Peace is refreshing - Letter to the Editor

Progressive, The, June, 2003

I just wanted to say that Ruth Conniff's article on Dennis Kucinich ("The Peace Candidate," April issue) was very well written and enlightening. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to hear a reasonable voice suggesting the simple yet noble idea of peace.

Ben Bell

Hope Hull, Alabama

I found myself nodding in agreement while reading Ruth Conniff's article on Dennis Kucinich until I hit my speed-bump issue: abortion rights. Conniff pointed out that Kucinich has one sticking point with the "grassroots progressive base"--the issue of abortion.

I am struck by how knee-jerk the liberal/progressive community is on the necessity of legal abortions. On every other issue, the progressive community looks at the parties involved, assesses the humanity, the vulnerability, the justice, the balance of power, and then weighs in on the side of the underdog. Every issue, that is, except for abortion.

The day I accept as "progressive" the anti-human practice of willful abortion is the day I say OK to unjust war, unfettered capitalist exploitation of people and the environment, capital punishment, ethnic cleansing, and so forth.

Timothy Shipe

Westerville, Ohio