"if these people did vote for nader, he would win in a
landslide of the popular vote. but no, people won't
vote for him because they erroneously think it would
be a waste."
There's nothing erroneous about realizing that a
candidate who is spending less than 10% of the money
that the two major party candidates are spending on
their campaign is not going to get into office.
Simply put, the American political machine is driven
by the almighty dalai lama, and you have to pay to
play. Yes, Nader can get coverage as a candidate;
Yes, Nader can be visible enough to be a Perot-like
figure come election time; Yes, it's possible that he
would be "splitting the vote" if you were to believe
every poll/stat/number-crunch/survey that you read
(which is another matter altogether, the manner in
which the media scrapes together some kind of figures
to dangle above the heads of voters nationwide). But
did anyone think that Jesse Ventura was going to
become governor? Did anyone believe it even when they
finally saw the actual results? Americans have become
so jaded with politicians in general that I think
anything is possible. When you consider the number of
people who voted for Perot (not to mention other third
party candidates), it's actually a pretty impressive
percentage given the lack of coverage afforded third
party runners and their inability to run with the big
boys in campaign spending. When's the last time CNN
kicked off a half-hour of Headline News with Ralph
Nader's daily campaign grind? He pops up about 15
past the hour, if you're wondering...
But all of this is beside the point when it comes to
voting. The purpose of voting is to express yr
personal interests as a citizen, and if yr voice ends
up being a losing vote for Nader, haven't you still
expressed yr true dissent for both major parties by
doing so instead of "giving in to the monolith?" I am
personally very interested in watching Gore's
development, as I have a very close friend who
volunteers with the campaign and has told me some very
incredible things about him as a person and a
politician. He sat down with a group of elementary
school teachers in 1995 and discussed the impending
internet boom and how it would affect education. He
spent almost an entire day at this elementary school
discussing environmental issues, as well as rolling up
his sleeves and hauling quite a few garbage bags of
aluminum cans out from the cafetaria to the recycling
truck. Was it all a grandiose PR move for the veep?
No media was there, it was simply an opportunity for
this school to achieve recognition for its efforts in
recycling, and a chance for him to prove his loyalty
to his home state and his stance on education. I'm a
little saddened to see him alter his platform in
recent months (and acquire a slightly thicker accent
to boot), but I will still probably vote for him if he
continues to be the candidate I believe he is. And
since I have a t-shirt with a personalized signature,
I might be more easily swayed as well (not actually).
politics politics,
*phiL*
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