Jill: I am thrilled that we actually have one person who understands Keynesian economics...
Kucinich: Did you say crazy economics?
Jill: John Maynard Keynes
Kucinich: Right, I know, I know. It's a comedy club, excuse me.
Jill: What about other countries in which we have sometimes quite a negative influence such as Honduras? A friend of mine is there right now, and she said there's "state terror funded by US taxpayers", is there any sort of oversight on this?
Kucinich: About what?
Jill: Honduras. She said it's terror.
Kucinch: Terror
Jill: She said it is really bad, going on after the coup there.
Kucinich: Listen this has been, you know...I think it was Chalmers Johnson that wrote the book Blowback, which talked about US foreign policy interfering in other countries and usurping the rights of sovereign people, and trying to impress economic hegemony on behalf of multinationals. I mean in the end that is what Chile was about when Allende was overthrown.
Our founders understood very well the danger of going around the world seeking giants to slay. And it's not about being an isolationist. You can comprehend the world as one and know we are all in this together, and know that principles of social and economic justice and environmental justice - of workers rights, have to be put in trade agreements.
It's not like we are excluded from participation in the world. We want to participate in the world. But what are the terms of that participation? Are they economically just? Or are we into exploitation? There's no question there are resource wars going on right now. What was Iraq about but oil? What's Afghanistan about but oil? Why are we in Libya? The rebels in Benghazi, they are in the oil rich part. 80% of the oil in Libya is sold there.
So we have to put forth a new image of the country that we want, which no longer tries to exploit other peoples, that tries to drive down wages in other countries, or use the IMF and the World Bank to get a hook into peoples economies which result in wages and benefits getting cut, which is one of the things going on in Greece right now.
I think that we have to be citizens of the world. I mean I'm proud to be an American, but you know what, we are all citizens of the world, and we have to understand that, and as we understand, we act upon that.
So we aren't interested in exploiting anyone, and the greatest exploitation is war. It was on July 11th, 2001, two months before 9-11, I introduced legislation in Washington to create a cabinet level Department of Peace. Now, some people when they first heard it they said, "oh yeah, there goes Dennis again, with some hairy fairy notion." But think about it. In our own society, domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, violence in schools, gang violence, gun violence, racial violence. It's as if we are a society unhinged, we have no control over these things. That's not true! It was Emerson that wrote that "every jet of chaos that threatens to exterminate us can be converted into a wholesome force". We have the ability to use our intellect and our heart to transform any condition - to have a more peaceful home, more peaceful schools, more peaceful neighborhoods, and have a more peaceful world. But we have to realize violence in a microcosm is projected into violence in a macrocosm. If we allow violence within our own sphere, even violence - especially violence against animals, we have a way of projecting violence writ large on other nations.
So this is our moment, when we begin to consciously kraft the new world. Tennyson wrote, "come my friends, Tis' not too late to seek a newer world". That's really the work that we have to be about. Not just seeking a newer world, but consciously crafting it, through our intention to act and to use the power of our heart to change things, to bring that awareness into the world, and to change the world. That's why I do what I do.
