Dennis Kucinich in A Prayer for America
On Corporations:
Rescued Cleveland Electric from profitable utility
Consumers have a stake in the fight against utility monopolies. We rescued a municipal electric system from the clutches of one of America’s most profitable privately-owned utilities.
We revived the prosecution of a $325 million antitrust damage suit against the same utility, for unfair and anti-competitive practices, which have been confirmed in findings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
We are continuing to maintain municipal utilities because we believe that public service facilities must belong to the public. They are not to be considered private loot. They are public rights.
Our defense of our municipal electric utility assures Cleveland consumers of the advantages of continued competition and provides them with an alternative for lower electric rates.
Source: Speech to National Press Club, in Prayer for America, p. 6
Jan 1, 1977
On Environment:
Water Marks: 10 principles for water protection
[I would] recommend a series of declarative sentences which can serve as the basis for a course of action. We shall call these ten principles “Water Marks.”- All water shall be considered to be forever in the public domain.
- It shall be the duty
of each nation to provide accessible, affordable drinking water.
- There shall be public ownership of drinking water.
- Wealthy nations shall provide poor nations with the means to obtain water for survival.
- Water shall be protected from
commodification and exempted from all trade agreements.
- Water privatization shall not be a condition of debt restructuring, loan renewal, or loan forgiveness.
- Governments shall use their powers to prevent private aggregation of water rights.
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Water shall be conserved through sustainable agriculture and encouraging plant-based diets.
- Water resources shall be protected from pollution.
- Our children shall be educated about the essential nature of water for maintaining life.
Source: Intl. Water Rights Conf., in Prayer for America, p.115-16
Jul 7, 2001
On Civil Rights:
Prayer for America: Why put aside Constitutional justice?
I offer this prayer for America.- Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act.
We must ask, Why should America put aside guarantees of Constitutional justice?
- How can we justify in effect canceling the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments?
- We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and Internet surveillance with
judicial supervision, let alone without it.
- We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.
- We cannot justify giving the attorney general the ability to designate domestic terror groups.
- We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any
type of data which may exist in any system anywhere, such as medical records and financial records.
- We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for intelligence surveillance.
Source: Speech to the So. Cal. ADA, in Prayer for America, p. 12-13
Feb 17, 2002
On War & Peace:
We authorized a response to 9/11, not war without end
Let us pray that our country will stop this war. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September 11. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, and to correct the response.
- Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
- We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
- We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
- We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process
and habeas corpus.
- We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
- We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities.
- We did not authorize an eye for an eye.
- Nor did we ask that the blood of
innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
- We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.
- We did not authorize war without end.
Source: Speech to the So. Cal. ADA, in Prayer for America, p. 15-16
Feb 17, 2002
On Homeland Security:
We did not authorize a permanent war economy
We did not authorize a permanent war economy. Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The president has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion.
Consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit. Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapons systems in search of new enemies to create new wars.
This has nothing to do with fighting terror.
This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation,
risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.
Let us pray for our children. Our children deserve a world without end. Not a war without end.
Source: Speech to the So. Cal. ADA, in Prayer for America, p. 16-17
Feb 17, 2002
On Homeland Security:
Abandon plans for a missile shield
At this moment of peril we must move away from fear’s paralysis. This is a call to action to replace expanded war with expanded peace. We must demand that our nation and all nations:-
Abide by the principles of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- Stop the development of new nuclear weapons.
- Take all nuclear weapons systems off alert.
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Persist towards total, worldwide elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Our nation must:- Revive the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
- Sign and enforce the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
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Abandon plans to build a so-called missile shield.
- Prohibit the introduction of weapons into outer space.
Source: Speech on House floor, in Prayer for America, p. 88-89
Mar 20, 2002
On Corporations:
Enron: Dems should become party of re-regulation
This predatory [deregulated electricity] system must be set aside. The only way to ensure that Enron does not happen again is for government at all levels to reclaim the role as regulator in the public interest, to restructure electric rates to
protect residents and small businesses, to enact windfall profit taxes, and to finance the construction of municipal power systems. The Democratic Party must become the party of re-regulation, of public control, of public accountability, of public power.
Source: Speech to DNC, in Prayer for America, p. 26-27
May 25, 2002
On Corporations:
Need separation of corporation and state
We need a new relationship between the Democratic Party and corporate America--call it arms-length--so that our party is capable of independently affirming the public interest. We need a new relationship between corporations and our society.
Just as our founders understood the need for separation of church and state, we need to institutionalize the separation of corporations and the state.
This begins with government taking the responsibility to establish the conditions under which corporations may do business in the US, including the establishment of a federal corporate charter which describes corporate rights and responsibilities.
Corporations should pay a fair share of taxes. If corporations shift profits offshore to avoid paying taxes, they should not be permitted to operate in the US. The decrease in corporate tax responsibility is an indication of the rise of corporate power.
Source: Speech to DNC, in Prayer for America, p. 31
May 25, 2002
On Families & Children:
Dept. of Peace would address violence at home
Citizens across the US are now uniting in a great cause to establish a Department of Peace, seeking nothing less than the transformation of our society, to make nonviolence an organizing principle, to make war archaic through creating a paradigm shift
in our culture for human development, for economic and political justice, and for violence control.Domestically, the Department of Peace would address violence in the home, spousal abuse, child abuse, gangs, and police-community relations conflicts,
and work with individuals and groups to achieve changes in attitudes that examine the mythologies of cherished world views, such as “violence is inevitable.”
The Department of Peace will also address human development and the unique
concerns of women and children. It will envision and seek to implement plans for peace education, not simply as a course of study, but as a template for all pursuits of knowledge within formal educational settings.
Source: Peace Institute Conference, in Prayer for America, p. 70-71
Jun 9, 2002
On Jobs:
Engrave into stone the rights of working people
The soul of the worker is not for sale. It will not be sacrificed upon the corporate altar, nor annihilated by a hostile or indifferent government. The soul of the worker will be redeemed by the enshrinement in law of workers’ rights.
If in 2004 Labor goes up to the mountaintop of our nation’s capital, it must bring back, engraved in stone, the rights of working people:- People have a right to a job.
- A right to a safe workplace.
- A right to decent wages and benefits.
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A right to organize and be represented.
- A right to grieve about working conditions.
- A right to strike.
- A right to fair compensation for injuries on the job.
- A right to sue if injured by negligent employers.
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A right to security of pension and retirement benefits.
- A right to participate in the political process.
Source: Speech to Iowa AFL-CIO, in Prayer for America, p.102-3
Aug 14, 2002
On Energy & Oil:
$50B solar venture fund for developing nations
I will soon announce legislation to create a $50 billion solar venture fund, in cooperation with the UN, to introduce solar technologies to developing nations.
Parallel legislation will provide incentives for the production and application of solar technologies in the US.
Source: Speech at UN World Summit, in Prayer for America, p. 40
Aug 29, 2002
On Environment:
Market-based system has no place in water distribution
Market economics need to be transformed so as to work in harmony with basic human needs for clean air and clean water. market-based systems which inevitably exclude the poor have no place in the distribution of water.
Water is a human right which must stand above market economics and privatization, just as many are learning of the risks of health care and energy left to the market.
Source: Speech at UN World Summit, in Prayer for America, p. 40
Aug 29, 2002
On War & Peace:
America should not be the world’s policeman
We should drop the self-defeating policy of regime change. Policies of aggression and assassination are not worthy of any nation with a democratic tradition. The question isn’t whether or not America has the military power for victory in Iraq.
The question is whether we destroy something essential in this nation, by asserting that America has the right to do so anytime we well please.
American cannot and should not be the world’s policeman. America cannot and should not try to pick the
leaders of other nations. Nor should America and the American people be pressed into service of international oil interests and arms dealers.
We must work to bring Iraq back into the community of nations, not through destruction,
but through constructive action worldwide. America, with the international community, can help negotiate a resolution with Iraq which encompasses unfettered inspections, the end of sanctions, and the cessation of the regime-change policy.
Source: Speech in Baraboo WI, in Prayer for America, p. 47
Sep 7, 2002
On War & Peace:
No credible evidence for offensive against Iraq
There is no credible evidence linking Iraq with 9/11, with al Qaeda, or with the anthrax attacks. There is no credible evidence that Iraq has usable weapons of mass destruction, the ability to deliver those weapons, or the intention to do so.
Though Iraq possessed and used such weapons years ago, they did so, quite sad to say, with the knowledge of, and sometimes with materials from, the US.
By the way, it’s called the Department of Defense, not the Department of Offense.
Unilateral action on the part of the US, or in partnership with Great Britain, would for the first time set our nation on the bloodstained path of aggressive war.
Source: Speech at UC-Berkeley, in Prayer for America, p. 58-59
Sep 14, 2002
On Principles & Values:
Declaration of human economic rights of the American people
Just as FDR proclaimed the Four Freedoms, it is time for us to reclaim our freedoms and mission as the party of the people, with a declaration of the human economic rights of the American people.- We have a right to a job.
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We have a right to quality health care.
- We have a right to a good education.
- We have a right to decent housing.
- We have a right to food fit to eat.
- We have a right to water fit to drink.
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We have a right to be free from fear.
- We have a right to be free from war.
- We have a right to be human.
In the months ahead, I will travel the nation with this message.
I will ask for your support and, if I am the nominee of this party, together we will ead this party to victory, this nation to greatness, this world to peace.
Source: Speech to the DNC, in Prayer for America, p.137
Feb 22, 2003
Page last updated: Feb 21, 2019