Change.org compares my politics to those of the myriad of 2008 presidential candidates.
National politics is depressing, and it has been for a while. My political consciousness was raised early by seeing a headline of the Nixon resignation in the Chicago Tribune as a kid and following the ups and downs of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. I wonder now if that is the reason I am a progressive, because the timing of my respect for the office of President came when a liberal Democrat was in the Oval Office. Everything else is compared to him.
My expectations for what a liberal candidate should be like have been lowered again and again, occasionally finding glimmers like Paul Simon, Paul Tsongas and now Dennis Kucinich. For many reasons, I have never managed to vote for the winning guy. American politics bottomed out for me in 2004 when John Kerry was selected to run against George Bush. Tired of voting for the lesser of evils, I wrote in “Barbara Lee” knowing that not only did she have no chance of winning (she wasn’t even running) but that the write-in laws in Indiana didn’t count the vote (she wasn’t on the official write-in list). The presidential crowd is a deeper pool this time around, so I don’t know if Barbara will again get my vote.
The Change.org candidate selector confirmed what I already knew: Dennis Kucinich is the best match for me. He sometimes sounds like he is running for high school president instead of the U.S. variety, but he is also very sincere and genuinely progressive. He tries to offer solutions with some details and generally doesn’t waver with his ideology. Dennis was a guest blogger on the Huffington Post a while back, writing about the War in Iraq. Not everything is a perfect match, such as his support of an amendment to ban flag burning and his extreme position on free trade. There isn’t much about his politics though that I would complain about, especially in comparison to what we have been through the past couple decades.
What was a little surprising about the quiz—which is quite limiting with just 20 generalized questions—was the placement of Al Gore. All of the democrats are virtually indistinguishable, except for something not measured by Change.org, the level of superficiality (John Kerry being the worst offender). But I expected Gore to be closer to Kucinich than, say, Hillary Clinton. Instead, he combines a softer stance on pretty much everything with some fundamental differences involving crime. Ron Paul, the Republican Dennis Kucinich, is typically Republican on issues like Social Security, taxation, schools, and environment. Paul is a bit more in line with my beliefs when it comes to civil rights and social reform.
Dennis, by the way, will be appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” this Tuesday, October 16th. He has accepted Stephen Colbert’s challenge to Empty his Pockets!