Kucinich

I've made up my mind to support Kucinich in the US Presidential election. I don't like any of the Republican candidates enough to think I'd vote for any of them. I don't like Hillary Clinton even though she's better than the current President by several orders of magnitude, because I believe she's still part of the old guard corrupt system, the same with John Edwards. I've been on the fence with Barak Obama, holding out some hope, but I just have never been able to be sure he wasn't just the same stuff in a new package. Kucinich though, well, I agree with most of his policy decisions, and if I had to pick one presidential candidate to trust with my life, it's him. It's easy to be convinced that he is not part of the same old corrupt political machine. This is a smart, caring and determined man.

dennis kucinich abc news interview

I wish the Federal elections had Rank Choice Voting (aka Instant Runoff). Most people, at least in San Francisco, think that it's just about saving money by not requiring a second runoff poll day in close elections, but to me it is really about eliminating the "go ahead, throw your vote away" mentality where people prefer a candidate, like say Nader, but feel they can't vote for him because not voting for Gore might let Bush win. Rank Choice Voting allows you to vote first for the candidate you really support, then second for the lesser-of-two-evil candidates you feel you must support. For example, if 25% of Americans voted Nader first and Gore second, 40% voted Gore first and 35% Bush first, Gore would still win with 65% of the vote, since in the end the Nader first votes would get converted to Gore votes. However, the political landscape would change because Nader would be known to have the support of 25% of the population.

I can use the primaries to achieve the same thing in a way. I've decided to throw my support behind Kucinich for the primary, even though I know I'll probably end up voting for either Obama or Clinton in November 2008. I'm going to contribute double what I've already contributed to Obama, and look into volunteering for campaign support as well.

Comments

[Barry]

Im voting for Barak Obama, I live in Ohio and I know more about Dennis Kucinich. Barak may be just another politician but he's a democrat and he's not Hilary. Kucinich will never get the nomination, although he may run as a indepenent.

[mikepop]

My friend is a person you can speak to about volunteering to support the campaign. Let me know if you need her contact info.

[Dav Yaginuma]

Someone in SF? Sure.

[mikepop]

Sent it to your gmail

[Beau Smith]

Dav - What do you think of Ron Paul?

[Dav Yaginuma]

I don't know much about him, but I did see this video the other day which made me inclined to think he's a good guy too.

Ron Paul talks about Kucinich

[Dav Yaginuma]

Kucinich and Paul both remind me of the Deep Thought from Jack Handy:

"I hope if dogs ever take over the world and they choose a king, they
don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with
some good ideas."

Unfortunately, the American political system goes by size apparently.

[mikepop]

I find that the majority of Paul's ideas fall into the "not so good" category.

[Dav Yaginuma]

Hmm, his record as shown at that link indeed isn't so hot compared to quite a few of my values. Some of his stuff related to the Federal Reserve and Banks sound like they could be good ideas though. It doesn't make any sense to me that a private corporation is acting as the national treasury.