Mark Krull wrote:
Well, who has control of most state legislators, the US Senate, US House etc.
The Republicans have been winning for SOME reason...they could be winnning
the argument. You may not like it (I don't) but its winner take all in the good
ole USA
So, because the Republicans are motivated, effective, and successful, and the Democrats have failed to win the support of the majority of the country, it's the fault of Nader supporters?
Mark, none of what you've written above has any applicability to Nader's campaigns. For one thing, there were any number of factors in the Florida recount that contributed to Gore's loss. Compare the numbers of people who were kept off of the rolls (because of mistaken listings as felons) with the number of votes Nader got, and you'll see why complaints agains Nader are severely misguided. Also, consider the tactics the Gore campaign used during that recount-- tactics which clearly _lost_. And then there's the Supreme Court to consider. In short, there's a lot more blame to be sent around, and relatively little of it should be thrown at Ralph Nader.
Here's another point to consider. One of the things the Democrats (and the DLC) look for in a candidate is "electability." The DLC has been moving the party rightward, partly as a response to Reagan's popularity, and as such they've worked to eliminate Democratic candidates who might be seen as too "radical." (Like Howard Dean.) Their strategy, recited by many Democrats, is to find a candidate who's "mainstream" enough to snare that mass of moderate voters who could sway in either direction. After all, if political opinion's distributed along a bell curve, a point towards the center grabs more votes than a point towards any extreme. This pragmatism, they say, is what the Nader voters fail to appreciate.
Well, if that's true, then we wind up with the beginning of many paradoxes. The Democrats are basically saying that, if Republicans are winning, then they will imitate them in order to get elected. That may be pragmatic, but it advertises that the party is not running on _principle_; they are, essentially, just choosing candidates and adopting policy on the basis of what will get them elected, rather than from any standpoint of principle. (Republicans _say_ they have principles, and we all know that this is a ridiculous lie; but they're not telling their radicals to abandon their principles.)
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