I received an email in February 2002, an already very dark time in U.S. history, which caused me to burst into tears. Alarmed, my husband asked what was the matter. I pointed to the screen and said I was reading a remarkable speech by a U.S. Congressman speaking out for America and what really matters. I felt hope for the first time since the unelected President had taken office and initiated his campaign of violence and devastation. The speech had been given by Dennis Kucinich; it was called A Prayer for America. It began, "I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy …"

I was so astonished by and grateful for Kucinich’s words, I forwarded the speech to my entire mailing list. Many, many people did so as well. Congressman Kucinich received tens of thousands of responses to that talk. Some months later, I published it in the appendix of my book, Entering the Ghost River: Meditations on the Theory and Practice of Healing,  (Hand to Hand 9/11/2002) wanting everyone who is interested in healing to know that the healing of our country and our lives was /is possible.

 The speech was brave. It had radical integrity. At a time when almost everyone was afraid to speak out and we were plunging helter-skelter toward repression and continuous war, Dennis Kucinich stood up and spoke against the policies that were beginning to ravage the country and the world, and for the principles upon which democracy and liberty are founded. He spoke out so forthrightly and so exactly that I knew that democracy and freedom are still possible.

After reading his speech, I made it my business to find out who Dennis Kucinich is. I began to research his record as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and as a Congressman. I began to study the legislation that he was proposing, particularly his continuing efforts to de-weaponize space and to create a Department of Peace. I began to speak to his aides and people surrounding him. Finally, I sought him out to speak to him myself. He responded warmly, candidly, openly. We had what I consider unprecedented conversations that were at once practical, highly intelligent, insightful and yet fully centered in the heart. I found that he is very thoughtful and that he listens deeply. My ‘research’ confirmed that a remarkable man has come to the fore.

Last December, I dreamed that I was attending the Democratic Convention. I arrived late, after all the opening speeches, to discover that the program had been altered. All the delegates had been asked to spend two hours researching peacemaking activities. They were visiting various booths and tables and taking part in meetings that had to do with the nuts and bolts of peacemaking. This was because Dennis Kucinich was going to win the nomination for President. I, myself, attended a small meeting of community organizers. When it was my turn to speak, I recounted the success of a recent multi-cultural arts project. Having failed to raise any government or foundation money for the project, I had decided to put it on anyway. Others who were interested in a festival of community and indigenous arts joined us and the project was fully realized and exceedingly successful.Th e participants in the meeting were encouraged by this story.

We are standing before a future where such a dream becomes possible. Dennis Kucinich is running for President. My dream tells me that he can and will win. It also tells me that he is a candidate that truly represents all the people and the different cultures that are so precious and so threatened. It tells me that what we hope for in our lives and for our children and grandchildren is truly possible.

Dennis Kucinich, working as he does, cooperatively, has the ideas and qualities necessary to challenge and disarm the cynical, greedy, violent forces that have taken control of this country and of our minds. He has the ability and the community support necessary to lead and govern this country according to ways that are dependably peaceful and true to the principles upon which this country is f ounded. Principles that we have seen violated again and again but that are, nevertheless, viable. Principles that become practical and expedient in his hands.

Needless to say, I have been scrutinizing the other candidates. It is absolutely essential, after years of being misled, to distinguish what a candidate says from what he might actually do. Of all the candidates, Kucinich is the visionary who, in dangerous times, is acting fearlessly every single day on behalf of real peace and real democracy. He is the only candidate so committed in his heart and mind to peace that he will devote himself to bringing it our country and to the world at large. A candidate who is not selling out his principles for money or power. A candidate who will realistically protect, in ways that are ethically and universally required given the power of the United States, all the living beings of the planet while fully protecting and representing the people of the this country. In other words, a President who does not make enemies, but who serves the future wholeheartedly.

Please support Dennis Kucinich. 

Please check out his websites to see what he is doing and thinking. 

Please support him with your activities and your energies.

Please circulate this and/or other materials that support his candidacy.

Please support him financially.

www.kucinich.us               
info@kucinich.us

www.kids4kucinich.org
www.wewantkucinich.com
www.favors.org/KNET

And please join with your heart and soul this unique and unparalleled campaign that is committed to laying a democratic foundation and creating consciousness as Dennis Kucinich moves toward the White House.

Sincerely,

Deena Metzger