tiptoe-ing towards the fringe ...
September 15, 2000
tiptoe-ing towards the fringe ...
fwiw, i'm taking a serious look at Nader after reading Lewis Lapham's profile in the latest Harper's.
i had never given Nader too much thought before, and had pretty much figured i'd cast a perfunctory vote for Gore. plus i always thought of Nader as a zealot and borderline headcase... but now, well, i'm thinking otherwise.
a couple of points that stuck with me from the Harper's piece:
- Nader is making a serious attempt at challenging citizens to reassert their right to govern the country. if that sounds like a nutty proposition at face value, then perhaps it's time to worry?
- Nader makes a compelling, not-at-all-nutty case that the two major parties are all but indistinguishable these days, operating at the primary behest of corporate and organizational interests. it's been a long time since the Democrats could make any legitimate claim to representing the interests of workers.
- he also skewers Gore's purported stance as an environmentalist, with a laundry list of cases where Gore has sold out environmental causes to corporate interests.
so, while i can't say i've totally made up my mind to jump on the Green Party train, i'm giving Nader a pretty serious look. will he win? of course not. but that's not the point - the point is that he represents an opportunity to assert your power as a citizen in the face of an increasingly entrenched political oligarchy. and that's got to be a good thing.
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