It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it. – Eugene Debs
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs
Eugene V. Debs was a great labor leader at the turn of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana and lived there much of his life. He ran several times on the Socialist Party of America ticket for President, receiving 6% of the vote in 1912, as well as 913,664 votes (3.4 percent) in the 1920 election, which he ran for from jail, having been convicted under The Espionage Act of 1917.
Here’s a quote from Mr. Debs:
It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it.
What did Debs mean by that?
Well, on almost every other Democratic oriented blog I read, that would mean nominating someone who can win the greneral election in 2008. I suppose this is as legitimate a reason to vote for a candidate as any other, other than the possibility that the ‘electable’ candidate may fashion his or her campaign to whichever way the political wind happens to be blowing at the time.
Me? I’m for voting for the candidate who supports what I belive in. When I hear from candidates and their supporters that something isn’t achievable, and that as such we should settle for something that is slightly less onerous that what we have currently, I shudder inwardly. I shudder because I know that most of the writers at the various blogs are well educated, thoughtful and reasonable people.
And, yet, those reasonable writers seem ready to vote for the ‘electable’ candidate rather than a candidate who represents what they believe in (clearly, this is not true of everyone, including supporters of candidates other than Dennins).
Here are some of the thing I belive in:
- An end to the Iraq occupation and bringing the troops home, not redeploying them in the region.
- Universal Health Care, not Universal Health Insurance. As I read the blogs, it’s apparent that most writers support a single-payer system. There’s only one candidate running who supports a single-payer system. The rest think that their non-single-payer systems will eventually get there.
- A green economy (based on solar and wind technologies) and rebuilding our infrastructure. This is clearly the way to go, unless you really like nuclear power or coal. The infrastructure issue is not going to go away. Cities, such as Indianapolis (near where I live) have around $1 billion in infrastructure updates that need to be done now. They’re building a football stadium instead.
- A return to bilatreral trade agreements, rather than the regional free-trade agreements such as NAFTA. NAFTA’s been a failure for the vast majority of people in this country. The corporations have taken advantage of it to move much of our manufacturing base out of the country (not that the trend wasn’t there before NAFTA, but it has excellerated because of it’s provisions).
- Securing our rights under the Constitution. There’s only one Democratic candidate who voted against the Patriot Act and it’s extensions. The current administration is brazenly criminal in it’s disreguards to our rights under the Constitution. I want a President who will give back those ill-gotten powers to the people of this country.
You get the idea.
For me, there’s a clear choice amongst all of the candidates. It’s Dennis Kucninich. He supports what I support. His record of public service points toward the fact that he will work for what he belives in. I am also a born and bred Hoosier (we came up from Kentucky in the same group as Lincoln), and am proud of the various humanitarian leaders we have set forth upon this country. I’m proud that Eugene V. Debs was a Hoosier, and I’m proud to be able to say that I agree with him:
It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it.
As always, now more than ever,
Go Dennis!
http://dennis4president.com
Choose Peace!
