>I know careful strategy that is not self-defeating has less appeal than a
>purist lost cause like Nader, but it may actually help change policy and
>improve people's lives rather than just be an excuse to bash other
>activists for not being pure enough in their methods.
Nathan, this is a very cheap shot, which I'll charitably attribute to the remnants of a guilty conscience. I'm not looking for an excuse to bash activists; you're the one doing the bashing in this window, in fact. Nor am I interested in promoting self-defeat. In fact, those of us who (critically) support Nader are looking for a way out of the short-term, vote Democratic pragmatism that promotes long-term self-defeat. Every 2 or 4 years it's, yeah it'd be nice if X could win, but s/he can't, so better vote Dem. And so the Dems can flip the bird to their most loyal voters and become ever-more-loyal servants of capital. At some point, wouldn't even a pragmatic social democrat have to break with this logic - not out of purity, but out of a desire to stop this endless process of concession and compromise?
Doug