Vote Vote Vote Vote!!!!

The most important election of your lifetime is taking place tomorrow. Polling Hours and a link to locations.

Now look, I want to give you my thinking on third parties. I voted for Nader last time and I’m registered Green. Nader said there was no difference between Bush and Gore. It seems this was probably incorrect (but of course, we can’t really know). According to the rhetoric Bush and Gore both used, that was a prediction that looked right. Also, Clinton was hardly a progressive. And to build a strong third-party movement, you have to vote third party. The democrats are right wing and the republicans are super-right wing. People say greens will split the left vote, but I think that the republicrats will split the right vote.
some have accused Nader of lying, for his incorrect prediction. If you make a mistake, that’s not the same as a lie. However, he was lying in pretending to be a part of the Green party. The previous election, he didn’t even campaign. In 2000, he did campaign and did so well, but I think he was registered Green. In this election, he’s left the Greens hanging and run his own meglomanic, republican-backed campaign. He is not doing anything for third party or even progressive politics, but instead is acting as some sort of leech. He’s done so much good for this country and this seems like a new direction for him. I think it’s clear he’s lost his marbles. Which of course, explains the republican support. If he was so senile he didn’t know what year it was, they would just go ahead and run him on a republican ticket.
Getting back on track, Nader did not lose al Gore the election in 2000. Massive dirty tricks and election stealing cost Gore the election. Plus his inability to run a winning campaign. He should have won, but was not compelling and then sat by and didn’t do anything while bussed-in repbulican mobs disrupted the re-count. He let the vote get stolen, as did all the white democratic senators who would not co-sponsor a house bill to question the election result. White democrats, like Gore, were perfectly happy to watch thousands of African American voters be disenfranchized.
That wing is out of power in the dem party (I hope), but the dirty tircks will occur anyway. The reason Bush was able to get away with it because the vote was close. Not only was the electoral vote close and the race in florida was close, but the popular vote was close. If Gore had won a clear majority of the popular vote, Bush would have been at a disadvantage. That is why there are no safe states this year. Every state is a swing state.. They can only steal the election if it’s close. If Kerry is the clear winner of the popular vote, this will change how things happen with post-election shenangians.
Nader is running a real campaign, but he’s out of his mind. He’s taking Republican money and colluding with dishonest Republican signature-gathering firms including the one in Nevada that shredded democratic registrations. The Greens and other left parties are not running a campaign. Cobb is telling people in swing states not to vote for him. The Greens are in a tough spot because after this crisis passes, they want to build a strong third party, but in the meantime, they have to work with moderates and center-right folks to get Kerry, the guy with the best chance of unseating Bush, into power. Then Green party’s spot on this year’s ballot is a placeholder for their spot on next year’s ballot. The same is true of every left party. They don’t want your votes. They want Bush out. Then come talk to them.
You have to vote your conscience, but sometimes ideological purity must be sacrificed for realpolitik. Bush must go. Vote Kerry. Then protest him up one side and down the other. If Bush stays in power, he will lead us into more wars and probably also bankrupt the country which will be personally economically disasterous for every american, ideologically pure or not. Vote for Kerry or vote for re-instating the draft and economic depression. Your call.