Saturday, February 21, 2004

An apologia for Ralph Nader.

Lefty partisans have reacted with predictable scorn, disgust, and rage at this week's almost-announcement by Ralph Nader that he will in fact run for President again (not as the designated candidate for the Green Party but as an Independent). I'm no big fan of Nader's, despite the fact that I'm a registered Green, but any Democrat who honestly thinks that Ralph lost the election for us in 2000 is deluding him or herself, and had better snap out of it for the upcoming campaign season. The Dems lost the White House four years ago for two reasons, and two reasons alone: one, Al Gore's inexplicable decision not to run on his boss' record and his outright refusal to let Clinton campaign for him in several hotly-contested states; and two, the absolute failure of the Democratic Party to stand behind their man when it became clear that the Republicans were attempting nothing less than a coup d'etat down in Florida. That's it, folks - you can blame the Naderites all you want, but had Gore run as the continuation of the Clinton Era and not some half-hearted rejection of it, the Boy Who Would Be President would not be President right now. If the Dems had had the guts to fight the Supreme Court's illegal intervention in the sovereign business of a State, we wouldn't be currently wringing our hands over everything else the Bushies have done in direct contravention of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of international law. Blaming Ralph Nader may feel good, but it accomplishes nothing, and may even hurt the Left if it blinds us to faults that we must address head-on in order to be able to win this upcoming November.

But even if for the sake of argument we assume that Nader did cost the Dems the White House in 2000, didn't he do us a tremendous favor? Now the whole country can see the Far Right for what is actually is - arrogant, imperial, and full of contempt for the average American, who doesn't want to be told what to do in matters that are none of the government's damned business (be it freedom of speech, movement, assembly, or the right to choose one's spouse), who doesn't want his of her children and grandchildren to get stuck with the bill for lunatic budgets that help no one but Halliburton's shareholders, who doesn't want to go die in some damned fool war that was waged on a rallying cry of falsehoods, who doesn't want to live in fear for the rest of our lives. The conservative think tanks are grumbling, NASCAR Nation is grumbling - didn't hear about the thousands upon thousands of race fans that greeted their "beloved" President with the one-finger salute when he dropped in on the Daytona 500 the other weekends? Well, of course you didn't! - and even the military, once an impregnable GOP stronghold that could make "ha-ha" veiled death threats towards our last C-in-C with impunity, is thinking twice about their unequivocal support for an idiot who treats his soldiers no better than Texas death row inmates and dishonors anyone who's ever served in the armed forces with his bullshit excuses about his conduct during the Vietnam War. All of this would never have come out into the harsh light of day, had Ralph not "thrown" the election for us.

Maybe we should thank him for proving the exact opposite of what he has time and time again asserted: that there is no appreciable difference between Red and Blue, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal. Well, now we know. What we choose to do with this hard-won knowledge is up to us. So thanks, Ralph! We owe you one.

No comments: