Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
I for one am furious at Nader for messing up the nice fun binary political system that has served us so well.
Actually, in case the sarcasm wasn't clear, no I'm not. The two-party system is a sad joke and if these enraged Democrats who are so furious about Nader running and ruining their chance of beating Bush should be, especially after 2000, pushing for electoral reform so that the impact of third-party candidates is lessened.
Essentially what the Nader shouldn't run crowd is saying that the U.S. not only has a two-party political system but that it should have a two-party political system. (When will be the right time to run?)
If that's their view of "democracy" in the Uncle Sam's land, fine. But don't expect me to be satisfied by the "solutions" that come from such a limited vision.
UPDATE: The above grafs were more of a rant than most posts on this blog are. It sharply put forward my opinion on one of the main issues related to Nader's candidacy, but was not a complete assessment.
For the record, I think Nader running as an independent, as opposed to as the candidate of the Green Party, is problematic because it lessens the potential for leaving behind institutions, and Nader is delusional if he thinks he could actually win.
Nader's gambit of not running on social issues is interesting, but I'm doubtful if it will pay off politically or ethically.
Most importantly, while I think there is merit to Nader's critique of corporate power, I suspect that the "war on terror" will be the biggest issue in this campaign and I'm doubtful that Nader's criticisms of it will be particularly to the point. 2:35 p.m. 02/23/04
UPDATE #2: Last night I watched CSPAN's broadcast of Nader's responses yesterday to questions from reporters. Unlike more mainstream prez candidates Nader neither looks particularly happy nor talks as if his election would solve most of the problems they want to solve. These qualities, along with the realities of the electoral system, probably ensure that Nader will never gain much popular support.
