Dennis Kucinich Talks on Trade, War and Health Care

Addressing the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles Sunday morning and then the Oregon AFL-CIO State Convention in Seaside on Sunday night, Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich told upbeat audiences that the United States will not be able to resolve its economic and immigration issues until it resolves its trade policies.

He also renewed his promise that his first act once he is in the Oval Office will be to cancel the United States' participation in NAFTA and the WTO.

Kucinich, who has a deeply loyal if relatively small following, insists that NAFTA and the WTO were sold to the American people as a way to provide better wages and economy, but that just as he and critics had foreseen the pacts instead wound up destroying high-paying manufacturing jobs in the United States and seriously depressing the economy of Mexico, forcing millions of Mexicans to come to America in search of work where they have been harmfully exploited and woefully underpaid. He further insists that the contentious immigration issue is in many ways becoming a scapegoat for the problems being caused by trade issues.

He also continued his call for true single-payer, not-for-profit universal health care. Kucinich breaks from the Democratic Presidential candidate pack on this issue, with the rest of them touting subsidies and mandates that would keep the private insurance companies involved in health care.

And he reiterated that he would implement his plan for an immediate withdrawal of American troops-and private contractors-from Iraq.

"The dialogue in this country has gone from the Statue of Liberty reading 'give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses' to discussions of rounding up immigrants from mass deportations. We've moved from President Reagan saying 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall' to calls today to build a wall of our own...Somebody's running for President of the United States, and they're saying they can't take on the insurance companies? If you can't take on the insurance companies, who else can't you take on?" Kucinich declared to cheering, receptive crowds.