Sitting Down With :
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
By Julie Deife
War has made heroes of many, including John McCain, Eisenhower, Patton and FDR. Peace has made heroes of very few. A Presidential candidate in 2004, Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio’s 10th District is walking and talking the path of peace, most notably in his outspoken support in creating a Cabinet level Department of Peace and his recent sponsorship of House Joint Resolution 55 which calls for an immediate cease fire and withdrawal plan from Iraq. Running late out of a meeting with the Syrian Ambassador to the House floor for a vote, the Congressman picked up the phone to talk about his
plans for peace.
Julie: Thank you for taking my call.
Congressman Kucinich: Sure, go ahead.
Julie: With the proposed Department of Peace, there is possible overlap among Departments of Health, Education, Defense etc, in areas such as domestic violence, child abuse and so forth. How do you see people giving up turf among bureaucracies, to what might be considered another bureaucracy?
Congressman Kucinich: There’s no organized national approach to domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, violence in the school, racial violence, violence against gays – any of these problems. The Department of Peace would have an integrated organized approach and help to further empower all groups that are currently doing that work. We would try to work together on the disparate programs that are now operating, giving them more depth, more reach, more funding and make it happen so that it is the kind of structure that would facilitate resources from Washington to local communities and school districts.
Julie: What kind of support is there across party lines?
Congressman Kucinich: I think that by the next introduction of the bill we’re going to start seeing Republicans taking part in supporting this because they are starting to see the implications for character based education which is already popular among Republicans. We’re really talking about teaching children peace, peace sharing, neutrality, looking at the other person as an aspect of oneself. It’s an approach which really helps an individual, helps the child grow and in turn helps communities grow.
Julie: Money is scarce. There’s no peace ‘crisis’ like there was the terrorist crisis when Homeland Security was established. Isn’t this an issue, the establishment of a new department, even if philosophically people agree with it?
Congressman Kucinich: Are you kidding? There is no more urgent time than now to come forward with a whole different approach which challenges the inevitability of war. I mean, war is conflict at large. War, in the microcosm, is the conflicts in all life, it’s conflict between nations or large groups of people and in all the history of the world. Our ability to come forward with this is going to have more implications now than ever. Either we find a way to successfully explore the science of human relations and learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or, as I think John Kennedy said years ago: “we’ll perish together as fools.” We have an urgency to this. Nuclear proliferation requires that we find ways of engaging in communication.
Julie: There are those who believe we can’t bring peace to the world until we have peace in our own lives, that we cannot change others, we can only change ourselves. And then there is the spiritual activism approach, exemplified by Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Thich Nhat Hanh. Would you comment on these two approaches?
Congressman Kucinich: First of all, we cannot separate ourselves from the rest of the world. The world is interconnected and interdependent, and each one of us makes choices, and as each of us chooses, so chooses the world. It is true that if you aspire to peace, peace should begin within oneself.
But let me ask you, each time an individual makes that journey and goes from a life that has been wrecked by violence to one that is crowned by peace, is she, within that story of that one person, the potential of all people? Each time one person chooses peace and works to incorporate peace in every moment of their life, they help to create peace in other people’s lives as well. Peace has a magnetic, radiant quality to it, and when you give peace, you receive it back and this is part of what we necessarily will teach.
Julie: Would there be a spiritual component?
Congressman Kucinich: The human spirit was made for peace. We come from a position of peace. We descended into this world under conditions that are inherently peaceful. It’s only as we make our journey through the world that we learn that people use violence to resolve their differences. There is, of course, a profound connection between a condition of peace and a condition of spiritual appreciation.
Julie: You’ve stated that we can “consciously choose” peace, in reference to wars going on around the world today. How do you propose to take this to the main stream?
Congressman Kucinich: It is in the mainstream. There are over 70 members of the U.S. Congress who are supporting this, I think 74 members. You can’t get more mainstream than members of Congress. It is a mainstream idea whose time has come and it will save our nation. This is an idea that will save the world. This is an idea that reflects the greatest traditions of great spirits, and which is what essentially lies in this extant. The spiritual principles that stand behind it define it in ways that are practical. Peace is very practical. War is very impractical. And as we continue to show the potential for a new direction here, this is becoming more and more popular.
You know, there are city counselors across the country passing out resolutions in favor of it [Department of Peace]. Political parties in over a dozen states have passed resolutions from their state committees supporting a Cabinet run Department of Peace. This is an idea whose time has come. It’s not only an American movement, this is happening worldwide; people are recognizing there’s a need to set up a structure of peace, and this is one way to do it. It’s not the only way, but it is a path that more people recognize: if we build peace into the very structure of government, then we have the potential of making peace part of the everyday life of our nation.
Julie: If there were, right now, a Department of Peace, in what ways might you say it would be interfacing in a peacemaking effort in the Middle East with the Secretary of State, the Department of Defense, the Pentagon or the U.N?
Congressman Kucinich: In this context, the Secretary of Peace would have at his or her disposal a broad base of support for the President in providing options that would move toward resolution of conflict. Specifically, in the same consciousness that informs the Department of Peace, House Joint Resolution 55 would have the President call for an immediate cessation of violence, bringing all parties together without preconditions for a long term solution. From that would go in [to the area] a international peacekeeping presence, and that is a practical extension of the philosophy of the Department of Peace. That proposal is the singular proposal right now that would guide our nation to a totally different role in the world, not standing apart isolated from the world, as violence cycles in the Middle East, but actively engaging all parties towards trying to not just bring an end to the conflict in the short-term but also in the long-term.
Julie: Dr. John Hagelin has organized another “mass meditation” to bring down the level of violence, specifically to contribute to worldwide peace. Are you familiar with that?
Congressman Kucinich: I’m familiar with it and with Dr. Hagelin. I admire his work and I certainly appreciate his brilliant efforts to take the Unified Field Theory of Einstein to the science of human relations. Dr. Hagelin is somebody who’s very important in terms of understanding the ability of each one of us to transform.
Julie: LA YOGA promotes vegetarianism as one form of nonviolence. I’ve read you’re a vegan. Would you address some of the more far-reaching implications of the choice of vegetarianism, environmental, for example?
Congressman Kucinich: Well, you know, as John Robbins has written in his Diet for a New Planet, the choices that we make about our food do have an impact on the planet – on the consumption of grain, on the use of water, on the whole range of environmental matters, so it’s a direct connection.
But I want to say though that I don’t think that you can force people to change their diets. Diets are very personal and very sensitive, and when any of us shares our experience with a diet, we sometimes may find people who are interested and others who are not. I made my choices and I think that each of us has the chance to have the choices that we make in food, which say a lot about who we are. If we are what we eat, then we should be careful about the choices that we’re making, because it tells us where we’re going.
Julie: In a speech on July 25, you stated that “the United States stands alone in our ability to bring an end to the violence in the Middle East and relieve the humanitarian catastrophe that has enveloped the people of Lebanon, Palestine and Israel.” My question is: with the war in Iraq conducted the way it has been, why do you say the U.S. is uniquely qualified to bring peace to the Middle East?
Congressman Kucinich: Because despite the tremendous tragedy which our government brought to the people of Iraq, we are still the world’s only acknowledged superpower, and we still – even with all the problems we have – have the ability and the reach to be able to move people from where they are to a new condition. We must have the intention to do so, and at his moment, there does not appear to be an intention within the Administration.
But there’s a resolution which I’ve alluded to, House Joint Resolution 55, which gives members of Congress the opportunity to affirm the United States’ ability to be able make a difference, if only our President will act, and we have to. We always have to keep hope alive, that those who make decisions, even if we disagree with them, have the capacity to be able to change their positions.
Julie: If you have a personal history with yoga and/or meditation, our readers would be interested in knowing about it.
Congressman Kucinich: Of course. I try to make every moment of my life a meditation and in that sense, continue to consciously affirm my interconnectedness with people at all times. Beyond that, my readings have led me to discover what is called fire yoga, agni yoga. And it is a series of sutras, or lessons, that are deeply spiritual, that address the human heart and that are firmly rooted in a belief in the power of love.
Julie: Do you ever feel alone in the legislature with your feelings and your approach to peace, considering your understanding of the way energy works and the unique kind of language that you’re able to use?
Congressman Kucinich: You know, I’m among friends, and we have differences of opinion, but we’re friends. We’re all brothers and sisters and we find in life that some of our best teachers are those with whom we have the strongest disagreements. So, no, I feel right at home.
Julie: This magazine, LA YOGA, serves Southern California, which is the largest community of yogis in the nation. In what ways would you like to see our readers involve ourselves in the peace movement, as you propose it?
Congressman Kucinich: Well let me tell you. We’re doing a couple of things that you’d be interested in. First of all I’d refer you to a website, Kucinich.us, because there are always ideas that we’re sharing with people how we can create more compassionate politics. But beyond that, we are about to launch something that is really big.
Julie: Can you talk about it?
Congressman Kucinich: We’re launching what we call “EarthBlog.” It’s a video log, and people will able to post their videos about peace.
Let me tell you, this is going to be just an amazing communication tool for creating peace in the world, that’s all I can tell you right now. We’re really excited about it.
Julie: What would you like to say in closing?
Congressman Kucinich: Peace is inevitable.
For more information, go to www.kucinich.gov.
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2002-2006
LA Yoga Ayurveda & Health Magazine
