Reply #13: The blame game really muddies the debate :-(

[jpgray]

I don't blame Nader for 2000, and I don't blame those who voted for him. I will try to make the case for voting Dem in 2004, however.

As to your answer, educating the electorate requires organization and hard work. The reason it hasn't worked very well right now may have to do with the media, and it may have to do with voter apathy, and of course the two may be connected. The media sensationalize the news. Celebrity nonsense dominates. Discussion of how we are going to pay for social programs when the boomers come in, without lowering the defense budget or raising taxes, isn't as interesting as a bared breast.

Competing against that is difficult, but it could be done, perhaps. It would be easier however if the system were more amiable to open discussion of ideas (i.e. Green leaders weren't made to miss flights by way of the Secret Service). In my opinion, the only real way to fix the system is to elect people who will start making it more friendly to the kind of discourse you want to have. The Republicans are doing a good job of changing the system in just that way, unfortunately.