While I agree with Ralph Nader that both the Democratic and Republican parties are beholden to corporate interests and are disappointing on many issues including the war in Iraq, I think the political parties are very different in important ways. John Kerry is not George Bush.
Nader criticizes the Democrats and John Kerry because they are not as progressive as he would like. But how progressive can any candidate be if he or she expects to win a national election in this country? Like it or not, there is now a huge conservative voting bloc and the political middle has shifted to the right. Nader is completely unelectable but it may be possible to elect a moderate liberal like John Kerry. And that would be much better than electing an extreme right-wing ideologue like Bush for another term.
George Bush is a president who has demonstrated that he has no interest in facts or science. He apparently decides things based on his religious faith (he thinks God told him to wage war) and the fragments of distorted information his handlers like Karl Rove and Dick Cheney allow him to see.
Under Bush's watch, we have gotten mired in a completely unnecessary war that had nothing to do with responding to the terrorists who attacked our country on Sept. 11. Our energy policy has been made in secret by Dick Cheney and the oil and coal companies. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is a former director of Chevron and had an oil tanker named after her.
Bush's environmental record is the worst record of any president in history. And while giving giant tax cuts to the rich, he has taken a budget surplus and turned it into one of the largest deficits ever.
I used to like Ralph Nader and I still think much of his analysis is correct. But right now I think he is a bitter man driven by ego with a vendetta against the Democratic Party because it has not embraced him and his ideas. Nader gave the election to Bush in 2000 and he is ready to do it again in 2004, as the votes he siphons from Kerry may give Bush the edge.
Sadly, Nader's legacy may be eight years of George W. Bush, a completely unqualified small-minded man masquerading as president while allowing his administration to embark on policies which are destroying this country.
Contrary to Nader's pitch, John Kerry deserves support. John Kerry is not an ideal candidate by any means. But he is bright and thoughtful and going in the right direction on many of the above issues.
