Back in the 2000 election, I heard what Nader had to say. It all made sense and he sounded like the ideal candidate. I felt, however, that he had a minimal chance of winning the election. Nader has done lots of good work. Just owning a Corvair, which ended up burning up on me, gave him credibility in my mind.
During the last election, many thought Bush was their champion. I saw through him, however. Just a few things I had heard about him and from his own mouth made me feel that he would be an absolute disaster as a president.
I had given some thought to the idea of voting for Nader "on principle," that is, vote for the person who represents what you believe. However, because I already felt that Bush was not only incompetent, but dangerous, I opted Nader out and voted for Al Gore. I'm glad I did, but unfortunately, too many people were so mad at the Clinton and took it out on Al Gore. I was excited about Al Gore and I did not see the ridiculous stereotypes and false quotes cast upon him by the media and night time comedians, an unfortunate source for "truth." I saw and still do see Gore as a man who is loyal to his family and has a family who supports and loves him. That says a lot to me.
I still believe in Nader and his principles, however, he is losing credibility with me very fast. I am beginning to see him as one who is thinking more about himself than the good of the public. His act of throwing the hat in the ring with so much at stake this time around makes me feel that he is on Bush's side. If the Republican candidate were more moderate, then it might make sense to experiment with a third party vote, but Bush is no moderate.
If you are reading this Mr. Nader, let me say this: If you withdraw from the election and support a candidate who can replace this very dangerous administration, I will maintain and even gain respect for you. However, if you persist to stay in the ring, and especially if Bush gets a second term. My respect for you is HISTORY! I will never trust you again and will never waste my money on any of your books again. I will also discard the ones that I already own, because you will no longer represent what you preach, in my mind.
In any case, I WILL NOT, under any circumstances, waste my vote for you in 2004!
People who feel (and I have heard this) that they would vote for Nader on "principle" might feel that they are voting for the best person. To those people, PLEASE think about this: Maybe the Democratic candidate is not EVERYTHING you want and maybe the Democratic party is not EVERYTHING you want, but you will get NONE of what you want if Bush wins. A vote for Nader IS a vote for Bush, because Nader WILL NOT WIN. There is a distinct difference between, what is now the Republican party and the Democratic party.
If Nader stays in the race, do what works best. Vote Democratic.
Also, I am going to vote Democratic all the way down the line because I want the Democratic president to have as much advantage as possible. Remember, nobody is perfect and may, indeed, have a few skeletons in his/her closet. But we MUST overthrow Bush.
AND----ONE MORE THING! If you have children who are starting college or starting out on their own lives and you think they are safe from THE DRAFT, THINK AGAIN. I can guarantee, that the draft will not be invoked during an election year. But, I feel there is a great danger that with a lame duck administration who has already put a strain on our military (due to poor planning and alienating our allies) can and will invoke the draft if they have to. There are other dangerous situations in the world right now. The draft is not in effect, but it is only DORMANT. It can be re-invoked in a blink!
The draft laws NO LONGER INCLUDE COLLEGE DEFERMENTS. A college student of draft age may have a POSTPONEMENT until his CURRENT SEMESTER ENDS. That's it. CHECK IT OUT! Do you want your kids yanked out of college for another war?
http://www.sss.gov/classif.htmIf we remove Bush, I am hoping that our allies will be more willing to help us and take some of the military burden off of us as we work TOGETHER with the rest of the world.
'nuff said!