.
A: 500,000 Florida Democrats who voted for George Bush. (see below)
Our friends over at Third Party Estate have great commentary on the latest below-the-belt attack on Nader. The attack piece is by Robert Scheer and is posted at Truthdig. I really don’t feel like linking there, not into dragging people to the scene of mischief.
For me, I am really tired of people who don’t get that since Gore WON Florida, no one can say that Nader being in the race caused Gore to LOSE Florida. It is so obvious to me, but not to a lot of progressives who have just accepted the word of the stale liberal/quasi right wing/pro-duopoly media.
Anyway, awhile ago, a green colleague had shared this pro-Nader article with me. In it, I just found the numbers I have been looking for. Maybe actual facts will help people figure out that it was the duopoly–including conservative and misguided Democrats–who truly lost Florida for Gore. (And, how about blaming the Republicans, since their games and lawsuits set the stage and stole the election?) Leave the greens alone. We are people who love peace and love the earth, and since the Democrats cannot give us what we want, we do deserve to have a place in the world, and our own heroes and sheroes to vote for.
www.beyondchron.org
Guest Editorial: Review of Nader Film a Partisan Attack
by Chris Kavanagh‚ Mar. 16‚ 2007
…10 million registered Democratic Party members nationwide voted for
George Bush in 2000. Meanwhile, approximately half a million Florida Democrats— I repeat, half a million Florida Democrats!– -also voted for Bush.…half a dozen other Florida third party presidential candidates– -ie Socialist
Workers Party, Reform Party, Libertarian Party, etc—-each received enough votes separately to tip the Florida election to Bush, roughly 500 votes.Where is the Democratic Party’s outrage at the Florida Socialist Workers Party’s “spoiler” role?
Related Video: Why we must give Nader and the Green Party fair ballot access
Filed under: democrat, grassroots democracy, Green Party Websites, Political Websites, president, presidential race, progressive politics, Ralph Nader, third party, US Politics Tagged: | , Al Gore, democrat, Florida, Libertarian Party, Ralph Nader, Reform Party, Socialist Workers Party, third parties, unreasonable man
The problem in Florida in 2000 was not any one of the many potential “spoilers” but the existence of the potential for “spoiling” at all. A system that allows for “spoilers” is not a democracy. And the plurality system that we have is plagued in just that way.
This can be fixed and is being fixed by many committed activists working for change and we should focus on supporting them instead of complaining about Nader. I write about this in my post Instant Runoff Voting Excluded: An Unreasonable Omission from An Unreasonable Man. I hope many of you will check it out and get in touch.