I want to see Ralph Nader on the ballot and in the debates. I may or may not vote for him, but I want the option. For too long the Republicans and Democrats have dominated the elections and this has left us with little choice. Rather than voting for the candidate we feel represents us best, we end up voting for the lesser of two evils.
Both parties accept money from big business and we have no choice but to let it continue because we have no other choice whatsoever. It is sad that we allow this in politics, we don’t allow it elsewhere. When reports funded by tobacco companies came out saying that cigarettes were nearly harmless, we dismissed them as biased. Do we dismiss our big party candidates? No!
Will either of the major candidates actually change anything? We are always told that the future looks so bright for us, all we have to do is choose the right candidate, has anything truly changed? It seems to me that major changes in a country only occur when either of two things happen: Either the people violently overthrow the government and force changes or the people overthrow the government by voting for a third party. In either case, those in political positions realize that the people, not they, are in control.
We shouldn’t be afraid to aid a third party candidate. Democrats shun Nader because they say he steals their votes. Their votes? I am not a slave to any person or party, I choose the vote for whichever party best represents me. They also state that a vote for Nader is basically a vote for the Republicans. Rather than using scare tactics like that, they should reformulate their positions to appeal to more people.
Republicans, if they pay any attention to him at all, say that Nader is too liberal. This is another scare tactic; they might as well call him a communist. Nader believes in democracy and capitalism but he is able to see that we do have neither. People feel out of touch with the government, they feel like they have little control and they are right because businesses control the government, not they. John Stuart Mill believed that the business sector would act as a counter balance to the government because both would share power. But what happens when the government is run by big business?
Nader does not take any contributions from big businesses; his funds come directly from the citizenry. This means that he would have to answer to nobody but the people he serves.
Like I said before, I may not vote for Nader, but I want to be able to hear him debate with the other two parties, I want to exercise my right to vote intelligently.
Check out the Green Party’s web page @ http://www.gp.org/index.php and Ralph Nader’s page @ Votenader.org
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