As you may have heard, Dennis Kucinich is off the Texas Democratic primary ballot. Kucinich got the boot because he crossed off part of the application that required him to support the Democratic nominee, whoever it was.

A lot of talk on the issue has centered on why the Dems would require such an oath or why Kucinich thinks it’s acceptable to accept the party’s perks without accepting the requirements of membership. I’d rather focus on exactly why all of this happened in the first place.

Kucinich refused to sign the oath unless the eventual nominee pledged “not use war as part of foreign relations”. Seriously. Remind me not to take Kucinich with me next time I go car shopping: “We really, really want this car, but if you don’t meet our price, we are absolutely not walking out that door.” Or what about a day in the Kucinich household? “Son, even if you do that one more time, I’m definitely not going to spank you.” At just imagine what Kucinich would be like if he was asking for a raise: “Sir, I deserve this raise. But, if you don’t give it to me, don’t worry – it’s not like I’m going to quit or anything.”

Don’t get me wrong, war sucks. It’s a last resort. In the meantime, however, it’s an excellent deterrent. You can’t tell me that Americans and American interests around the world aren’t safer because everyone knows that if they mess with us they could be in for a world of hurt courtesy of the U.S. military.

Kucinich might be right to fight the Party’s insistence on absolute loyalty, but the rest of us are right to ignore a naïve idiot like Kucinich.