My ultimate opinion on Nader is that he’s the wrong man with the right message at the wrong time. I agree with him on many issues. I especially agree that both parties are beholden to special interests, elections should be publicly financed, and there needs to be more than two voices in our political debates.
But damn it, he’s so convinced of his righteousness and so blind to political reality! He fails to realize that his being right and fighting for the third party is exactly what will further entrench the existing two-party, special-interest system we have. Or maybe he does realize it, and is willing to let America go to hell in a neoconservative handbasket to prove to all of us how right he is.
On the other hand, just because he is running doesn’t mean that anyone is forced to vote for him. Those who’d punch the Nader chad in a purple state know damn well they’re handing the election to Dumbya. If you really believe in Nader’s ideals, but are politically aware enough to know he can’t win, you gotta vote Kerry.
Nader’s argument is that by running he forces the Centrist Democrats to acknowledge the anti-corporate Left and pulls their policies toward the progressive ideals he fights for. Which is a great argument if you live in a parliamentarian/coalition-type government.
What he can’t visualize is that American politics are not Left/Right sides of a number line, but center-left/center-right edges of a bell curve. If the Democrats move farther left, they gain that 5-percentile on the flat left-edge of the bell, but lose that big 30-percentile bulge in the middle-left.
But things are looking up. Judge Roy “God Bless my Graven Image” Moore from Alabama is possibly running for President under the banner of the Constitution Party. (See http://www.formoore.com/) Maybe he would siphon away Bush’s far-right 5-percentile? Nah, not likely. hypoChristians are far too politically aware to throw their vote away on a candidate who can’t win, thus insuring a Catholic Kerry victory.
“Radical” Russ — reformed Nader/LaDuke 2000 voter… Don’t hate me, I lived in Idaho, which went 69% Bush/Cheney in 2000…
