Kucinich the Kulturbärer By Stephen Dinan Stephen@radicalspirit.org With current polls showing John Kerry leading at 60% for the California primary next Tuesday, I begin to wonder if our culture of innovation, independence and frontier adventure is beginning to fade. C¹mon California: Kerry? Two months ago, Kerry hardly registered on the radar here. Most thought him too patrician, too dull, or at least too conservative on issues from the Iraq war to NAFTA to gay marriage. Few people in California contributed to his campaign. Top honors went to Dean and Kucinich in terms of donors and number of volunteers. Both have revolutionary fire and some shoot-from-the-hip West Coast attitude. They are bold, authentic, and willing to rattle conventional opinion. They give speeches straight from the heart and aren¹t afraid to go off script. Kerry is safe. He is the frightened man¹s bet for the race against Bush. He¹s the compromise candidate, a man about whom we will say, ³I suppose that¹s the best we could hope for.² He has the pedigree, the power broker network, the height, and the moderate positions on everything. When many people I know talk about voting for Kerry, it is with a sigh of resignation rather than the hurrah of freedom. It does not have to be this way. Californians have been seduced by the media trance that has ordained Kerry the winner. However, we in California are supposed to CREATE the spell of the media rather than be seduced by it. We make the magic of movies and push the frontiers of technology. We innovate, pioneer, and explore. We don¹t march to the beat of the establishment drum. Next Tuesday, I would like to see some spunk in the California vote, some fire to send to the convention. Let¹s tell the party that we want substantial change. We want a rainbow of color rather than shades of gray. We want nectar of the gods rather than stale bread. We want a Democratic Party that doesn¹t feel like it has had the lifeblood sucked from it. I don¹t want to believe that California has sunk into numb lethargy. This is an oasis of idealism, a Petri dish for the future. Do we really line up in the Kerry corral just because he¹s won the popularity contest so far? Or do we set our own course and chart our own destiny? Here is the simple truth: if you are interested in positive social change on ANY front, from the environment to trade reform to peace to organic food to health care reform to economic justice to personal growth to electoral reform to busting corporate corruption to reducing discrimination to gay marriage, Dennis Kucinich should be your man. In fact, if you have ever or any of a thousand other things that put you a bit ahead of the change curve, then Dennis should be your man. That said, the great thing about Dennis is that while he advocates a boldly progressive platform, he does so with very ordinary, middle-class America packaging. He¹s just as comfortable with bowling and polka as he is on stage surrounded by hip-hop artists or a drum circle. He offers substantial, deep, visionary change in a way that everyday people can understand. In his home district, for example, he¹s made a business of converting Republicans into Democrats and now wins with 75% of the vote in a previously Republican district. Dennis is like a bridge over which the major changes of an emerging culture can enter mainstream politics. More traditional Democratic populations are vital in this cultural shift, and Dennis has impeccable credentials to reach them, authoring legislation that helps regular working class families across the board rather than a powerful elite. However, it¹s the folks stretching the change envelope that I¹m speaking to at the moment because I believe you are the key to breaking this campaign through to the next tier. You are the ones that lead the revolutions: the activists and the artists, the rebels and the dreamers, the eco-freaks and the idealists, the healers and the hipsters, the meditators and the musicians. We¹ve got to lead the way in reminding California of its roots and its destiny: to blaze brightly for the rest of the world. Hawaii has laid the groundwork, with a second-place finish for Dennis and 27% of the vote despite a virtual media blackout. Let¹s outdo Hawaii¹s results in California. So send a positive change message to the Democratic establishment by voting for Dennis next week. Neither Kerry nor Edwards sends a meaningful message for change now. They are the safe candidates. If you want to play it safe and scale down on your dreams, they are your guys. If you want to go boldly towards the future, Dennis is your man. Making this statement is even more important now that the media tidal wave is sweeping Kerry along and threatening to wash the progressive wing out of the party and into Nader terrain. A vote for Kerry is now a wasted vote. A vote for Dennis is a signal for change and a protection of the progressive base in the Democratic Party. It is a clear notification that the NEXT America is waking up and taking a stand. It states that the movements that have been gathering steam across this country for decades are beginning to feel their power and use it. The Swedes have a relevant term ­ kulturbärer. A bearer of culture. It refers to someone or something that acts like a sherpa for a culture as whole, carrying it forward. In a very real way, Dennis is a kulturbärer. He is an expression of the convergence of all the movements for positive change: social justice, consciousness, peace, sustainability, women¹s rights, gay rights. He¹s at the leading edge of these trends, integrating them and talking about them in a way that conventional folks can really understand. Dennis represents an emerging culture that is growing up and starting to feel its power. The only problem is that the emerging culture, which is actually vast, doesn¹t recognize its potential yet. Change movements have been splintered and thus have felt small. Together, they are enormous. The sociologist Paul Ray has studied this culture and pegged its size at 50 million in America alone. 50 million people that share an increasingly similar new vision for America and a new vision for the world! However, they are stuck thinking of themselves as less powerful and less numerous than they actually are. This emerging culture needs to feel its strength. It can do that in a substantial and meaningful way by rallying behind a kulturbärer, someone to hold the torch in the public sphere. Dennis Kucinich can be our kulturbärer. Bear in mind that he may be ignored. And ridiculed. And dismissed. And disrespected. And you may feel pain when you watch it happen. But also remember that agents of change are always treated that way and that it is part of the process of cultural growth. In that spirit, I encourage you to see that when Dennis is dismissed, know that he is taking that hit for you, for your children, and for the planet. Someone has to carry the torch for the emerging culture into politics and as Dennis does so, the entrenched power structures will resist. That is why our kulturbärer must be so resilient. Fortunately, he is. He¹s perhaps the most optimistic person I¹ve ever known. He wakes up each day excited and hopeful. Even after getting dissed, dismissed, and marginalized, he keeps his eyes clear, his heart compassionate, and his compass set clearly on the future goal. He knows that he is carrying the torch for a movement that will produce a major evolution of our country. Carrying that torch is a sacred role and he therefore carries it with dignity, optimism, and honor. Do Dennis the honor of voting for him and supporting him so that a new vision of America can emerge. It is time. We are ready.