individuals in politics in the United States of America.
Jesse Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988 and the movement that emerged, the Rainbow Push Coalition, continues to this day to have significant influence on civil rights in our country.
Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota and Bobby Kennedy of New York ran for president in 1968. Both played roles in that epochal decade that has so shaped subsequent American history, an era that birthed the progressive movement.
Norman Thomas and Eugene Debs ran over and over for president in the 1910s and 1920s. They advocated rights and protections for working women and men, a government role in health care and social security and the economy, as well as some limitations on the rapacious inequities of the unregulated free market. And in 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted the Debs/Thomas agenda. Virtually all their ideas came to fruition through the movement known as the New Deal.
In the 1800s at the trial of Susan B. Anthony, the judge penned his decision before hearing the case, discharged the jury, found Anthony guilty of voting illegally, fined her $100, and then made the mistake of asking her if she had anything to say.
"Yes, your honor," seethed Anthony, "I have many things to say; for in your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled under foot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my sex, are, by your honor's verdict, doomed to political subjection under this, so-called, form of government."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were in their time the preeminent advocates of women's rights, especially women's right to vote. Active as reformers principally in the United States, Stanton and Anthony also gained an international following. Yet another movement.
The unwillingness of individuals throughout the history of this country to be silenced in the face of what many might say is the inevitability of the outcome has been critical to the emergence and success of movements that have birthed significant change.
So it is with Dennis Kucinich. He is unwilling to say that war is inevitable. He is unwilling to say that it is not possible for everyone to have adequate health care. He is unwilling to say that it is not possible to create conditions that support economic justice and prosperity for all. And we stand with him in our determination to make certain that his voice is heard.
We invite you to continue to work with us and support this campaign as we stand firm in our commitment to complete the primary and caucus season, state by state, as we come together in Boston at the Democratic Convention, and as we work together to continue to build this movement. The movement that will make non-violence the organizing principle for the human family; the movement that will ensure that all people will have the equal opportunity to achieve their highest potential; the movement that will unite our world.
It will take all of us contributing our time, efforts and money to bring this to fruition. Please take a moment to volunteer and to send a contribution as we continue the journey through this historic campaign.
In the Spirit of Peace,
Dot
Dorothy J. Maver
National Campaign Manager
Dennis John Kucinich
Campaign for President
www.kucinich.us