I agree with much of your take on Nader. His presidential campaign did, however, provide a place for people like me to work with many Greens and recovering Republicrats. Such a development has, I think, broader applications. In my view from the Sacramento bridge, I see a strengthened presence of other progressive causes, i.e., anti-"Africa Nafta," Free Pacifica, Zapatista solidarity, "Justice for Janitors," anti-Indonesian sweatshops, Timorese liberation, Co-op member donations to local food banks, etc. Maybe the space Nader's campaign opened for lefties to meet one another has no relation to a subsequent spike in such activism. Yet I do believe that with the "left" in organizational disarray, we have to make the most of organizing opportunities where they are, electoral or otherwise, to help build an oppositional movement to business as usual.
Seth Sandronsky Sacramento, CA ,
On Wed, 10 Jun 1998, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Justin Schwartz wrote:
>
> >We had hims peak at OSU law last year. He was here testifying against the
> >awful tort reform bill the legislature passed. I thought he was
> >mesmerizing, just wonderful. And yes, he talkeda bout some of those things.
> >
> >I am sorry to see you joining in the pack baying against tort lawyers,
> >which means plaintiff's laywers. Of course the defense tort bar and the
> >unsurance lawyers do not love Ralph. Sure, a lot of plaintiffs' tort lawyers
> >are sleazy. But what they do is help injured people recover from harm done
> >to them, often by large corporations. Yeah, if we had national health we
> >wouldn't have this problem. But tort reform anad damages caops are no
> >substitute for national health. Ralph is is on the side of the angels, a
> >real American hero. He has probably done as much for as many Americans as
> >any living human being.
>
> Except for the folks who worked for him who wanted to join a union. Or the
> editor of Multinational Monitor who was told not to run stuff about the CIA
> and its relationship to multinationals. Or that embarrassing half-assed
> presidential campaign in 1996 (which might be partly explained by Ralph's
> reluctance to file financial disclosure forms that would reveal that he
> *is* supported by trial lawyers after all).
>
> Litigation is a classically American approach to politics - individual
> adversaries duking out a private solution to what should be done publicly
> and collectively. He seems to have no systematic analysis of anything -
> just one little detail after another in an endless and tedious catalogue.
> One of his rants before I heard before hitting the off button was about how
> utility companies overcharge their customers. Yes, no doubt they do, but is
> the most urgent problem facing the U.S. right now overly expensive energy?
>
> Doug
>
>
>