Ralph Nader recently sat for an interview in the Wall Street Journal Weekend edition, May 31, 2008, by Tunku Varadarajan. I'd link it, but the WSJ is a pay site.
Let me first say that I think Ralph Nader has been a great American. Every society needs people standing on the fringes, hurling Molotov cocktails at the establishment, and letting those in power know they are there, and are watching. Nader went one step further. Rather than sit at his dining room table and type some lame blog, Nader went out and railed for change, and created change.
Nader of course ran for President in 2000 as the Green Party' nominee, ran again on his own in 2004 and is running again in 2008. In each of those runs, Nader has presented a lot of great positions, many of which, if adopted as policy, would make the world a better place. I'm glad that someone like Nader is pushing the envelope, and hopefully people will take a look at some of the things he's saying.
But here's the thing, and the reason I am writing: in the interview, Nader complains about being saddled with Al Gore's failure to be sworn in as President. He correctly points out that if Gore had carried Tennessee or performed more ably in Florida, the Green party would not have been a factor. I'll go farther and say that if Gore had been truer to himself, not run so distantly from Clinton, not chosen Lieberman as a running mate, he would have won. Coming off the eight years of prosperity of the Clinton years, the race should not have even been close.
But Ralph, in addition to all of those things, your candidacy caused the result. Yes, all of those things above are true were factors and these: Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, five Republican Supreme Court justices, all of that. But so too, was your candidacy. It's time for you to pull up your socks and take a cold hard look at the fact that you took votes from Gore, causing, along with MYRIAD failures by the Democrats and aggressive manipulation by the Republicans, George W. Bush to become President. Despite everything else you have stood for all these years, and despite all the good intentions you may have had, your legacy will be, in part, that you participated in electing Bush and were a precipitating cause for Iraq, the Katrina response, No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Alito, Roberts, etc.
Why not just be a man and own it? Rather than whining about how Laurence Tribe blames you for the 2000 election and sniveling about all the reasons why it was everyone else's fault and not yours, why not just say it? "Yes, I took votes from Al Gore. I ran a third party campaign on the left, and that's what third-party campaigns typically do. They take votes away on the far right or far left, with the hope of pulling the political discourse in their direction." Would that be so hard? I don't know if you feel this way but you could even go on to say that "I regret that George W. Bush became President, but I still believe in the platform and the message and I think getting those things out was important."
And Ralph, you could certainly go on to point out that "It sure as HELL wasn't my fault he got elected the second time." No one could blame you for pointing that out.
I just can't take it anymore. I can't listen to Ralph Nader whine about how this wasn't his fault. It of course was not entirely his fault. But Ralph, we EXPECTED the Republicans to do all the things that they did, so stop being surprised that liberals are more hurt and angry by your role.
For more from Ralph see www.VoteNader.org.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Well, my friend and rellie, your first post is interesting, well written and thought provoking. However, you don't need or seek my props so I'll give you the hard drop.
Sadly, you have failed us. Your blogging goal, "I’ll be ranting occasionally in an effort to get things off my chest and not burden people with having to listen to me live." went out the window when you stopped by and nattered on re: Nader. However, we still love you Nater!
I thought of that when I was bitching about the interview at your house. I may have to adjust the goals, or lean hard on the idea that they are just aspirational.
I totally agree. Although now that our guy is in, Ralphy can go eff himself!
The scapegoating of nader is old and silly nate.
Nader didn't steal or take away anything from anyone, he won votes. Those votes weren't bestowed upon Gore and then taken by Nader. Gore lost those votes becuase, as you point out, he's a douche for many reasons.
The only place his candidacy was really an issue was in Florida, and there were something like 6 other 3rd party candidates in FL that won more than the 537 votes that Gore lost by, and nobody scapegoats them. And there were many democrats that voted for Bush, nobody scapegoats them.
The bottom line is, nobody deserves my vote simply becuase they're a member of a party. They have to earn it. And Gore didn't earn those votes, plain and simple. It's his own fault, as you point out.
(This all to say nothing of the PILE of evidence suggesting serious corruption in FL.)
Nader's too easy a target. And blaming him is an excuse for not taking a real hard look at what the democrats have become.
If we really want to deepen and expand the political discourse in this country to include more than just soundbytes about flagpins and who's more patriotic, we need to stop blaming people like Nader who, as you point out, pull the discourse in a new direction. Major parties are not doing it on their own. Third parties have always performed this function and have led the way on lots of progressive ideas that eventually are co-opted by the major parties, such as the creating a minimum wage, women's suffrage and ending slavery (the latter pushed by republicans, the original third party) etc. The major parties aren't coming up with this stuff on their own, they're too safe. Look at how the democrats stand (read: slump) on gay marriage for example. We have to demand better.
Furthermore, the democrats not only keep the conversation narrow, but they limit my choices as well.
In 2004 they filed 24 lawsuits to prevent Nader from getting on ballots across the country, all of which they lost. They were diversionary, not meant to win but to stall, to intimidate.
They actively tried to limit my choices as a voter, to narrow the discussion of the issues. This is the democratic party. I'm supposed to support that? Their candidate DESERVES my vote?
That's the type of shit that keeps people like Gore from my vote.
I think it's the people who support the democratic party who should stop whining Nate. You've all been left behind by a party that's a shell of it's former self. Get over it. Time to support real progressive ideas, which you won't really find on the democratic platform, not this year at least.
keep up the blog, awesome thing to do, we all need to talk more. see you soon.
love always, kevin
btw, when are we doing a podcast?
Check Kevin's thoughtful comments, awesome. I still think Ralph should put away the hankie. It's unmanly.
Post a Comment