Support Ralph Nader.
Nader for President
Ralph may not have polled that many votes... but he tried to inject rational debate about the issues which affect Americans and the rest of the people on our planet into the election and I think that he succeeded to some extent.
It was a hard fight. Virtually ignored by the major media until the final two weeks of the campaign, the recent attention of the national press corps finally brought Ralph into the spotlight. In the last week, there have been 10 to 20 articles a day about Nader's potential role as a 'spoiler'. There were even a few articles which discussed his ideas. In addition, there were appearances by Ralph on talk shows and a news conference on C-Span last week in which he got to offer his message.
I am convinced that if he had been allowed to participate in the debates, he could have taken down both the President and Senator Kerry with one hand behind his back. (In fact, I'm sure that the offer to debate is still open if anyone cares to engage in post-election discussions. (Michael Moore, are you out there?))
There is no question that Ralph was the most efficient in generating votes per dollar of campaign spending. Ralph's cost per vote was similar to that of the other candidates:
Bush $300MM/59.0MM = $5.08 per vote
Kerry $300MM/55.4MM = $5.40 per vote
Nader $ 3MM/ 0.4MM = $7.50 per vote
And there is no question that both Bush and Kerry got millions if not billions of dollars in exposure through the press coverage that did not bother to cover Ralph Nader until the final two weeks of the campaign. (So if you throw in a figure of $500 million in free coverage split between the two, Bush and Kerry's real cost per vote jumps to more than $10 per vote.)
You can help Ralph use this opportunity to keep his message out in front of the nation and build the basis for a real run next time. If you see an article blaming Ralph Nader for John Kerry's loss, be sure to respond with a letter to the editor.
Everyone blamed us for Gore's failure (and ignored the role that Kathryn Harris, the Supreme Court, Jeb Bush and the voters who couldn't be bothered played). Don't let them blame us for this one. And you don't have to let the discussion of blame be the focus of your response. You can focus on the good things in Ralph's message that were overlooked by the press and by the Democrats in the recent election.
For example, I attended a press conference in Rhode Island that Ralph gave last Saturday. He gave a brief speech about issues and the challenges that the Democrats had put in his way. Sadly, the press only wanted to talk about his spoiler image.
I threw in a question," The Red Sox did it. Why not you?" and Ralph swatted it over the Green Monster when he said that "The Red Sox had been able to play on a level playing field and that he felt like he had to pitch from 500 feet off home base."
Both the local ABC and NBC affiliates included two to three minute segments on the appearance in their Saturday night news. Both did run brief segments from Ralph's speech and one showed the quote about the Red Sox. ( I can't remember which, sorry.)
But they also gave free time to someone from the naderfactor organization that night who had been trailing Ralph all over the country. This gentleman had been talking to press whenever he got the chance and there was little surprise when I saw him also featured on the news that night. He was not local to Rhode Island or Massachusetts, but he got to put in his 30 seconds on Rhode Island TV and I have no doubt that he did that sort of thing all over the country.
The Providence Journal noted that the crowd was small... but we only had three hours notice to get people together. Surprisingly, it seemed like the Socialists found out about the event a day earlier than we did. Still, the room at AS220 was full and the point of the meeting was for Ralph to meet the press. It was not even on the VoteNader.org calendar.
The lesson is that the way to get press coverage is to be there and talk to the press yourself. This is true for all issues. If you are mildly articulate and have patience, you will be able to get your message heard (especially if is the message that the press is looking for.)
Keep your hope alive. I personally talked with several thousand voters in the last month of the campaign (in Massachusetts and Rhode Island where I live). I met many people from the Nader campaign. I met Ralph several times. I heard him speak several times.
I met Rudy Guiliani, Ann Cury (from the Today Show) and Al Roker. I appeared in the audience of the Jane Pauley Show and the Today Show (sans political apparel but both of them were great days). I talked on the air with Howie Carr, David Brudnoy, and the local Providence stations. I talked with NBC, ABC, Boston Globe and Providence Journal reporters. I debated Bush, Kerry and Cobb supporters in front of middle school students. I took my daughter to a live viewing of the first debate at Rhode Island college with 850 other area political junkies. I met Andy Borowitz (a fake-news political satirist who has published books and who I first saw on CBS This Morning.) and when it looked like John Kerry was going to let loose the lawyers, I tried to console voters at the Today Show with some roses I had bought in New York. (I spent $20 for four dozen non-red roses and $20 for another two dozen red roses that I had picked up just south of Washington Square. Imagine!)
I met homeless people, pastors, editors, paid political analysts, election workers, NASCAR drivers, crew and owners. Smiling Republicans for Bush. Thousands of grudging Kerry supporters who couldn't come up with a reason to vote for Kerry other than that he was not Bush. I met Harvard students, Brown students, MIT students, Rhode Island College students, Red Sox fans, Yankee fans, writers, journalists, authors, muffler men, bankers, dancers, actrices, construction workers, trash collectors. I met World War II veterans, Korean War Veterans, Vietnam, Gulf and Iraq War veterans.
Rock musicians (Jim Weider-- 15 years as lead guitarist with "The Band" and Patty Smythe-- the only celebrity I know of who supported Ralph.), classical musicians, opera singing bartenders, metal artists, Wiccans, tango dancers, Kucinich supporters, Anime and Manga fans. (Nomination for best political choir has to go to the Lyndon Larouche supporters at the kennedy School who serinaded Ralph's entrance and exit from a book signing.)
Walmart checkout clerks, gas station owners, coffee mavens, hairdressers and housewives. Football fans and players. Doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Cub scouts and den leaders. Ex-cons and neo-cons. Wall Street leaders and Bowery Mission tailors.
Scotswomen, Irishmen and women, Brits of all sorts, Aussies, Germans, Croatians, Frenchmen, Nigerians, Iranians, Canadians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Haitians, Colombians, Brazilians, South Africans, Japanese, Chinese, Swiss, Austrians.
Texans, Bama boys, proper Beacon Hill Bostonians and guys from Southie. Ohioans, Pennsylvanians, Georgia Peaches and (I don't know-- what do they call guys from Georgia?) and Cheeseheads from Wisconsin. Bell ringers from Indiana and ballet dancers from Massachusetts. Maine Yankees who sit on piles of rock that they love too much to sell. Schooner captains who give Captain Queeg a good name. Schooner crew who make the best blueberry muffins and oatmeal that I have ever had. Mira Sorvino lookalikes from California who are damn good at Trivia; more girls named Kerry that I can ever recall meeting in my life.
Jews, Catholics, Lutherans (Rock singing Lutherans-- no less), atheists, agnostics and undecided.
Professors and students.
Golf pros and hackers.
I met thousands of ordinary citizens who had good things to say about Ralph Nader but who would not vote for him because "he did not have a chance." I met hundreds of people working for change. (The best place to meet people of your ilk or sharing your passion is
Meetup.com.)
All in all, it was the single greatest experience of my life. I saw more good going on in the last three months than I have seen in the first 47 years of my life.
Sadly, I also saw some evil. I have resolved to do what I can to make sure that evil is put back into its little box and does not get possession of the "Ring to Power". Not that I believe in such things, but it sure seems like good people can get caught up in bad things-- even when they are trying to do "good". Look at the killing of that girl in Boston after the Red Sox won and also the recently published fact that 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in the war-- not all by us, to be sure, but a number which stands at 33 times the number of our citizens killed on 9/11. ( I was for the first Gulf War and the attack on Afghanistan but was never convinced of the reason to attack Iraq.)
In the process, I also got fired from the best job I ever had, lost a girlfriend who I had thought was the "love of my life", pissed off my mother and aunts, have been told that I was crazy numerous times, have been called a Republican stooge and have also been threatened with homosexual rape multiple times. (These came when I was just starting and were quite scary. I posted some of the emails online because I thought that might discourage these people a little.)
Through it all, I saw some astounding things-- saw the Patriots set the record against Miami and lived through the Red Sox miracle), doors that opened for no reason, doors that closed for no reason.
And I have made dozens , if not hundreds, of new friends, and I have recently found someone new that I am hopeful of annointing to that "love of my life" title once worn by someone else (but we are both being careful and edging into this one). I have enjoyed the support of my father-- Thanks Dad!-- who has persitently questioned me but has remained steadfastly supportive through everything. And I have finally found a way to live in the presence of the Lord. (Thanks Eric!)
I urge you to dedicate yourself to the creation of a viable third party in your area. I would be careful of the existing third parties because some of them are dominated by people who get more energy from anger and disaffection than they do from any real desire to improve the lot of the average American.
I hate to confess that I was unable to vote. I left New York at 2:30 on election day and fully expected to make it home to Massachusetts before the polls closed at 8:00 (It normally takes about 4 and half hours) but a series of traffic jams and a tiny fender bender in Stamford, Connecticut which took more than an hour and a half to straighten out killed my chances to get out of New York. (Remember the movie, "After Hours"?) At 6:45, I was still in Stamford, so I decided to go back to New York to watch the election results come in with Andy Borowitz. (I did try to get a "provisional absentee ballot" over the phone but was told by the Secretary of State's office, and my town clerk's office that such a thing did not exist and there was nothing I could do. It doesn't seem fair to me that unregistered voters can walk up to the polls and cast a ballot, but registered voters who are prevented by circumstances mostly beyond their control from voting can't find a way to vote.)
Whatever. The past is done. We have a real chance here. Work for change. Press your positive message. Do not focus on the loss. Focus on the future and what you want to accomplish. Consider getting involved in next local election. Consider running for office yourself. Focus on helping people in your community. You don't have to wait for the Government to fix things. You can do much yourself to bring about change in your area.
Whatever you believe in and work for can happen. I have seen it in action. I am trying to help. You can do it too.
After a day spent recounting in New Hampshire, I have to tell you that there were minimal problems found with the machine count. In fact, out of 4,000 votes recounted, we only found 3 mistakes. The staff of the Secretary of State's Office was highly trained and professional and proceeded to do the recount while politely allowing challenges from the Kerry, Bush, Nader and Badnarik observers. There was also a recount going on of a local State Senate race which had been decided by only 150 votes. I did hear during the day that a recount of manually counted votes had gone on earlier in the week and that a number of discrepancies were found, but I did not see any numbers from that recount.
We are so very close to raising the money we need to raise to get out the vote nationwide before Election Day.
