ing Iraq dominates our current thinking. But this world view is obsolete, he said, and needs to be replaced by a more realistic view.

"We are in a period of chaos," Kucinich said, "which is driven by fear, by control, by power, by secrecy, mistrust, fragmentation, isolation,and by policies which use the lexicon of unilateralism and of preemption.

"But he world view - that system - cannot stand. That system is falling apart - we're seeing its last gasp right now. We are in the midst of an evolution in politics. We're not seeing the beginning of a new empire because that's ridiculous. What we are seeing is this old energy playing itself out in the world. And with its disintegration we will see a new integration; chaos will yield to harmony."

Kucinich believes that this political evolution can occur fairly rapidly. He noted that biological evolution throughout history has not always taken place at a steady rate. "Fossil records show that evolution has been static for most of the time, but the state of equilibrium is punctuated by rapid change that occurs suddenly over a brief period of time. Discontinuity between two generations has far-reaching consequences for conscious evolution and for societal change. When an evolutionary stage reaches its limitations and begins to decline, it creates disruption, chaos, and social disorder. In the decline state, an evolutionary system cannot change incrementally, it has to transform into a new evolutionary entity by conscious evolution."

One such rapid transformation, Kucinich noted, was the birth of America in 1776. It was not just an American revolution, he pointed out, but an evolution in human consciousness, an event that created a new form of government for this country, and for the world. We need to imagine and work for such a sudden shift today. One way to help bring about the change, he said , is to talk with others about the world we envision, to bring others together to dialogue, to bring back the kind of community that as a nation we've known in the past. Our words will help create the kind of world we want, Kucinch believes.

"It's a conscious effort. We have to call it forward. that's the power of consciousness - to call it forward.

"The world is multidimensional. The new vision is an holistic one that understands the power of intention and the power of cooperation, of mutuality, of trust, of seeing the world as one. That vision then becomes our outer reality. Ours is the ability, through our consciousness, to create peace, to create love. The organ of transformation is the human heart because there is nothing - no weapon ever made - that is more powerful than a human heart.

"Our founders, and those who followed is that spirit, had an understanding of America's connection to something transcendent. We need to recreate the America of our dreams, an America that is a country of peace, a country that stands for human rights, that works for total nuclear disarmament, that leads the way to abolish biological and chemical weapons, that works to achieve cooperation in protecting our global environment, that works to achieve cooperation in international law through an inter-national criminal court, that works to abolish all land mines, that works for a small-arms treaty. We need to confirm America's purpose through cooperating with a community of nations, with the understanding that our country's role always has been to be a light to the world.

Conflict and Change

When asked a question regarding the inevitability of conflict, Kucinich replied: Some people in Washington today buy into that theory. The danger there is one of a self-fulfilling prophecy because if you put your consciousness in the direction of conflict, you're quite likely to get that conflict. Instead, we need to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our society for domestic as well as international policy. Internationally, we need to focus on intervention and mediation, and celebrate what Franklin D Roosevelt called 'the science of human relationships.'

"One view of history is that events happen and we're just bystanders - these forces somehow don't yield to human involvement. Another view is that we can intervene - that's why we're here. We can change things. Through knowledge and love, we create the world anew every day. The cold, flat, and often dead dictums of history need to be given an infusion of compassion and energy to create new possibilities."

Dealing with Anger

When asked if he experiences anger when working for peace, and if so how he handles it, Kucinich responded: "When you're involved in political action,there is always a conflict in experiencing negativity at the same time you're trying to do something positive. All of us have that experience. The difference is not being angry, because negativity is really an intent that somehow gets embedded in anger. It's hard not to be angry: Our country is about to wage an immoral war in Iraq. But if we can avoid getting hooked by the anger - try not to judge the individuals involved, but keep our eyes focused on creating that world that we desire - then there's hope. You bring that hope to the moment because you are claiming the essence of your own humanity. Each of us has the power to change someone else's thinking, and as we approach that moment - inspired and with compassion - chances are we may well change peoples' thinking."

The System and Power

When asked about his reaction to being in Washington, Kucinich said:; "One of the surprises I had when I first got to Congress was about my stereotypes about Washington. I found that there are a lot of thoughtful men and women in Washington. They're very skilled and very bright and very caring. The problem is the system; it's something that can be almost overwhelming. You get into Washington and you become part of the system. You see this huge bureaucracy, the structure of the buildings; everything says, I'm here, I'm part of the system.

"That system has almost a specific gravity and you can get caught in it - particularly with respect to power. In Washington people are sometimes confused by the power that's embedded in the structure of government. If you come to Washington seeking power, you're in trouble because you have to have that sense of power before you get there. It's confusing when people are elected to an office by a process which seemingly confers power on them, then find that winning that office didn't give them power. Then they feel powerless - powerless to stop even a war. That's the paradox. So there are many good people in Washington and it's just the system."

Local Politics

"The work that I do as a practical matter in politics begins with going to people's homes, going door-to-door - either myself or having others do it - and talking to people. We need to start a new conversation in this country. In some ways we've lost that capacity. Our politics removed itself from the grassroots years ago when federal campaigns began relying on TV to communicate the message. Activities that were aimed at going directly to people began to change and the emphasis was 'raise the money so you can get on TV."

"In its terminal stage, it's reflected in members of Congress spending four days a week on the phone at the party headquarters in Washington and not having time to participate in the debates. Because they're raising money so they can get on TV. And they seldom see their own constituents. I repeat: They're good people - it's a bad system. So we need to go back to door-to-door, talk to our neighbors, have that conversation over the fence, reach out to each other again. that's how you do it. People talking to people. People on the phones calling about something that's going on in the community, it registers."

Building Community

Kucinich continued: "Today we have the electronic Town Hall - Web chats, Web pages, e-mails - that enable us to connect with each other. That's a real power today. And if you extend the old grassroots campaigning to the Web, you have a national campaign on almost anything. That helps build a sense of community, which is some of what we've lost in this so-called modern society where people bowl alone, and eat alone, and watch movies alone, and do their banking alone. It's by capturing that sense of community that we become empowered, that we become once again 'We the People' as a conscious, collective _expression of our hopes and aspirations. As we reconnect as a community, that's when we start to affirm some of our basic rights. What is the right to assemble? We have to celebrate it by coming together. What is freedom of speech, except that someone stands up and expresses a point of view in a community meeting. We have to exercise those freedom muscles again, and then we strengthen our country.

"How it works out depends on our own willingness, our own belief, our faith in ourselves that we can make a difference. We lose that at times. We see these big institutions and think they're impenetrable, not accessible, we can't move them: 'I can't do anything about that. I make a phone call and it goes into the wastebasket - nobody cares. 'Not so. You can change anything. There is no institution in a democratic society that is beyond our reach. If we have faith in ourselves, then we can have faith in our country."

***** Courtesy of Todd Cory

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2) The Bloodstained Path, by Dennis Kucinich

http://www.progressive.org/nov02/kuc1102.html

The Progressive, November 2002 issue

Unilateral military action by the United States against Iraq is unjustified, unwarranted, and illegal. The Administration has failed to make the case that Iraq poses an imminent threat to the United States. There is no credible evidence linking Iraq to 9/11. There is no credible evidence linking Iraq to Al Qaeda. Nor is there any credible evidence that Iraq possesses deliverable weapons of mass destruction, or that it intends to deliver them against the United States.

When Iraq possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, quite sad to say, it did so with the knowledge of, and sometimes with materials from, the United States.

During the Administration of Ronald Reagan, sixty helicopters were sold to Iraq. Later reports said Iraq used U.S.-made helicopters to spray Kurds with chemical weapons. According to The Washington Post, Iraq used mustard gas against Iran with the help of intelligence from the CIA.

Iraq's punishment? The United States reestablished full diplomatic ties around Thanksgiving of 1984.

Throughout 1989 and 1990, U.S. companies, with the permission of the first Bush Administration, sent to the government of Saddam Hussein mustard gas precursors and live cultures for bacteriological research. U.S. companies also helped to build a chemical weapons factory and supplied the West Nile virus, fuel air explosive technology, computers for weapons technology, hydrogen cyanide precursors, computers for weapons research and development, and vacuum pumps and bellows for nuclear weapons plants. "We have met the enemy," said Walt Kelly's Pogo, "And he is us."

Unilateral action on the part of the United States, or in partnership with Great Britain, would for the first time set our nation on the bloodstained path of aggressive war, a sacrilege upon the memory of those who fought to defend this country. America's moral authority would be undermined throughout the world. It would destabilize the entire Persian Gulf and Middle East region. And it would signal for Russia to invade Georgia; China, Taiwan; North Korea, the South; India, Pakistan.

The United States must recommit itself to the U.N. Charter, which is the framework for international order. We have a right and a duty to defend ourselves. We also have an obligation to defend international law. We can accomplish both without going to war with Iraq.

There is a way out.

It must involve the United Nations. Inspections for weapons of mass destruction should begin immediately. Inspectors must have free and unfettered access to all sites.

The time has come for us to end the sanctions against Iraq, because those sanctions punish the people of Iraq for having Saddam Hussein as their leader. These sanctions have been instrumental in causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children. Emergency relief should be expedited. Free trade, except in arms, must be permitted.

Foreign investments must be allowed. The assets of Iraq abroad must be restored.

And a regional zone free of weapons of mass destruction should be established.

The only weapon that can save the world is nonviolence, said Gandhi. We can begin this practice today by calling upon the Administration in Washington to stop the talk of war, and stop the planning for war.

In their heart of hearts, the American people do not want war on Iraq. The American people want peace.

There is no reason for war against Iraq. Stop the drumbeat. Stop sending troops and supplies to Kuwait and Qatar. Pull back from the abyss of unilateral action and preemptive strikes.

We know that each day the Administration receives a daily threat assessment. But Iraq is not an imminent threat to this nation. Forty million Americans suffering from inadequate health care is an imminent threat. The high cost of prescription drugs is an imminent threat. The ravages of unemployment is an imminent threat. The slowdown of the economy is an imminent threat, and so, too, the devastating effects of corporate fraud.

We must drop the self-defeating policy of regime change. Policies of aggression and assassination are not worthy of any nation with a democratic tradition, let alone a nation of people who love liberty and whose sons and daughters sacrifice to maintain that democracy.

The question is not whether or not America has the military power to destroy Saddam Hussein and Iraq. The question is whether we destroy something essential in this nation by asserting that America has the right to do so anytime it pleases.

America 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 the 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. We can help negotiate a resolution with Iraq that encompasses unfettered inspections, the end of sanctions, and the cessation of the regime-change policy.

We have the power to do this. We must have the will to do this. It must be the will of the American people expressed through the direct action of peaceful insistence.

If the United States proceeds with a first strike policy, then we will have taken upon our nation a historic burden of committing a violation of international law, and we would then forfeit any moral high ground we could hope to hold.

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Representative Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, is head of the Progressive Caucus in Congress.

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