michael a. lebowitz wrote:
Dissent Magazine, Spring 2004 Ralph Nader and the Will to Marginality by Todd Gitlin
Yes, I love it! The new slogan: 'A Vote for Nader is a vote against Todd Gitlin' is sure to mobilise old SDS'ers.
Gitlin is a repulsive character, but everything he says in this passage is, sadly, true:
But there is no evidence that nonvoters differ from voters in any ideological way. They are not bashful saints or hidden leftists biding their time until a candidate appears with the precisely correct political position. They are disproportionately low-income and younger people who, if they want anything from politics, want practical results. Their cynicism about politics is self-interested; they have real needs. What they are not looking for is a prophet or a new party.
If those who suffer most from corporate domination were susceptible to Nader's appeal, why was his black vote in 2000 so puny-only 1 percent in Washington, D. C., for example, where Nader won 5 percent overall? He certainly didn't increase turnout among blacks or any other minority. A Green vote was a luxury that could only be afforded by those who didn't need politics to defend their material interests. In fact, Nader's base is a sliver of upper-middle-class whites-"the liberal intelligentsia," you might say-disproportionately located in such states as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Hampshire with the smallest black populations.
