Reply #66: Whew! Where should I begin do you think? [View All]

[diamondsoul]

No seriously, I have no clue what Kucinich supporters you've been dealing with. I have no intention of flaming you, but I will challenge your thinking and question your conclusions.

"because his supporters are so rabidly hateful and intolerant that I was sick of the abuse and the hate mail."

I've never sent hate-mail in my entire 35 years of life, nor am I "rabidly hateful" or "intolerant". I'm possibly one of the most gentle, generous and forgiving people you'll ever meet. I don't stand prejudice very well on any basis, but I don't answer hate with hate because it's a waste of time. You've let some bad experiences with Kucinich supporters turn you away from a wonderful man with visions most people would endorse if they could just believe someone could make them reality. You've let some bad experiences cause you to assume all Kucinich supporters are the same. We are NOT.

"You're only 16, aren't you concerned about preserving reproductive rights for your generation and the ones after yours?"

And what if this particular 16yr old happens to be Pro-life? You wish him to alter his principles to your stand or would you let him grow and let him find his own way? Myself I choose the latter. Change means a lot more and lasts much longer when it comes from within. Speaking of which, are you aware that Congressman Kucinich has a college aged daughter and that he was raised with Roman Catholic beliefs? Are you further aware that being a parent and hearing your children speak of things you would otherwise avoid considering can change your entire outlook on them? Are you aware that a great many people were able to convert from PL to PC in a far shorter time than the 6 months it took Congressman Kucinich to do so, and with a lot less valid reason? Have you actually looked at the time span between abortion related votes during the period when Congressman Kucinich made this change to his position? Because I have. It was a full 6 months, time which he would have spent with his daughter, his best friend and life-companion, and hundreds of other women who could easily have affected his view of reproductive rights.

It took me a grand total of a month, I believe to go from rabidly PL to respecting other womens' right to determine the course of their own future. Please tell me, which between myself and Congressman Kucinich, is most likely to have considered that change with the depth and deference it deserves? Just so you know the depth of my conviction, I am now a member of PPF, a participant in a great many other reproductive rights actions and routinely write my Congressmembers on legislation involving those issues. I have supported NO legislation in the past 15 years that might give a foothold to the opposition to the Roe v. Wade decision.

Congressman Kucinich has conducted himself as any decent conscientious human being would. He's voted his conscience, each and every time abortion came across his path. Whether I agree with what his conscience at a particular time dictated, I must respect the fact that he has one and engages it regularly. He has learned something, somewhere, from someone that altered his perception of the issue. I need no more than that and the knowledge that he has a conscience and uses it regularly to tell me his change of position is legitimate.

It might relieve you to know that this change came about in March of 2002, and the Congressman did not consider running for the Presidency until early this year.