An Open Letter to Dennis Kucinich on Peace in a Military State

I have talked to Dennis on the phone but it's been a while.  He personally sent me a copy of this speech.  Here's what I have to say about it -- an open letter.  I hope he gets it.

Dennis:

As is true to form, your speech is breathtaking in its scope and packed with everything we need to know about what is wrong with America's embrace of aggression and militarism.

Since I have nothing to lose, and you have everything to gain from my unsolicited critique, I'll just give it to you straight with both barrels.

Like EVERYTHING I see coming out of brilliant, recognized, widely-admired peace proponents like yourself, your message lacks TWO VITAL, GAME-CHANGING COMPONENTS . . .

1.  It doesn't speak to the masses, the 200 million Americans we need to reach to turn things around.
2. It offers no decisive solution to the gravest threat in the history of the world -- America's out-of-control military and addiction to war.

It's easy from the "inside" of the peace movement to think our message is valid and powerful.  It is valid in every respect, but unfortunately fails to persuade.  It fails to even get noticed by the vast majority of Americans.  The people we need to reach may not even know who Dennis Kucinich is, they're so dumbed-down and brainwashed.  They certainly don't know who Gareth Porter or David Swanson are.  So everything you well-meaning, articulate folks say is preaching to the choir.

Why do we need these people?  You said it yourself.  While you were in Congress, you made proposals, you argued, you reasoned, you made deals.  What happened?  You were brushed aside like dandruff.  Then you were railroaded out of Congress.

I don't know how you read this, but I know what the correct reading is.  THESE ASSHOLES WILL NEVER LISTEN!  THEY WILL NEVER EMBRACE PEACE!

Therefore . . .

THEY MUST BE REPLACED!  There has to be almost a clean sweep of Congress or the march to war and annihilation will continue.

THAT'S why we need 200 million people on our side.  It's that simple.

Are you offended yet?  Are you still reading this?

SO . . . any speech, any strategy, any campaign on behalf of peace, which does not include, 1) a message for the masses, and 2) a decisive strategy for removing the warmongers from power, will fail.  As long as the peace movement continues to delude itself about this, it will continue to go backwards.

I'm exhausted trying to get you to look at my Peace Dividend idea.  Thank goodness, a brilliant, passionate activist just made the case for me.  Here's John R. Hall's very recent article at The Greanville Post:  http://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/04/28/the-peace-dividend-a-time-to-take-dead-aim-and-attack/

Please read it.  Think about it.  I sincerely hope you want to talk more about this.  I'm still available.

You have my number.

John Rachel

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[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


An Open Letter to Dennis Kucinich on Peace in a Military State

R2P = L2K

 

Robert Scheer at Truthdig treats us to an oft-recurring refrain in his impassioned pleas for sanity and common sense.  I've heard it a number of  times in the many fascinating interviews I've heard of this brilliant, inspiring journalist. 

Here it is . . .

"What happens to these people?"

Indeed!

What happened to Colin Powell?

He ruined a sterling reputation and destroyed his historical legacy by lying at the U.N. -- with the whole world watching -- about WMDs in Iraq.  Hundreds of thousands of people died so he could make his boss, George W. Bush, proud of him.  Tragic on so many levels.

Here's a good one:  What happened to Dick Cheney?

This is the man behind the curtain, personally responsible for more chaos and carnage than anyone since Richard Nixon murdered 3 million people in Vietnam and Cambodia.  This is really mind-boggling!  Watch him explain in 1994 why we should not destroy Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein.

  

Okay, Cheney is a psychopath.  So we can't expect consistency, much less common sense.

But what happened to Samantha Power?

She is an example of someone who has truly made the transition to the dark side. 

She wrote a book on the "responsibility to protect" or R2P, as the convenient acronym goes.  It was called A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, and won a Pulitzer Prize. However, this once noble framework and call for responsible, moral action is now the neocon public relations weapon of choice to bomb and destroy any country that has the audacity to disagree with America's corporate imperial ambitions.  Power herself has become a neocon war monger, who rails incessantly at any national leader or country who stands in the way of America's march to world hegemony.

R2P now equals L2K -- license to kill.

"What happens to these people?"

I think I can answer that.  But I'm not going to waste my time.  Because . . .

You know what?

I don't really care what happens to any of these people.  Not any more than I care exactly how a dog contracted rabies.  When the animal is frothing at the mouth, howling, leaping in the air, snapping at everything in sight, out of its mind and posing a danger to everyone -- children, old folks, anyone innocently strolling by -- there's only one immediate concern, and one sensible action.  We need to take action before someone gets hurt.


I'm not proposing shooting these people. But they do need to be isolated before they do any more harm to others.  They need to be called out, driven out, shut out, exiled from public life.  They must be removed from positions of power before anyone else gets hurt. 

"What happens to these people?"

I know what should happen to them.

No more pulling punches.  No more political correctness or obsequious politeness.

We don't behead here in America. But we certainly do eviscerate public figures --vilify and assassinate them in the public forums, smear and quarantine them, ridicule and demonize them personally, mock and marginalize their messages.  Usually it's the good decent ones, citizens and public servants who take their duty to their country seriously and are guided by genuine moral concerns and driven by selfless and magnanimous agendas. People like Don Siegelman, Edward Snowden, Dennis Kucinich, Chelsea Manning, John Kiriakou.


 

Time to turn the tables and call out the real enemies of America.

These people have made a sham of what this country stands for, lie and deceive the citizenry about the real agenda behind their faux-noble ideas, rationalize and obfuscate the horrifying consequences of their actions.

We'll start with Samantha Power. Her book, brimming with noble intentions, has morphed into a foreign policy brimming with lethal weapons.  She truly is a traitor to both herself and us.

We should show no more mercy toward her than she and her homicidal accomplices have the hundreds of thousands they've murdered, in the name of "responsibility to protect".

There should be no haven. Wherever this violent, disingenuous shrew appears publicly -- and even where possible privately -- everyone should be reminded she is a murderer and a war criminal.  When the outcries and collective revulsion sufficiently compounds and she is rendered totally ineffective and discredited, she will be toppled from her pulpit at the U.N. and the chances of survival for those who she now "protects" will be increased exponentially.

Rot in Hell Samantha Power!  You've killed enough people.

Make snuff movies or become a mercenary sniper.

Either is a perfect match for your CV.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



R2P = L2K