RTP-area local music and culture

[jge AT cs.unc.edu (John Eyles)]

Sigh ... not Nader again.

A friend in DC wrote this open letter to Nader.   He wishes that I
reprint it anonymously.  It does a good job (I think) of rebuking
the bullshit that there's not really much difference between the
Democrats and the Republicans (assuming anybody is enough of
an idiot to still believe that after the last 3-1/2 years).  Maybe
on the war there isn't that much difference - but the Iraq war
ain't the only important issue in this election, folks.

John

********************************************************************

Dear Mr. Nader,

As a 52-year old politically liberal male and a registered Independent,
I have watched your career with admiration, marveling at your tireless
campaign to challenge powerful corporate interests in defense of
consumers.

I am but one of millions of ordinary citizens who have benefited
enormously from your relentless efforts to ensure that automobiles and
other consumer products are safe and reliable, to protect America's
environment, to demand affordable health care for every American and to
make the workplace safe for workers.

I understand the frustration with the Democratic Party that led you to
pursue the Presidency in 2000. In fact, in that year my own disgust
with the party's pandering to corporate interests led me to change my
party registration from Democrat to Independent, and I voted for you in
2000.

But since President Bush's inauguration, I have watched with dismay as
his administration has undertaken a wholesale campaign to undermine
many of the landmark environmental, consumer and health protections
that you and your public advocacy organizations have worked so hard to
put in place over the past three decades.

While you might take issue with claims that your candidacy in 2000 cost
Vice President Gore the election, there is little doubt in my own mind
that if you had not run, Gore would be president today. I acknowledge
that as President, Gore likely would not have pursued some of the
political reforms that I and millions of other Americans fervently
desire.

But I also think the events of the past three years demonstrate the
error of your own claim that there is little difference between the
Republican and Democratic parties.

In environmental and energy policy alone, the current administration
has pursued policy efforts that would dramatically increase U.S. oil
imports; devastate our precious national parks and wilderness areas in
the illogical pursuit of fossil fuels; allow electric utilities to
delay for 20 years vital reductions in emissions of mercury and other
dangerous air pollutants; roll back Clean Water Act protections; and
continue America's ever-increasing emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases that most scientists say are warming our Earth's
atmosphere.

The Bush economic and anti-regulation policies have saddled ordinary
Americans with unprecedented budget deficits, rolled back basic
consumer protections against the corporate exercise of market power and
allowed the export of millions of U.S. jobs. At the same time, Bush's
disastrous tax cuts have shifted billions of dollars to corporations
and wealthy individual contributors to Republican political candidates
at the expense of the Social Security trust fund, Medicare, Head Start
and other vital federal programs.

I have no doubt that a President Gore would have pursued far different
goals, particularly with respect to environmental policy. I therefore,
with all due respect, urge you not to seek the presidency this year.

The 2004 presidential election will be one of the most important in our
nation's history--and certainly the most important in my lifetime. I
think the two top contenders for the Democratic nomination--Senators
John Kerry and John Edwards--both would be effective nominees.

While I have not made up my mind which of these two candidates to
support, I do believe that either one could win the election and stop
the wholesale destruction of environmental protections, the rollback of
consumer safeguards and the outrageous generosity to multinational
corporations that have been the dubious hallmarks of the current
administration.

I think that a Kerry-Edwards ticket would re-energize the Democratic
core to rid America of the current anti-consumer, anti-worker,
anti-environmental protection crowd now occupying the White House.

This re-energizing of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is
happening already.  The news media have reported enormous spikes in
Democratic and Independent participation In the Democratic primaries
and caucuses held so far. To cite just one example, turnouts for
Edwards campaign events in Oklahoma--one of the most politically
conservative states in the nation--reached levels not seen in 20 years,
according to The Washington Post's Lois Romano.

Despite Kerry's losses in Oklahoma and South Carolina, overwhelming
majorities in these and other states have told pollsters they would be
happy to see either of these candidates win the nomination and take on
President Bush in November.

I believe your candidacy, which I have little doubt you would undertake
in good faith and with honorable intent, would take away crucial
support for a Democratic candidate in vital swing states and allow
President Bush to win a second term. I can only imagine in nightmares
the kind of agenda that Bush--unencumbered by constraints imposed by
his desire for re-election--would pursue in a second term.

Therefore, I once again humbly beseech you not to pursue the presidency
in 2004. Instead, I urge you to support the Democratic nominee and help
defeat Bush in November.