Re: RAT Gore, gosh darnit!

[Laura Winton <fluffysingler@prodigy.net>]

One of the reasons that an independent can't win the White House is people's
FEAR.  Just like this conversation.  There will NEVER be a Republican that
is acceptable to progressives.  Thus, every election there will be the alarm
sounded--if you vote for X you give the election to the Republicans.  The
same scare tactics go on throughout the mainstream as well as on lists like
this.  It's not necessarily that people don't want things to change.  They
are scared away from trying anything new.  The bottom line is that at some
point, you start voting for the candidate you MOST WANT, not against the one
you least want.  It will take time for a third party to pick up steam and be
viable, and if everyone keeps shying away from third parties out of fear,
then they'll never get off the ground.  A vote for Gore is a vote of fear in
the here and now.  A vote for Nader is a vote toward the future--a small
step toward breaking the hegemony of the two parties.

I've said it before:  Afraid to vote for Nader?  Your hand trembles when it
veers away from the democrat lever?  Fine.  Go out and recruit 5 or 10
NONVOTERS to vote for Nader.  Your vote for the lesser evil is intact and
you have still made an investment in the future.

In the meantime, work for campaign finance reform, the abolition of the
electoral college and a change in the election laws toward 3rd parties.  The
time to change this debate rule was 2 or 3 years ago--not two months before
the debate.  Whatever you decide to do in six weeks--There are four years
after that to try to make this thing a little fairer if you REALLY feel that
strongly about it.

As for Gore selling out the Left Wing--that is completely impossible.  At no
time was Gore ever a member of the Left Wing of the Democratic Party and any
Left Wingers who imagined that Gore was on their side were simply
delusional.  (There's an LSD/flashback joke in here somewhere . . . feel
free to go after it).  You can't sell out someone you never belonged to.

Or something.



------Original Message------
From: "Glen-Skip- Newell" <skipworthy@hotmail.com>
To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
Sent: October 12, 2000 10:22:17 PM GMT
Subject: Re: RAT Gore, gosh darnit!



Myself I don't like ANY of the choices for Pres, and completely disagree in
principal with how the office itself is being treated (more on that another
time.)

Bush is clearly not an option- this we all ( I think ) agree on- for so many
reasons ( including the fact that he's not even HALF the man that his Dad
was, nor even as good as his running mate. Gore not only shares the same
bed, but as it's been pointed out, IS JUST LIKE CLINTON EXCEPT WILIER...he's
a snake, something that has become clear to me watching the debates. Did you
hear the position he took on Iraq? could he have betrayed the left wing any
more ruthlessly? And did you even once hear him utter any words of support
for the environment ( without being directly confronted) or the Arts? Al is
just more of the same but worse.

Can Nader Win? could any third party candidate ? of course not. at least not
in this century; for the same reason we won't probably see a woman in the
white house, and it has NOTHING to do with truth or competence. Most
Americans simply don't want things to change-This is how these guys (one
from Yale and One from Harvard, and both filthy rich with family money)stay
in power. Homer LIKES his SUV and his Cable TV and his cheesburgers- even if
he DOES vote democrat and send a yearly check to greenpeace.

The entire Radical movement (anarchists, greens, etc) exists because there
are some who WILL vote for a guy like Nader, in the faith that someday we
will have justice- maybe not now, but someday. YOu hae to believe that
change is both necessary and worthwhile, and that's different and it takes
courage and that's why you should vote your conscience and NOT for the guy
most likely to win.

Personally, I'm getting behind the  Hagbard Celine/Dirk Gently ticket.

Skip

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Laura Winton
fluffysingler@prodigy.net
http://pages.prodigy.net/fluffysingler