What prevents members of Congress from taking the action they know is necessary and demanded by the people? For example, why are there only 7 co-sponsors on your impeachment bill when we know more representatives than that actually support it?
What is the single, most powerful strategy to reclaim our government?
Representative Kucinich: Well, these are very good questions. I think what prevents Congress from moving forward is a sense of fear. Fear of, what do you do when you start to exercise power? I mean, think about it, it's a classic story of a condition where people who have power, are afraid to use it, and then they forget that they have it, and when they're told to use it, they don't know how. This article of impeachment helps Congress regain its rightful role, not just as a co-equal branch of government, the Founders provided Congress would be established first, in a sense it has a superior position. We have to move away from this imperial presidency, away from a nation on a war path, away from a reach for empire and military build-ups, and return to a more humble position in world affairs, where we deal with the matters that people care about, their health, their housing, their education, their environment.
But America's first gonna have to go through a period of Truth and Reconciliation, and I know that's what you're about, and that's why I appreciate an opportunity to speak with you.
Paul: Dennis, you mentioned fear in Congress, what is the primary thing generating that fear and how can we help alleviate that fear so that they can take the proper action?
Kucinich: Encourage people to stand up. People need encouragement. The people in Congress have come into an environment which is dramatically different than it was before 9/11. Let me give you an example. Today, all over Capitol Hill, you will see cameras, and guard dogs, and streets that turn into instant barricades - they actually fold up, guards with shotguns and automatic weapons and sniper rifles that can fire hundreds of yards... we're like a garrison state here. And that plays with people's heads, and when it becomes ordinary, it becomes ordinary to vote for FISA, ordinary to vote for war, ordinary to look the other way when the president lies us into war, ordinary to not ask the type of questions that need to be asked about what do we do to make this country more secure without going into war...
We're in a condition right now which is not conducive to democracy. And so in a very simple way, an article of impeachment gives us the ability to reclaim some of that power that belongs to the people. It's not for these people that hold the offices, it certainly doesn't belong to the president to hoard the power and to pretend that somehow he's now a dictator or a monarch.
Paul: So, Dennis you've almost described a police state, in a way. What is the most powerful strategy for us to reclaim our government? What is the primary thing that you would suggest that we do, as activists?
Kucinich: To practice being free, every day. That may sound trite, but to exercise the capacity of citizenship. To stand up and speak out in forums both large and small, to write that letter, to make the phone call, to meet with a Representative, to organize rallies, to bring people together, to have discussion groups, to reclaim a sense of agency as citizens, because that's a quality that has been lost in the last 7 seven years.
We can reclaim it. It was lost, it can be reclaimed. But we can only do it through action, and in a sense we have to acquire a capacity for active thought, word, and deed. And it can be done in a way that can be dedicated, it can be done in a way that's joyous, but it needs to be done.
We need to remember the ferment that caused a nation to be born. And the nation is born and dies everyday by each of us, depending on our inclination to challenge the status quo, or to accept it.
Paul: So you're saying, Dennis, Grassroots activism is really our most powerful strategy.
Kucinich: That's what's gonna save America. Because what happens in Washington, everything in Washington is now from the top down. We're not paying enough attention to what's happening at that Grassroots level. And yet, the Grassroots activity, in its totality, has the ability to change Washington. People who are in positions of power... they lack a certain amount of humility, and secretly understand that they could be toppled very easily. And the system has a very fine line that supports its continuation, and if people get involved and decide to change it, they can do it. And that's actually our inheritance as you read the Declaration of Independence. If you don't like the system, you can change it.
