Dennis Kucinich, former Democratic congressman from Ohio and two-time candidate for president, is an advocate for peace and a greener, healthier world. That he has carved out a successful political career holding true to these values is a remarkable achievement.

Kucinich’s early life and career were lessons in persistence and hard work. He grew up in a large family that was constantly on the move, searching for affordable housing; occasionally they had to live out of the family car. Kucinich began his political career by running for Cleveland city council while he was still in college. In 1977, he became Cleveland’s youngest mayor at the age of thirty-one. His term was controversial. Kucinich refused to sell the city’s publicly owned power company, Municipal Light, a decision so unpopular at the time that a contract was taken out on his life. It was years before the city recognized that Kucinich, in standing up to the banks and big businesses that had tried to force him to privatize Municipal Light, had made the right decision.

Following the “Muny Light” episode, Kucinich became a political pariah. But he began his political career over, starting again as city councilman, then moving to the state senate, and finally to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. He remained in office until the end of 2012.

As a representative, Dennis Kucinich made a point of knowing and working for his constituency. He voted against the NAFTA agreement and the Patriot Act. He opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and continued to advocate a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. He supported gay rights, including same-sex marriage, and a universal health-care system. Kucinich also supported have the Kyoto Protocol and domestic policies that address global warming and other conservation issues.

When he ran for president, Kucinch said that, if elected, he would create a Department of Peace, announcing that he was “going to let the rest of the world know that the days of America trying to be a nation above nations is over. We have to quit trying to dominate other countries, and we have to step out of our isolation and into the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people. . . . We have to be ready to take the lead, but we need to have harmony with other nations.” As a candidate, Kucinich also said, “One of my proposals is to have millions of homes with wind and solar technologies. . . . the role of utilities will change dramatically because it’s not going to be a centralized approach to energy production. . . . I want to see, eventually, all the homes in this country have the option of that technology. In turn, you can create millions of jobs building alternative technologies.”

Kucinich´s ideas about how government can best serve the people do not always follow political party lines; often he stands alone, as when he proposed articles in 2007 to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, charging him with misleading America into war. He keeps a small copy of the Constitution with him at all times, to remind himself of Congress’ commitment to upholding its principles. In June 2008, Kucinich presented thirty-five articles of impeachment to Congress; one month later, realizing that number was too large to deal with at once, he introduced a single article to impeach President Bush for “Deceiving Congress with Fabricated Threats of Iraq WMDs to Fraudulently Obtain Support for an Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Iraq.”

At the age of seventy-seven – still committed to his long-standing principles – Kucinich ran as an independent candidate for Ohio’s 7th Congressinal District but lost to the incumbant. The heart of the matter, for Dennis Kucinich, is believing that “peace means being in harmony with nature.” This has shaped his life and his work for a greener and more socially just America.