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<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>"A Prayer for America"is the most brilliant piece of insightful writingI have come across since 9-11 to restore the Republic.It must be dropped as leaflets over the American people,and put on their windshields in every car park in America.They must be awoken out of their dangerous slumber.To love America is to do that.University of Southern CaliforniaSunday, February 17, 2002United States CongressmanDennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio)A Prayer for America(to be sung as an overture for America)"My country 'tis of thee.Sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. . . .From every mountain side, let freedom ring. . .Long may our land be bright.With freedom's holy light. . .""Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave.O'er the land of the freeand the home of the brave?""America, America, God shed grace on thee.And crown thy good with brotherhoodfrom sea to shining sea. . ."* * * *I offer these brief remarks todayas a prayer for our country,with love of democracy,as a celebration of our country.With love for our country.With hope for our country.With a belief that the light of freedomcannot be extinguishedas long as it is inside of us.With a belief that freedomrings resoundingly in a democracyeach time we speak freely.With the understanding that freedomstirs the human heart and fear stills it.With the belief that a free peoplecannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.With the understanding that there is a deeper truthexpressed in the unity of the United States.That implicate in the union of our countryis the union of all people.That all people are essentially one.That the world is interconnectednot only on the material levelof economics, trade,communication, and transportation,but innerconnected through human consciousness,through the human heart,through the heart of the world,through the simply expressed impulseand yearning to be and to breathe free.I offer this prayer for America.Let us pray that our nation will rememberthat the unfolding of the promise of democracyin our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights.That is why we must challengethe rationale of the Patriot Act.We must ask why should Americaput aside guarantees of constitutional justice?How can we justify in effect cancelingthe First Amendment and the right of free speech,the right to peaceably assemble?How can we justify in effect cancelingthe Fourth Amendment, probable cause,the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?How can we justify in effect canceling theFifth Amendment, nullifying due process,and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?How can we justify canceling the Sixth Amendment,the right to prompt and public trial?How can we justify canceling the Eighth Amendmentwhich protects against cruel & unusual punishment?We cannot justify widespread wiretapsand internet surveillance withoutjudicial supervision, let alone with it.We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.We cannot justify giving the Attorney Generalthe ability to designate domestic terror groups.We cannot justify giving the FBItotal access to any type of datawhich may exist in any system anywheresuch as medical records and financial records.We cannot justify giving the CIAthe ability to target people in thiscountry for intelligence surveillance.We cannot justify a government whichtakes from the people our right to privacyand then assumes for its ownoperations a right to total secrecy.The Attorney General recentlycovered up a statue of Lady Justiceshowing her bosom as if to underscorethere is no danger of justice exposing herselfat this time, before this administration.Let us pray that our nation's leaderswill not be overcome with fear.Because today there is great fearin our great Capitol.And this must be understoodbefore we can ask about the shortcomingsof Congress in the current environment.The great fear began when we had toevacuate the Capitol on September 11.It continued when we had to leave the Capitolagain when a bomb scare occurredas members were pressing the CIAduring a secret briefing.It continued when we abandoned Washingtonwhen anthrax, possibly from a government lab,arrived in the mail.It continued when the Attorney Generaldeclared a nationwide terror alert and then theAdministration brought the destructive Patriot Billto the floor of the House.It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapesat the same time the President was announcingthe withdrawal from the ABM treaty.It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol.It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmenwho greet members of Congress each daywe enter the Capitol campus.It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriersthrough which we must pass each time we go to vote.The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear,ill equipped to deal with the Patriot Games,the Mind Games, the War Gamesof an unelected Presidentand his unelected Vice President.Let us pray that our country will stop this war."To promote the common defense"is one of the formational principles of America.Our Congress gave the President the abilityto respond to the tragedy of September the Eleventh.We licensed a response to those who helped bringthe terror of September the Eleventh.But we the people and our elected representativesmust reserve the right to measure the response,to proportion the response,to challenge the response,and to correct the response.Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.We did not authorize military tribunals suspendingdue process and habeas corpus.We did not authorize assassination squads.We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.We did not authorize national identity cards.We did not authorize the eye of Big Brotherto peer from cameras throughout our cities.We did not authorize an eye for an eye.Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people,who perished on September 11, be avenged withthe blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.We did not authorize the administrationto wage war anytime, anywhere,anyhow it pleases.We did not authorize war without end.We did not authorize a permanent war economy.Yet we are upon the thresholdof a permanent war economy.The President has requested a $45.6increase in military spending.All defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion.Consider that the Department of Defensehas never passed an independent audit.Consider that the Inspector Generalhas notified Congress that the Pentagoncannot properly account for $1.2 trillion intransactions. Consider that in recent years the Dept. of Defensecould not match $22 billion worth of expendituresto the items it purchased, wrote off, as lost,billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventoryand stored nearly $30 billion worthof spare parts it did not need.Yet the defense budget grows with more moneyfor weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended,weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new warsThis has nothing to do with fighting terror.This has everything to do with fuelinga military industrial machinewith the treasure of our nation,risking the future of our nation,risking democracy itself .With the militarization of thoughtwhich follows the militarization of the budget.Let us pray for our children.Our children deserve a world without end.Not a war without end.Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger,free of the terror of poor health care,free of the terror of homelessness,free of the terror of ignorance,free of the terror of hopelessness,free of the terror of policieswhich are committed to a world viewwhich is not appropriate for the survival of a free people,not appropriate for the survival of democratic values,not appropriate for the survival of our nation,and not appropriate for the survival of the world.Let us pray that we have the courage and the willas a people and as a nation to shore ourselves up,to reclaim from the ruins of September the Eleventhour democratic traditions.Let us declare our love for democracy.Let us declare our intent for peace.Let us work to make nonviolence anorganizing principle in our own society.Let us recommit ourselvesto the slow and painstaking work of statecraft,which sees peace, not war as being inevitable.Let us work for a world wheresomeday war becomes archaic.That is the vision which the proposalto create a Department of Peace envisions.Forty-three members of congressare now cosponsoring the legislation.Let us work for a world wherenuclear disarmament is an imperative.That is why we must begin by insistingon the commitments of the ABM treaty.That is why we must be steadfast for nonproliferation.Let us work for a world where Americacan lead the way in banning weapons of mass destructionnot only from our land and sea and skybut from outer space itself.That is the vision of HR 3616:A universe free of fear.Where we can look up at God's creationin the stars and imagine infinite wisdom,infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not infinite war,because we are taught that the kingdom will comeon earth as it is in heaven.Let us pray that we have the courageto replace the images of death which haunt us,the layers of images of September the Eleventh,faded into images of patriotism,spliced into images of military mobilization,jump cut into images of oursecular celebrations of the World Series,New Year's Eve, the Superbowl, the Olympics,the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears,let us replace those images with the work of human relations,reaching out to people, helping our own citizenshere at home, lifting the plight of the poor everywhere.That is the America which has the abilityto rally the support of the world.That is the America which standsnot in pursuit of an axis of evil,but which is itself at the axis of hopeand faith and peace and freedom.America, America. God shed grace on thee.Crown thy good, America.Not with weapons of mass destruction.Not with invocations of an axis of evil.Not through breaking international treaties.Not through establishing Americaas king of a unipolar world.Crown thy good America.America, America.Let us pray for our country.Let us love our country.Let us defend our countrynot only from the threats withoutbut from the threats within.Crown thy good, America.Crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood.And crown thy good with compassion and restraintand forbearance and a commitment to peace,to democracy, to economic justicehere at home and throughout the world.Crown thy good, America.Crown thy good America.Crown thy good.Thank you.Dkucinich@AOL.com"Forgiveness is the answerto the child's dream of a miracleby which what is brokenis made whole again,what is soiled is made clean again."- Dag Hammarskjold | |||
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