To my fellow Citizens,

As an early primary state, you are once again being called upon to make one of the most important decisions of your life and for the your children's future. This should not simply be partisan. We are at a cross roads of our civilization, our country and what values we choose to embrace. The next leader will need to make difficult choices on the best use of our limited resources.

After our last 7 years, the statement is so obvious, what we do domestically and internationally has consequences that potentially touch every man, woman and child living on this planet. The decisions made by George Bush and Co have taken us to the brink of Armageddon. The problems and the solution can no longer be made with a band-aid. We need to re-evaluate our values, our priorities with a goal towards a world of REAL peace for generations to come. Every action has consequences; they are not executed in a vacuum. We have witnessed the poor choices of the Bush administration. Through their insatiable quest for world domination, they have destroyed our economy, placed millions of citizens on the unemployment lines, have systematically curtailed our civil liberties through the Patriot Act, eliminated all environmental protections for clean air and water. All will have dire consequences for many generations to come. We have become the international class bully regarded by majority of the world’s population. Does this make us any safer? The Bush administration’s policies have fueled mistrust and created an atmosphere of potential terrorists attacked against America.

Tax breaks for the ultra wealthy, deregulation of industry and the insane proliferation of the Pentagon budget has now placed America with a $9 trillion debt. The interest on this debt coupled with $1.3 Trillion expense for re-building America’s infrastructure, the need to totally fund Social Security and Medicare for the baby boomers (a promise that needs to be kept) results in a ‘personal’ check for every man, woman and child of $350,000.

Now we could ask the Pentagon to find the $3 trillion it has misplaced, cancel absurd military projects that the most knowledgeable say are all ‘folly’ or simple eliminate the public education system in America for everyone except the children of the ultra wealthy. Our next leader will need to have the courage to make these very difficult choices. George Bush says we need to sacrifice.

Most Americans are willing to do their part. The question is when is Corporate America willing to do theirs. George Bush has one mantra, legislative policies that have filled the coffers from his corporate cronies and wealthy campaign contributors through privatization and deregulation while gutting all safety nets for the working and middle class of our country.

At first blush you may think of one of our leading democratic candidates who is now a household name. I’m going to ask you to dig a little deeper and ……REALLY DREAM! Dream of a country where we live and love together, that discrimination is an embarrassment of a prior generation, that every child is educated to reach their fullest potential, where our governments’ policies do not foster disease, where we learn to live respectfully with our natural resources and strive to protect them as a gift for generations that follow. Dream of a country that is generous to our veterans and ‘first responders’, and appreciates their sacrifice. Dream of a country where the most important occupation is teaching our youth and compensate them accordingly. Dream of a country where millions of our children are not homeless or living below the poverty level. Dream of a country where 44 million Americans are not without health insurance. Dream internationally that our policies encourage good will and a favorable attitude towards America verses the alternative. Dream that we spent our generosity to alleviate hunger, disease and a poor standard of living. that is fueled by the insanity of NAFTA and WTO. Dream of a country where we champion Fair Trade .

As middle age adults we have stopped dreaming, we accept ‘business as usual’. We are too practical, too reasonable, and compromise is a very lonely decision. When was the last time you voted FOR a candidate not AGAINST one? When you cast your compromised vote; think about your children and grandchildren and the world you would like to leave them. The late great Paul Wellstone said, “vote your conscience”.

There is only one candidate that brings the Democratic Party back to its roots and his name is Dennis Kucinich. He will work tirelessly for the diminishing middle class, who will work to elevate our working poor to a livable standard of living. There is only one candidate who can bring the 50% disenfranchised Americans to the polls for the first time because he hears their cries. If you are not familiar with Congressman Kucinich, I encourage you to go to his website, contact the local campaign office, listen to him speak and by all means read/listen to a “Prayer for America”. Change comes when you take a ‘leap of faith’, when you say ‘no more’! It does not come through evolution, but rather revolution.

If we as the guardians of the Constitution, stop dreaming for a better tomorrow what do we have in its place…more of the same? Is this good enough for the greatest nation on the planet?

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my fellow Americans a happy holiday season and a prosperous and healthy New Year! A vote for Kucinich and his Department of Peace is a vote for Peace of Earth.

Serry J Winkler

A proud Kucinich 2004 presidential delegate

koolkarma817@yahoo.com

USA