Evolutionary Politics
by Congressman Dennis Kucinich [D, Ohio]
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The following text was originally printed in the latest issue of Timeline
Magazine - a bimonthly publication of the Foundation for Global Community.
Last month, as debates began in Congress about authorizing the President to
go to war against Iraq, Representative Dennis Kucinich, (D-OH) visited the
Global Community offices in Palo Alto to address a standing-room-only
audience. Kucinich noted that the world view which allows us to consider
such actions as attacking Iraq dominates our current thinking. But this
world view is obsolete, he said, and needs to be replaced by a more
realistic view.
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An Address by Representative Dennis Kucinich
"We are in a period of chaos," Kucinich said, "which is driven by fear, by
control, by power, by secrecy, mistrust, fragmentation, isolation, and by
policies which use the lexicon of unilateralism and of preemption.
"But the world view - that system - cannot stand. That system is falling
apart - we're seeing its last gasp right now. We are in the midst of an
evolution in politics. We're not seeing the beginning of a new empire
because that's ridiculous. What we are seeing is this old energy playing
itself out in the world. And with its disintegration we will see a new
integration; chaos will yield to harmony."
Kucinich believes that this political evolution can occur fairly rapidly.
He noted that biological evolution throughout history has not always taken
place at a steady rate, and quoted Dr. Bela Banathy from his book, Guided Evolution of Society:
A Systems View:
"Fossil records show that evolution has been static
for most of the time, but the state of equilibrium is punctuated by rapid
change that occurs suddenly over a brief period of time. Discontinuity
between two generations has far-reaching consequences for conscious
evolution and for societal change. When an evolutionary stage reaches its
limitations and begins to decline, it creates disruption, chaos, and social
disorder. In the decline state, an evolutionary system cannot change
incrementally, it has to transform into a new evolutionary entity by
conscious evolution."
One such rapid transformation, Kucinich noted, was the birth of America in
1776. It was not just an American revolution, he pointed out, but an
evolution in human consciousness, an event that created a new form of
government for this country, and for the world. We need to imagine and
work for such a sudden shift today. One way to help bring about the change,
he said , is to talk with others about the world we envision, to bring
others together to dialogue, to bring back the kind of community that as a
nation we've known in the past. Our words will help create the kind of
world we want, Kucinch believes.
"It's a conscious effort. We have to call it forward. that's the power of
consciousness - to call it forward. The world is multidimensional. The new
vision is an holistic one that understands the power of intention and the
power of cooperation, of mutuality, of trust, of seeing the world as one.
That vision then becomes our outer reality. Ours is the ability, through
our consciousness, to create peace, to create love. The organ of
transformation is the human heart because there is nothing - no weapon ever
made - that is more powerful than a human heart.
"Our founders, and those who followed is that spirit, had an understanding
of America's connection to something transcendent. We need to recreate the
America of our dreams, an America that is a country of peace, a country
that stands for human rights, that works for total nuclear disarmament,
that leads the way to abolish biological and chemical weapons, that works
to achieve cooperation in protecting our global environment, that works to
achieve cooperation in international law through an inter-national criminal
court, that works to abolish all land mines, that works for a small-arms
treaty. We need to confirm America's purpose through cooperating with a
community of nations, with the understanding that our country's role always
has been to be a light to the world."
Conflict and Change
When asked a question regarding the inevitability of conflict, Kucinich
replied:
"Some people in Washington today buy into that theory. The danger
there is one of a self-fulfilling prophecy because if you put your
consciousness in the direction of conflict, you're quite likely to get that
conflict. Instead, we need to make nonviolence an organizing principle in
our society for domestic as well as international policy. Internationally,
we need to focus on intervention and mediation, and celebrate what Franklin
D Roosevelt called
'the science of human relationships.'
"One view of history is that events happen and we're just bystanders -
these forces somehow don't yield to human involvement. Another view is that
we can intervene - that's why we're here. We can change things. Through
knowledge and love, we create the world anew every day. The cold, flat, and
often dead dictums of history need to be given an infusion of compassion
and energy to create new possibilities."
Dealing with Anger
When asked if he experiences anger when working for peace, and if so how he
handles it, Kucinich responded:
"When you're involved in political action,
there is always a conflict in experiencing negativity at the same time
you're trying to do something positive. All of us have
that experience. The difference is not being angry, because negativity is
really an intent that somehow gets embedded in anger. It's hard not to be
angry: Our country is about to wage an immoral war in Iraq. But if we can
avoid getting hooked by the anger - try not to judge the individuals
involved, but keep our eyes focused on creating that world that we desire -
then there's hope. You bring that hope to the moment because you are
claiming the essence of your own humanity. Each of us has the power to
change someone else's thinking, and as we approach
that moment - inspired and with compassion - chances are we may well change
peoples' thinking."
The System and Power
When asked about his reaction to being in Washington, Kucinich said:
"One
of the surprises I had when I first got to Congress was about my
stereotypes about Washington. I found that there are a lot of thoughtful
men and women in Washington. They're very skilled and very bright and very
caring. The problem is the system; it's something that can be almost
overwhelming. You get into Washington and you become part of the system.
You see this huge bureaucracy, the structure of the buildings; everything
says, I'm here, I'm part of the system.
"That system has almost a specific
gravity and you can get caught in it - particularly with respect to power.
In Washington people are sometimes confused by the power that's embedded in
the structure of
government. If you come to Washington seeking power, you're in trouble
because you have to have that sense of power before you get there. It's
confusing when people are elected to an office by a process which seemingly
confers power on them, then find that winning that office didn't give them
power. Then they feel powerless - powerless to stop even a war. That's the
paradox. So there are many good people in Washington and it's just the
system."
Local Politics
"The work that I do as a practical matter in politics begins with going to
people's homes, going door-to-door - either myself or having others do it -
and talking to people. We need to start a new conversation in this country.
In some ways we've lost that capacity. Our politics removed itself from the
grassroots years ago when federal campaigns began relying on TV to
communicate the message. Activities that were aimed at going directly to
people began to change and the emphasis was 'raise the money so you can get
on TV.
"In its terminal stage, it's reflected in members of Congress spending four
days a week on the phone at the party headquarters in Washington and not
having time to participate in the debates. Because they're raising money so
they can get on TV. And they seldom see their own constituents. I repeat:
They're good people - it's a bad system. So we need to go back to
door-to-door, talk to our neighbors, have that conversation over the fence,
reach out to each other again. that's how you do it. People talking to
people. People on the phones calling about something that's going on in the
community, it registers."
Building Community
Kucinich continued:
"Today we have the electronic Town Hall - Web chats,
Web pages, e-mails - that enable us to connect with each other. That's a
real power today. And if you extend the old grassroots campaigning to the
Web, you have a national campaign on almost anything. That helps build a
sense of community, which is some of what we've lost in this so-called
modern society where people bowl alone, and eat alone, and watch movies
alone, and do their banking alone. It's by capturing that sense of
community that we become empowered, that we become once again 'We the
People' as a conscious, collective expression of our hopes and aspirations.
As we reconnect as a community, that's when we start to affirm some of our
basic rights. What is the right to assemble? We have to celebrate it by
coming together. What is freedom of speech, except that someone stands up
and expresses a point of view in a community meeting. We have to exercise
those freedom muscles again, and then we strengthen our country.
"How it works out depends on our own willingness, our own belief, our faith
in ourselves that we can make a difference. We lose that at times. We see
these big institutions and think they're impenetrable, not accessible, we
can't move them:
'I can't do anything about that. I make a phone call and
it goes into the wastebasket - nobody cares.' Not so. You can change
anything. There is no institution in a democratic society that is beyond
our reach. If we have faith in ourselves, then we can have faith in our
country."
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– Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Speech delivered at the Americans for Democratic Action event held in Los Angeles on February 17, 2002. Go to Spirit of Freedom for a biography of this Democrat Congressman, from Cleveland Ohio.
Dennis Kucinich
Special Thanks:
Originally printed in the latest issue of Timeline Magazine - a bimonthly publication of the Foundation for Global Community.
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