Analyzing Dennis Kucinich for President
Analyzing Dennis Kucinich for President
Congressman Kucinich is our second candidate to analyze. So far, the common thing we have seen is how difficult it is to do this analysis according to the criteria we have set up. That’s because each candidate has their own style and emphasis.
Kucinich has had a lot of press lately. Some of it, like his victory in various polls, is positive. Some of it, like his admission of having seen a UFO, is negative. His action to pursue the impeachment of Vice President Cheney demonstrates a significant amount of guts (some would say foolhardiness). The media likes to portray Kucinich as a flake and the UFO incident only reinforces the image. But, if he’s a flake, how did we win the polls he is winning? Are only flakes voting in these polls? Those were the questions I had when I started researching him. What I found was surprising.
One of the most impressive things about Kucinich is his upbringing. He and his family repeatedly had to live out of their car. I’ve heard Tony Robbins say that one of the things he finds fascinating is how the same circumstances will cause one person to use those circumstances as an excuse for under achievement will cause another person to use those circumstances as fuel. Kucinich clearly falls into the latter category.
Here’s why I think this gives Kucinich some appeal. Those who have had to deal with adversity in their youth are much more likely (in my experience) to be willing to confront adversity directly and to speak of circumstances in forthright language. They have experienced the idiocy of hypocrisy and have no patience with it. This is what I see in Kucinich. He is reality-based. He sees things as they are, but he is not content to see them remain as such. Further, he has ideas to change them.
That said, let’s get into our methodology.
Fiscal Prudence: Kucinich, despite his label as a liberal, (which implies tax and spend fiscal irresponsibility) is clearly aware of the nation’s debt problems. My impression is not necessarily that he would cut spending. Rather he would rearrange spending. He demonstrates in his discussion of his universal health care proposal a grasp of sources and uses of money, as well as the need to control health care expense as a means of maintaining the competitiveness of American Manufacturing.
His first target for cutting spending is in the area of National Defense. He would cut big ticket weapon systems and use the money in other areas.
Social Tolerance: Kucinich scores well in this area. His is an absolute libertarian attitude towards gay marriage. He makes a clear distinction between the religious institution of marriage and the civil institution of marriage. This clearly puts him at odds with the Christian Right and would make his Presidency of contentious one in this area.
We are seeking a candidate who will simultaneously seek Limited Government and the strongest National Defense possible.
To repeat our position, ours is not the usual definition of Limited Government. As such, we are looking for someone who can articulate a balanced viewpoint of when Government should take an active role on behalf of all Americans against entrenched political and monetary interests and when Government needs to butt out. That means when the need seems to be for the first role, then those running Government must find a balance between enabling a robust enough organization to do things right the first time and resisting the urge to create an over sized bureaucracy.
Given our definition, we find Kucinich has views close to our own. Government needs to intervene to referee in some areas where wealthy stakeholders have used undue influence to unfair advantage. Kucinich will use the power of his office to propose changes in trade policy, support both the middle class and small business, and establish universal health care.
Kucinich may cross the line a bit when it comes to universal health care. He is the only one of the Democratic candidates so far to endorse a single payer plan. This means that government, not private insurance companies, would collect and distribute payments for health care services. In effect, this would transition health care to a non-profit activity. His arguments in this regard are persuasive, but we would want to study these alternatives in greater depth as we look at all the candidates.
In the area of National Defense, Kucinich would shift the focus away from the military dominance we have seen with the Bush Administration to one of Diplomacy and Statesmanship. While this is welcome, we are concerned that the pendulum might swing too far away from the military. One of the difficulties this nation has had in its long term policy is maintaining an even keel in military readiness.
The unfortunate fact is that while our current conflict is focused on Radical Islam and counterinsurgency we still have other enemies like China and Russia for whom we will need the most modern and sophisticated air, sea and space weaponry possible to deter and defeat if necessary.
We are also concerned with Kucinich’s optimistic assumption that US Troops will leave and be replaced with UN Troops. If the UN was willing to participate in the stabilization of Iraq, why isn’t it already there?
We are unhappy with Kucinich’s lack of military service, although he has seen his share of political combat. We are pleased with his experience as a government executive (Mayor of Cleveland, OH) and as a legislator. He “gets it” that this is a nation of laws.
As a final quick note, we were also intrigued by the fact that Kucinich would promote Instant Run-off voting if elected. You can see more detail about this on Kucinich’s Wikipedia page detailing his 2008 platform. We endorse this because we think it will lead to stronger third parties in America, as well as proportional representation.
Our Score:
Here is how we would rate Congressman Kucinich in the various areas on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being highest or best.
Fiscal Prudence: 7
Social Tolerance: 9
Limited Government: 4
National Defense: 6
Intangibles: 6
Social Tolerance: 9
Limited Government: 4
National Defense: 6
Intangibles: 6
We welcome your opinions as readers. We’re doing this to give a new perspective and invite dialogue. Tell us what you think.
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