Why vote for Nader? Reason III – The Democrats abandoned progressivism and don't deserve your vote. The election is two weeks away. The Democrats and Al Gore are getting ugly in their attacks on Nader. The Dems, frightened of Bush winning, are trying to spread their fear around before election day. This means Nader's campaign is having an impact on the campaign. It's no surprise, Greens knew this moment would come. It's the reason there is a Green Party... to hold the Democrats accountable for abandoning American progressivism in favor of the suckling at the corporate teat.
Two weeks to go and now Gore wants to address the Nader issue. Gore had a chance to spar Nader on the issues in the national debates but chickened out helping instead to keep Nader off the air entirely. Now Gore resorts to fear tactics and stone throwing from afar. This is the man Democrats want to be our next leader? a coward? No matter what anyone says, Nader is the most progressive candidate running in this year's presidential race. The brilliant new strategy of the Dems is to blame Nader for the progressive qualities that their candidate is sorely lacking. This is an old school propaganda technique similar to "blame the peace protestors at home... they're endangering our troops abroad" junk we heard during the Gulf War. It's twisted thinking and illogical. Environmentally, Nader is greener than Gore will ever be in his dreams. Let's face it, Nader's 37+ year track record of consumer activism is more impressive than Gore's entire career in the House, Senate or as Veep (thanks to Nader we have the EPA, OSHA, the Freedom of Information Act, seatbelts and airbags in cars to name a few things... thanks to Gore we have more Minuteman Missiles then we'll ever need, NAFTA and the WTO). The truth is, on the issues, Nader is the candidate the Democrats wish they had, but rather than voting for him, Democrats are sticking to their party line. Rather than holding Gore's feet to the progressive fire, the Dems are spreading fear and paranoia with the lame, "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" argument. Gloria Steinem, a person whose politics I have historically respected, waited until the tale end of the campaign to come out against Nader. It could be argued that had she supported Nader from the beginning, using her MS. Magazine as a bully pulpit, she may have provided the lynch pin that forced the mainstream media to take Nader and the Greens more seriously. Perhaps with someone as influential as Steinem on his side Nader could have reached the much needed 15% minimum polling numbers the Commission on Presidential Debates required allowing him into the national debates. The sky is the limit from there: Nader would've destroyed both Bush and Gore in a debate. Who knows how the American public would've responded to this. Steinem could've helped lead the most qualified candidate (at least in all the areas she seems most concerned with) to the front of the pack. Instead, Steinem waited until two weeks before election time to effectively stab Nader in the back proclaiming that his candidacy jeopardizes a woman's reproductive freedoms. She now has publicly joined the Gore camp as well as the ranks of the former progressives. Never have I seen so many normally intelligent people fight so hard for an ineffectual moderate candidate such as Al Gore. But there's still time to do the right thing: Stay Green, vote Nader, build a better future.
Visit www.votenader.org for info on the Nader/LaDuke campaign. Next: Why vote for Nader? – A Nader 2000 F.A.Q., if you will |
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