"A Prayer for America" - Feb 17, *2002* ON TARGET TODAY!!!

[autorank]

A Prayer for America



Hon. Dennis Kucinich, Feb 17, 2002

I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, as a celebration of our country. With love of democracy. With love of our country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. With the understanding that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. With the belief that a free people cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time. With the understanding that there is a deeper truth in the unity of the United States. That implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people, everywhere. That all people are essentially one. That the world is interconnected not only on the material level of economics, trade, communication, and transportation; but interconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse to be and to breathe free.

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 and accomplishment of 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 Amendment and the right of free speech, and the right to peacefully assemble?

How can we justify, in effect, the canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due process, allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?

How can we justify, in effect, canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?

We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with 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, including medical and financial records.

We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for domestic intelligence and intelligence surveillance.

We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy.

The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice exposing herself in this administration.

Let us pray, oremus, that our nation's leaders will not be overcome by fear. Because today there is great fear in the Capitol. And this must be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in this current environment.

The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when we abandoned Washington during the anthrax scare, when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide terror alert and then brought the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of the House of Representatives. It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapes at the very same time the President was announcing our country would withdraw from the ABM treaty.

It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote.

The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill-equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his undisclosed Vice President.

Let us pray. Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To provide for the common defense" is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September 11. We licensed a response to those who helped create the terror of September 11th. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.

Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.

We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.

We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.

We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.

We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus.

We did not authorize assassination squads.

We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.

We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.

We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.

We did not authorize national identity cards.

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 this administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.

We did not authorize war without end.

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.

Consider that the Inspector General notified Congress, recently, that the Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion – that's trillion - in expenditures. Correct, that it cannot account for $1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Department of Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased. Consider that it has written off as lost billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.

Yet the Pentagon's budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon 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. Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is not appropriate for the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for the survival of a nation, not appropriate for the survival of the world.

Let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people, and as a nation, to shore ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of September 11th our democratic traditions.

Let us declare. Let us declare our love of democracy. And declare our intent for peace.

Let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society.

Let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war, as being inevitable.

Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic.

Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an imperative. This is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace envisions. Forty-three members of Congress are now cosponsoring the legislation.

Let us work for a world where America can lead the way in banning all nuclear weapons not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space itself. This is the vision of HR 3616: A universe free of fear. Where we can look up at God's creation in the stars and imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities. Not infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray. Pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of September 11th, faded into images of patriotism, spliced into images of military mobilization, jump-cut into images of our secular celebrations of the World Series, New Year's Eve, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those images with the images of people working to rebuild their democratic institutions. With images of the work of human relations. Of the work of reaching out to people, helping our citizens here at home. Of lifting the plight of people everywhere.

That is the America which has the ability to rally the support of the world.

That is the America which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil, but which is itself the axis of hope and faith and peace and freedom.

America, America. God shed grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood and sisterhood.

America, America. Long may Thy land be bright with Freedom's holy light

America, America. Let us pray for our country. Let us love our country. Let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from the threats within.

America, America. Crown thy good. Not with weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil. Not through breaking international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of a uni-polar world. But through looking at America as a nation among nations and viewing the world as an interconnected whole.

Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good with sisterhood and brotherhood. And crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace and democracy here at home and in the world. And a commitment to economic democracy here at home and throughout the world.

Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good America. Crown thy good.

Thank you.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfq3ms6

[Binka]

1. Rock On Dennis!

Hi Michael :hi:

[autorank]

2. He had it down in 2002. Amazing!

[EFerrari]

3. K&R

In case you didn't catch it, Howard Zinn's tribute at Busboys & Poets is available now at the BookTV website.

http://www.booktv.org/Featured/11325/Tribute+to+Howard+Zinn.aspx

[inna]

4. Most excellent! KR+6, and thanks for posting this.

[defendandprotect]

5. It's heartbreaking that a humanist isn't in the White House -- Kucinich cares -- !!

[BeFree]

6. Two minute warning

The clock is ticking. Will America score and win? Or what?

Yes we can. <grin>

[Me.]

7. Deserving Of More Than + 1

[slipslidingaway]

8. knr nt

[G_j]

9. K&R!

[G_j]

10. ==

[omega minimo]

11. .

[formercia]

12. Just imagine if all of Congress was like Dennis.

K&R

[Peace Patriot]

13. It is dismaying how relevant this speech still is. Thanks for posting it!

And I won't say that without suggesting a remedy: Transparent vote counting.

The problem is not that Barack Obama was not elected. I believe that he was, by a bigger margin than we know. The problem is that his election is not provable, neither by him, nor by me, nor by anyone. And those who have rendered our elections non-provable and non-transparent have the power to un-elect him, at will. And the situation is worse, now, than it was in 2004. The spread of 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY voting systems, with non-existent or grossly inadequate audit/recount controls, is more complete, now--New York, the last holdout, just caved--and a corporation that is worse than Diebold, as to far rightwing connections, ES&S (which just bought out Diebold) now has an 85% monopoly on voting systems in the U.S.

So, far rightwing corporate rulers have the capability--the EASY capability--of playing our system like a a piano--for instance, by permitting a liberal placeholder with no real power into the White House, to shift the blame for the Bush Junta's crimes and massive looting onto "the liberals," to prepare the way for the (s)election of someone worse than Bush/Cheney in 2012; and, for instance, (s)electively 'nominating' "Blue Dog" Democrats for Congress, in primary elections, to fool voters into thinking they are voting for change, and for peace and justice, when, in truth, unknown to them, they are voting for war, injustice and more looting by the rich.

Our election system has several serious problems--one of them just made worse by the illegitimate Bush regime's appointees to the Supreme Court, filthy campaign money; and another, of course, being the highly controlled, corpo-fascist media, which, for instance, is already writing the false narrative of the "liberals'"/President Obama's "failure." But neither reform of campaign money, nor restoration of a "Fairness Doctrine" in the media, can be achieved without transparent vote counting. Transparent vote counting--vote counting that everyone can see and understand-- is the bottom line of democracy. Without it, we don't really have a democracy.

Every one of the serious problems that Dennis Kucinich identifies in this speech IS SOLVABLE, in a democracy. That is why democracy is the best system of government ever devised by humankind--because "we, the people" can correct disastrous policy and can establish better policy, even great policy, by means of voting for true representatives of the people, who will act in our interest. We have not been able to do this since 2000 A.D., when the Supreme Court chose Bush/Cheney. This was followed by a "fix" of the voting system--the Anthrax Congress' $3.9 billion e-voting boondoggle, by which these devil voting machines were fast-tracked all over the country for 2004, to keep Bush-Cheney in office, and keep the wars and the looting on track. It was as yet an imperfect and incomplete election fraud system, in 2004, so additional measures needed to be taken--for instance, the phony "terrorist alert" lockdown on the vote count in Ohio, suppression of black voters and political use of the Dept. of Justice--which worked in combination with the 'TRADE SECRET' code machines, to thwart the will of the voters. The system of stealthy election theft is now complete, and will not require such visible fraud in the future. And the reason WHY this has been done--the POINT of "TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting'--is to PREVENT democracy from working as it should--to KEEP us on the disastrous course of war, empire and massive looting by the rich.

We should consider it a left-handed compliment. The "powers that be" are AFRAID of us. They know--if most of us do not--that nearly 60% of the American people opposed the Iraq War (Feb '03, all polls). I looked into it, because I wanted to know the truth: Were my fellow and sister Americans goose-stepping to Bush? And the answer was, "No!" And furthermore the answer was "No!", in even bigger numbers, on many other issues (such as torture--64% opposed to torture "under any circumstances"--May '04). The war profiteers and other corporate rulers are controlling our government by methods of election fraud and illusion-making, and consequent demoralization of the progressive majority. One of the symptoms of this is that so few Americans even know how dangerous 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting is--and who is controlling it (a corporation, ES&S, founded by a far rightwing nutball billionaire, Howard Ahmanson)--and so few are doing anything about it. Getting rid of these machines is DOABLE. Control of voting systems still resides at the local/state level, where ordinary people still have potential influence--if enough of them demand vote counting that everyone can see and understand. Ask almost anybody in this country if they want our votes counted, in SECRET, by people who believes in the death penalty for homosexuals, and the answer would be "NO!" by--my guess--99% of the people. But the 1% of nutballs who might think this is reasonable have themselves a voting system by which such a measure could actually be implemented and called "democratic."

That is the situation. It is NUTS. And, by God, we need a massive citizen movement in this country to change this NOW. Talk about "tea baggers"--that phony bullshit. THIS is the "tea bagger" movement that needs to happen: Throwing these 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines into 'Boston Harbor'! That's where we must start!

:patriot:

[maryf]

14. Thanks! K&R nt.

[timtom]

15. Thank you! Thank you!

I'm saving this!

Up until the time he withdrew from the race, DK was my avatar. I went to see him locally in a Unitarian Church. There may have been 200, tops, in attendance.

[autorank]

16. k

:kick:

[scarletwoman]

17. k&r - a wonderful reminder.

Thank you, autorank, and thank you, Dennis.

[autorank]

18. Indeed!