DENNIS! Thank You...

Dear Congressman Kucinich:

This is a difficult letter to write, and one that I hoped I would have never have to write. After eight terms serving this area as our Congressman, and even in this election garnering the majority of votes in Cuyahoga County, you are now being effectively forced from office by downstate politicians who combined your district with that of well-known fifteen-term Toledo-area Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.

If you are feeling any personal outrage about this, please know that that feeling is shared by many of your constituents. Not that Marcy Kaptur isn't a hardworking and highly effective representative in Congress. She certainly is. As time passes, I have no doubt that she'll be a very effective spokesperson for our county, just as she has been for the constituents in her district. Of course, now she must run in November against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, also nationally known as "Joe the Plumber"--the well-spoken "guy-on-the-street" who faced off with Barack Obama in that now-historic interchange.

The high-stakes game of politics in America goes on, and for the moment, your own place in that game is uncertain. You must be aware of how frustrated many Americans are by that game. That frustration is demonstrated by the shockingly low numbers of registered voters who actually take the time to vote. More and more it seems people are opting out of the whole political process. It's easy to see why. In the last few days, in the privacy of our own home, we received more annoying and intrusive robo-calls than I can even count regarding whom we should vote for and why. We've been bombarded by television and radio ads dripping with venom. We are exposed to one-sided talk shows that smack of the propaganda days of the Third Reich. Our private lives and even our private dinner party conversations have been forever besmirched by this never-ending pollution of pernicious political profundity.

As voters, we are, quite frankly, sick to our stomachs over the whole mess.

I, for one, am a Political Science cum laude college graduate. I once loved the study of politics. At one time or another, I have been both a Republican and a Democrat. Quite honestly, today I'm starting to care less about the whole shebang, and I am not alone.

And yet? Once in a GREAT while....a political person comes along who gives hope to those of us who struggle with this myopic cyclops called "The American Vision." Once in a while, someone comes along who once again compels us to return to the polling place, and begin to care once again. For my family, and for so many others, you were one of those people.

Still, this is not a hero-worshipping fan letter, nor is it intended to show that we always agreed with you. There were times that we emphatically disagreed with you....but then, there are always those times in life, are there not?

When we first learned about you, it was in the news. You were in the City of Cleveland. First in City Council and then as the young "Boy Mayor." As suburbanites, we paid scant attention to the political goings-on of that deep, dark, and foreboding metropolis to our east. You know what the suburbs thought of Cleveland...We were "holier than thou," perhaps even "better" than you guys were on the other side of Highland Avenue. (WE called it Highland here in Lakewood. To you guys, it was W.117th, and perhaps not so ironically, that's exactly where you set up camp...at Tony's Diner up there near Lorain Avenue. Even back then, perhaps you were trying to symbolically pull us all together?) We laughed when you took on powerful interests over Cleveland's Muny Light, causing the city to default. We discovered much later that you had been right, only it was "Cleveland," so we suburbanites really didn't care back then one way or the other. Little did we know how much this region was interconnected...Little did we know.

Then, you came to Lakewood. At first, it seemed almost comical. Here was this guy in a rumpled black suit walking the streets of Lakewood almost like a vagrant looking for work, which is, of course, exactly what you WERE doing in running for Congress. We'd even heard that at times you had even BEEN a virtual vagrant on the streets of Cleveland as a youngster, taking care of your siblings while your family struggled to make ends meet? At least that was the story I heard. Well, you knocked on the door of our then-Republican home. I answered that door. Even back then, you were a celebrity, albeit a bit bedraggled one, or so I thought. Thinking that the family would like to meet you, I invited you back. You said that you'd come back that evening to meet them, and you gave me a time. I think it was 6 p.m., and there you stood, right on time in our doorway. You kept your word to us, and in so doing, cracked open the foundations of our then-Republican voting pattern. Time and again, this cynical columnist has seen you keep your word, and not only with the community elites, but also with average people who came to you with their problems.  

You took on the big problems in our town, and in our world as well. Whether it was with St. Alexis, the steel mills, or even the world beyond...you did what good you could, even though the political costs could be and indeed at the last were devastating for you. You even met with the President of Syria seeking peace at a time when virtually no one else would. In so many ways, you lived that great quote of George Bernard Shaw's and Robert Kennedy's. You know the quote, don't you? ...about some people seeing things as they are and asking why? But you too saw those things that never were...and asked, "Why not?"

For daring to dream, some called you quixotic or even hopelessly idealistic. Some called you a leftist, or even the dreaded "L" word...a liberal...and perhaps in some ways, you are. But I also know that in other ways, you were the most conservative guy I know, especially when it came to veterans. Having experienced a very personal situation with your veteran brother, you have a special sensitivity and affinity for America's veterans that is second to none.

For all that you have done for Cleveland, for Lakewood, for my own family... for bringing our city and our region closer together...for daring to dream the impossible...for caring beyond words for the commoners and the kings...for trying to stop the pre-emptive wars, and the killings and the bloodshed...thank you. The pulse of this city will never forget what you have done for us, and tried to do for the world. As you prepare to leave office, it very much feels as if we are sending you out into that world again as the proverbial lamb among wolves. Godspeed you on your journey, public servant. Don't forget about us. Tony's Diner may be gone now, but we still have John's Diner in Lakewood. Your table will always be waiting for you.