Dennis Kucinich, author of the Department of Peace and Nonviolence legislation, spoke in Livonia on Saturday night. The gathering was hosted by Citizens for Peace, the Department of Peace campaign people in that area. At least six people from SW Michigan were there.

Dennis spoke about the Department of Peace and other issues, then answered questions from the floor. I was totally impressed with his ideas, his intentions and his integrity. He is truly a courageous champion of peace.

Below are notes I took of his talk. Following that is a news report that appeared in the Livonia Observer newspaper.

Bob Weir's notes
Cells fighting each other is cancer. People fighting each other is war. Both have the same effect.

People are inherently peaceful but are conditioned to be violent. Human unity makes peace inevitable. What is innermost in a person becomes their outermost actions.

Domestic violence is a war within a house and is just as bad as war within the world. Relationships are a test of how much we really stand for peace.

Global warring leads to global warming.

Current evolutionary biology proposes that, after a long period of steady growth, a species evolves to a state of rapid growth called "Punctuated Equilibrium." There is a corollary in social evolution. We are at the threshold of an upward spiral where will become the people we've been waiting for. When spirit enters matter, matter ascends.

The Democratic Party has a problem. They're not committed. Michigan, through the current primary election, has the power to change the world.

U.S. politics today is an auction; therefore, we have the best government that money can buy. (Dennis takes contributions only from individuals: not from corporations, unions or PACs.)

Fear is the opposite of trust. Fear is a plague that creates paralysis. Trust requires courage, which leads to expansiveness. When leaders are fearful, their actions become the destiny of the people. Right now, the U.S. is acting a rotten script in a bad B movie, and this must be changed.

Article VI of the Constitution says that international law is to be honored as the supreme law of the land. This Article is being ignored in U.S. government today.

Every student should receive four years of college education free in exchange for two years of mandatory service to either the military or social service projects.

Article in Livonia Observer newspaper (http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/NEWS10/80112022/1027)
Candidate Kucinich: Let's change America's role in the world
By Dave Varga

Dennis Kucinich brought his message of personal commitment, courage and, of course, peace to a crowd of more than 200 people in Livonia Saturday evening.

The Democratic presidential candidate was at times a college professor, at times a humorous preacher as he shared his views for most of an hour and fielded half a dozen audience questions at Unity of Livonia.

He noted the significance of the name of the church where he was speaking, saying that our nation was formed as an assertion of human unity. He sees the world as one, as interconnected and interdependent.

"We're at moment in time where we're literally challenged to be more than we are, better than we are," he said.

Kucinich, an Ohio Congressman and the only Democrat campaigning in Michigan just days before the presidential primary, may be best known for introducing a bill to create a cabinet-level Department of Peace and Nonviolence in 2005. The event Saturday was hosted by Citizens for Peace, a Livonia-based group.

Kucinish challenged the notion that war is inevitable for humans, saying we can be conditioned for peace.

In the buildup to the war on Iraq, he said, there was focus on differences, creating scapegoats in Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people. Lies and distortions followed. "Suddenly we're at war with people that didn't attack us." He said.

In answer to a question about fear, Kucinich said such feelings were pushed at a national level before we attacked Iraq and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. He drew great applause when he referred the "mass murder" of a million people there.

Unfortunately, he said, the public has been played — with fears of terrorists, "condition Orange," duct tape and plastic on windows, weapons of mass destruction, etc. "Who wrote this script? It's a rotten script in a bad B movie and it's got to be changed," he said.

Kucinich said leaders must be willing to meet leaders, eye-to-eye; they should commit to an end to unilateralism, pre-emption and first strike. However, he sees the need for America's defense. "As president, I want to change America's role in the world. Oh, we'll be able to defend ourselves. If I thought the country was at risk, I wouldn't hesitate to act," he said.

His view of a national department focusing on peace isn't just international. Kucinich talked of his own experience of being abused as a child, saying there's a need for students to learn nonviolence, for people to get professional help in targeting school violence, attacks on racial groups and gays, dealing with gangs, and more. These issues impact families, he said.

"With the American economy going like this," he said, pointing down, "homes are becoming cauldrons."

In answers to questions, Kucinich said Social Security must never be privatized; he would lead the way to public rather than private funding of elections; and he supports a "carbon-free energy policy."

"We have to believe in our capacity to change things," he said.

A longshot in the polls, Kucinich took a mild swipe at the fact that Michigan Democratic leaders suggest voters choose "uncommitted" on the ballot Tuesday. That's because the ballot lists only two other still-active Democratic candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. Mike Gravel.

"Our Democratic party at the state and national level has a problem. They're uncommitted," he said, to laughter and applause. He rattled off a lack of commitment — on the war, controlling banks, handling the economy. Then, he added: "It's OK. We've been in relationships like that. I'm ready for a commitment."

After the talk and a standing ovation, Kucinich signed copies of his book, "The Courage to Survive" as audience members talked about how impressed they were by him.

"I think it's been a tremendous lecture," said Harold Stokes of Redford, a member of Citizens for Peace. "We've got a person with a conscience who has a feeling for everybody, all people."

Mary Casey of Farmington Hills said she'd been undecided and planning to vote uncommitted when she arrived; she carried a Kucinich lawn sign out of the event. She was pleased that Kucinich campaigned here, saying she'd e-mailed Sen. Barack Obama asking him to visit Michigan.

Kucinich impressed with "his rationality. He's a grown up, not speaking negatively about other candidates," Casey said.

Flo Smith of Commerce Township said Kucinich was "impassioned and full of common sense and wisdom that you just don't ordinarily hear from political candidates."

Smith heard Kucinich Friday at the University of Detroit and she had also been ready to vote uncommitted. Can he win Michigan? "I would like to say yes but my honest answer is no," she said. "But I think he has a chance to have an impact."