At 11:40 AM 5/25/96, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>Frankly, it looks like I'm going to vote for Ralph Nader.

Lesser of two evils arguments (in the US) always end up avoiding the
recognition that the Dems are a positively malignant, rather than an
insufficiently good, force. They are the graveyard of lots of progressive
thought and movement, and institutional method of binding potential
radicals to the status quo. As Marx said, "The more a dominant class is
able to absorb the best people from the dominated classes, the more solid
and dangerous is its rule" (Capital, vol. 3, p. 736 of the Vintage/NLB
edition).

Here's a material way in which that relates to Nader. It seems that one
reason that Nader won't campaign is that he's afraid it would alienate his
Public Citizen constituency (we'll leave the trial lawyers out of it). If
he ran, PC contributors would view him as a spoiler - a spoiler being
someone who prevents Clinton's re-election - and take revenge with their
checkbooks. Though I have some reservations about Nader - for one, he's
pretty anti-union, and for another, too pro-nationalist - his candidacy
could blow open U.S. politics. Because of this hold of the Dems, Nader is
inhibited from running.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
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