In
America They Came First For
Dennis Kucinich
By Jerry D. Rose
27 January,
2008
Countercurrents.org
Martin Niemoeller gave us the
classic description of how fascism (corporate political dominance)
comes into the world on little cat feet and remains to devour everything
in its path. Speaking of the ascension of the Nazis, Niemoeller says
that, in Germany, they came first for the communists and he did not
speak up, because he was not a communist. Then they went for the Jews
and he did not speak up because he was not a Jew; for the trade unionists,
same story, for the Catholics, same story. By the time they came for
him, there was no one left to speak up.
This, I think, is the most ominous aspect of the process by which
Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic Party presidential candidate whose views
are considerably to the left of all the "top tier" candidates
(but not of the majority of the American people), was excluded from
all the recent presidential debates, despite a Nevada court's ruling
that his exclusion in the Las Vegas debate was unfair and unacceptable.
Kucinich of course "spoke up" for himself, although his
speaking was scarcely covered by the main stream media outlets which
had been the perpetrators of the exclusion. But how about everyone
else who was "not Kucinich?" What of the three "top
tier" Democrats....Clinton, Obama, Edwards....who might have
been expected to exert a spot of noblesse oblige toward their competitor
and insist that Kucinich be included in the debates; even boycotting
participation themselves if he were excluded? Where were they? They
simply continued their "debates" which, without any major
substantive differences of viewpoint among the candidates, alternated
between "love fests" and nasty personal accusations and
innuendos, engaging in pissing contests when America desperately needed
a debate on solutions of the country's pressing problems, with all
solutions "on the table" and none excluded because the media
decided that some of the most popular ones (like real universal health
care or immediate end of the Iraqi war) did not belong on that table.
Had the exclusionary activity ended with the decisions of the broadcast
media and the acquiescence of the favored candidates, the situation
would be troubling but not surprising nor especially alarming. But
what of others who might have been expected to "speak up"
for Kucinich? How about the alternative media, no friends of the MSM
forces that perpetrated the offense? With some notable exceptions
(Common Dreams, Alter Net, Nation Magazine and Women's International
Perspective, to name a view), these media have, for the most part,
continued on their customary agenda of hammering Clinton, Obama or
both. Counter Punch, self-described as "America's Best Political
Newsletter," has had nothing to say, so far as I have noticed
in my daily perusals. (CP has a longstanding editorial bias against
Kucinich though he, more perhaps than any other U.S. leader, shares
CP's Israel-critical perspective.) But then all of these entities
are "not Kucinich," so they keep silent while they shut
out consciousness of the impending arrival of suppression of all internet-based
"dissent."
Then, too, I must ask what of those "progressive" forces
most closely aligned with the Kucinich agenda, for example, the co-sponsors
of HR 676, the universal health care bill, including most members
of the so-called "Progressive Caucus? Have any of these people
spoken up, or has their speaking been muted in the reportage of the
MSM or of their almost-equally silent journalistic counterparts in
the alternative press? And, finally, where are the Progressive Democrats
of America, staffed largely by former Kucinich campaigners, and whose
online presidential preference poll was easily won by Kucinich? Apparently,
PDA is so adamantly aligned with the campaign of John Edwards, their
designated "other" poll winner, that they did not want to
offend John by speaking up for Dennis. Shortly before the Nevada caucuses,
PDA asked its Nevada members who supported Kucinich in the first round
of the caucuses to support Edwards in the second round if they didn't
get the requisite 15% support to gain delegates; without a whisper
of a reciprocal request that Edwards supporters vote for Kucinich
in the event of a reverse scenario. I can only wonder that PDA staffers
felt themselves "not Kucinich" even though many of them
came out of that campaign; but were so ambitious to support a "winning"
candidate that they chose to work for a candidate "more likely
to succeed."
Maybe that last thought is the most disturbing of all; that America
has become so "success" oriented that we seldom ask whether
a person should get an academy award or people should be making money
on Wall Street; we're all scorecard holders whose main interest is
in winning or losing, not whether people deserve to win or lose. Dennis
Kucinich is a "loser" in the minds of most Americans, if
they are aware of him at all; the fact that he said he saw a flying
saucer is probably known to more people than is the inspiring vision
of American and world futures that he articulates so eloquently. Communists
were "losers" in 1930s Germany, so who cared about their
"civil rights?" But again let us be reminded that today's
silent majority who sit by as the losers are suppressed are destined
to become tomorrow's losers, as fascism continues its relentless march
toward making losers of us all.
Yes, they have "come for" Dennis Kucinich and, with his
withdrawal from the presidential race, that eloquent voice is removed
officially from a presidential debate from which de facto it had been
removed by an active corporate media and their allies in the sleeping
public. And now, there is the very likely prospect that the same combination
of forces may deprive him of his congressional seat and from being
heard in that forum as well. It is precisely among that legion of
"sleepers" that any vestiges of independent thinking will
be roused from their slumbers as the fascist powers come for "them."
Jerry D. Rose, a retired sociology professor from
State University of New York, lives in Gainesville Florida. He edits
and publishes The Sun State Activist at http://www.sunstateactivist.org.
He can be contacted at [email protected].