Ministry of Silly Logic
Dibgy, a progressive Democrats, is utterly befuddled as to why Greens aren’t Democrats. Surely, he shrieks, Greens must see what the neocons are doing, yet these foolish children STILL refuse to return to the Democratic Party.
Therefore, for electoral purposes, they <Greens> must be considered part of the realm of non-voters who don’t participate. And because, for political reasons, they have consciously decided to stay outside the system as it exists, they are actually less persuadable than the apathetic many.
What a heap of hooey! Nader is actively running a Presidential campaign and the Green Party is meeting now in Minnesota to vote on a candidate. So how could this possibly be “outside the system” with Greens being “non-voters?”
Oddly, it’s progressive Democrats who foam at the mouth the most at Nader. They oppose the war, agree with much of Nader’s platform, yet attack him for having the effrontery, the unmitigated gall, to run against a candidate, Kerry, who they disagree with on many issues yet support anyway!
Most illogical. I think they’re conflicted.
It’s the war, stupid! Many American now oppose it, but Kerry and Bush sure don’t. We need candidates who actively oppose the war and work for genuine progressive change. Sure, Kerry tilts leftward on social issues, and that’s good, but on foreign policy he’s as hawkish as Bush. He wants 40,000 more troops in the Army, wants to send them everywhere, and believes in American Exceptionalism, that White Man’s Burden delusion that the US can and should “intervene” anywhere and anytime it chooses and screw you if you don’t like it. This is not a recipe for peace. Nor is it working.
Doug Henwood, radical economist and author says in his latest Left Business Observer newsletter, “The best we can do is hope for a Kerry victory, and that disillusionment will rapidly set it… Some similar disillusionment with Clinton probably helped spark Seattle. It could happen again. Let’s hope it does.”
Yes, if it’s close in California (which it won’t be), I’ll vote for Kerry – but in the meantime, progressives need to hold his feet to the fire on the Iraq war and also to bring progressive ideas into the campaign. Nader and Camejo can do just that.
If Democrats want those votes, all they need to do is bring those ideas into their campaigns too…