AN UNWAVERING MORAL COMPASS

An indomitable figure in American politics, former US congressman Dennis Kucinich forges on in his mission to uphold liberty, above all.

To those not familiar with the name Dennis Kucinich, it may not be long until they are. Nicknamed the ‘Boy Mayor’ for being the youngest mayor in America’s history at just 31 years of age, Dennis’ journey of public service has earned him the reputation of a veteran democrat with 16 years in the US House of Representatives and two presidential runs under his belt. At 71, he remains indefatigable, campaigning to be the next governor of Ohio.

Wielding an unwavering moral compass, Dennis has bravely stood up against exploitative political and corporate interests – like when he refused to sell Cleveland’s publicly owned electric utility to private hands; his attempted impeachment of President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over the Iraq war, or his surprising support of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Dennis’ activism has often led him to being written off as too far left of the American political spectrum or judged by his political losses as a candidate that could never win. But while he has singlehandedly brought his naysayers to question with his new gubernatorial campaign, his contributions speak for themselves. Perhaps most internationally significant was his former role as Chairman of the Government Oversight Sub-Committee on Domestic Policy during the 2007-08 American sub-prime crisis, which precipitated the global financial meltdown. Under Kucinich’s strict watch, the world watched as for the first time ever, the US Federal reserve was called to be accountable at a hearing.

Now bringing his regulatory expertise to the world table, Dennis is even advising on regulation within the emerging world of blockchain. Working towards digital unity where trust reigns as the ultimate currency, Dennis’s vision is as cohesive as ever, “To me, it is all about human freedom; the ability to be able to use the resources within a country to create progress for people in that country first and foremost.”

You are known as one of the strongest liberal voices in America – do you agree with this classification as a far left liberal?

I actually think I am in the mainstream of American political thinking, and the country has finally come around to how I look at things; which is not intervening in the affairs of other countries, prizing the supreme liberties of its people and not spying or prying on their personal lives. Years ago, those views of America may have seemed out of step with the mainstream; today they are the mainstream.

They may call my politics liberal but I think more than anything, they defy labels. They are about practical aspirations for work, decent wages, healthcare, education, sick neighbourhoods; these are human strivings that go beyond politics or ideology into something deeper that we must respond to, align with, and resonate with.

Tell us about your early years growing up. Did you always have a leaning towards politics?

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and had six siblings. We did not own a home and being a family of nine, had great difficulty finding places to rent. By the time I was 17, we had lived in 21 different places including a couple of cars, often being only one of the two Caucasian families in neighbourhoods of colour. Those years were extremely important because they taught me the meaning of unity. They gave me a very deep understanding of the challenges people face when they are unsure of their next meal or being able to have an education.

From around the age of 13, I had an intuition that someday I would be involved in national service. Politics presented a path. One way or the other – whether it was being an altar boy in the Catholic districts we lived in, scrubbing floors to pay my sibling’s book bills, or being a stock boy helping a local store deliver groceries – my life has always been about service. So yes, I had a leaning towards politics but more in the sense of public service.

Dennis with his wife, Professor Elizabeth Kucinich, who he credits as being “a woman of great substance and great heart.”

Your time as Mayor of Cleveland was a tumultuous one. What brought you back to politics after that?

When I was mayor I took on some of the most powerful economic interests in town. They were trying to force me to privatize the city’s municipal electrics, which powered about a third of the city and provided savings to both rent payers and tax payers. When I refused to sell, the bank, who was aligned with the same people, refused to renew the city’s credit on loans taken out before my time. So I was effectively blamed for the city going in too far on loans because of which I lost the next election. It took 15 years to make a full comeback, because years later people understood that the expansion of that municipal electric system came only because I refused to sell it. I went on to be elected into the Ohio state senate and then to the US congress as a result of people trusting me to be able to do the right thing, even when nobody was looking.

What fuelled some of your more controversial moves like running for president or attempting to impeach former President Bush?

I ran for president to challenge the national policy which took us into war with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. I ran with an established record of exposing the lies of the country. I wanted to change our role in the world, to say that America cannot be held to the task of trying to remake the world in our own image. The fact that we have 800 bases in 130 countries is a great source of pain for us because not only are we interfering in the affairs of people worldwide, but we are risking the lives of our men and women who serve and burdening taxpayers. The cost of all our fighting is between five and six trillion dollars.

When I moved to impeach former President Bush, it was with a very heavy heart; but also with an encyclopaedic understanding of the US constitution which he and his cohort had violated by taking us to war based on lies and misrepresentation. I never held any ill will and actually like him as a human being. But the president’s responsibility to uphold the constitution is more important than personal friendships; so I formed the articles of impeachment. But I wished him peace. Despite our differences, it must have been an incredible burden for him to find himself at the apex of this war machine. He probably never intended for any of this, but his advisors led him on a different path after 9/11, and it changed his presidency – it changed the United States.

Do share some experiences from your time as Chairman of the Government Oversight Subcommittee on Domestic Policy through the 2007-08 sub-prime crisis.

When I was Chairman, the biggest issue was the sub-prime meltdown and the misconduct of major players on Wall Street. The crisis saw trillions of dollars lost; people lost their homes, businesses failed and whole communities were crushed because of the greed of bankers. I investigated the lack of regulatory oversight of the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who was responsible for monitoring the banks. This oversight was partly because of the influence of Wall Street and its penchant for avoiding regulation in favour of unrestrained economic growth, which eventually led to everything falling apart. The taxpayers and quantitative easing eventually bailed out Wall Street by issuing trillions of dollars to try and stabilize the economy.

I would say the major accomplishment was actually holding the hearings that held Wall Street responsible. The accountability for these firms was of great consequence. One of the outcomes of our work was the Home Affordable Mortgage Programme which enabled people to write down their financial obligations and be able to stay in their homes. The real losers here were small investors and American homeowners, who saw the value of their properties absolutely crushed.

What is your involvement and thoughts on regulation in the blockchain space?

We are at a revolutionary moment in international finance that affects local, national, international economies and what I have strongly recommended is for those involved to create appropriate self- regulatory platforms for best practices. If we do not have best practices, regulators are sure to come down with a heavy foot which could impede potential economic growth. I think that it is better for the industry to interact with regulators, to find a way to help craft high ethical standards and make them implicit and explicit for end users and regulators alike. Because one thing is for sure – everything has to be based in trust because trust is what holds it all together. If there is industry-initiated collaboration with regulators and governments, you could create a template for a safe, secure and accountable environment for all transactions.

I have been involved in crafting a preliminary on the elements of self- regulatory best practice standards in cryptocurrency and blockchain in emerging global markets. And as that report finds its way among players in the cryptocurrency industry, I think people will recognize the need for coherence and cohesion among major players. People want to make sure that that their investments are going to be protected. But with new markets such as these, come new challenges and a new requirement for responsibility. So the ball is in play here and there is a way for us to come up with a consensus amongst all the players; I think the future is unlimited.

Dennis was a Keynote Speaker and panel member at The MillionaireAsia Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Summit 2017.

This article was first printed in MillionaireAsia Issue 47 - Mar 2018