Dennis Kucinich (D-Lollypop Guild…err, Ohio) Wants You To Wake Up!
By Nate • Aug 26th, 2008 • Category: Politics
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Dennis Kucinich is fun as hell.
Wake up America! Adorable.
Look, I like Dennis Kucinich. I think that, out of all of the politicians out there on a national level today, he most represents the staunch idealism and pragmatic optimism and bedrock sense of right and wrong that Paul Wellstone had.
For those of you who don’t remember and don’t feel like clicking on the Wikipedia link above, Paul Wellstone was a Senator from my home state of Minnesota. He served from 1991 until his death in a plane crash in 2002. He was a member of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (affiliated with the Democratic Party, but we Minnesotans take pride in our farming and labor) and a liberal progressive. He was an underdog who was consistently outspent in his campaigns and used his appeal to the everyman and his tireless heart to win. He was also very good at his job.
Wellstone also is, aside from Kucinich, the only national representative that I’ve met in person.
I was in high school, on a week-long trip to Washington D.C. for a young journalist’s conference. Two delegates where selected from each state. One of our many activities during the week was an appointment to go and meet one of our home state’s Congressional representatives. We got to meet Paul Wellstone. He had his secretary hold all his calls, pushed back a meeting, shut his office door and gave us both his undivided attention for nearly a half-hour. He asked us in-depth questions about our lives and our families and related to us some stories and life lessons.
I know it was just a quick encounter and that all representatives have to put on a fresh face for their constituents, but, and what I’ve heard and read about his backs this up, Paul seemed different. He seemed like he actually cared and wanted to know what we had to say. Like he wasn’t just putting on a face and smiling and nodding his way through our visit. I felt like, by the time we left, he cared about us as people. That’s a pretty rare feeling to get after only a half hour with someone, but that’s what I feel.
I think that Dennis Kucinich is like that, too. Speeches like this back that up. So, really, Wake Up America!
Nate is pretty sure Mark Twain said it best, "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place."
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Wow, Nate, that meeting with Congressman Wellstone will forever live with you. I’m quite impressed that he made the time that he did for a high school kid. That just shows how much he cared about you and was truly interested in what you were doing. And apparently the meeting made quite an impression on you young mind. It’s a shame that he died so tragically in a plane accident.