“The two-party system is really a one-party system,” Kucinich says.
Question: Are two parties enough?
Dennis Kucinich: No. No absolutely not. I mean two . . . The two-party system is really a one-party system. You can call it the Demuplican party or the Republicrat party. Take your pick. Everyone knows I’m telling the truth about this. You know at the top . . . You know look where we are. We’re at war. Both parties have supported the war, even though the Democrats have said, “You vote Democrat and we’ll get you out of Iraq.” Right. Here we are a year later. Both parties support the oil companies. Otherwise you’d have a windfall profit tax. Both parties support the insurance companies. Otherwise you’d have a not-for-profit healthcare system. So when you look at some of the key economic issues that Americans have . . . You know both parties support these multi-national corporations. Otherwise you wouldn’t have all these jobs lost. Now the mythology is, “Well vote Democrat and your job will be protected.” No, because the Democrats brought you NAFTA and China trade. So you know you . . . My candidacy is about changing the direction of the Democratic party. It’s about having a real Democratic party as opposed to a fake version of the Democratic party. And people know that their choices are being limited. So should there be more choices? Look, I’m a green Democrat. I’m an independent Democrat. In some ways I’m a libertarian Democrat because I stand up for people’s basic constitutional rights. Don’t forget, you know, Democrats in the Senate helped pass the Patriot Act. You know one candidate for president bragged then about how he was the co-author of it. So let’s have a real difference between the parties, and let’s have a real debate. If you don’t have that, we absolutely have to have more . . . more political parties.
Recorded on: 10/19/07