We, the undersigned, are appalled at the continuing national campaign by Ralph Nader and the Green Party.
It is now plain that Mr. Nader will do anything and say anything in order to gain the 5 percent of the vote he seeks. Instead of a liberal or progressive force, his campaign now seriously threatens to elect the deceptive George W. Bush to the presidency. Despite Mr. Nader's past great achievements, and despite the good faith of his rank-and-file supporters, his has become a wrecking-ball campaign -- one that betrays the very liberal and progressive values it claims to uphold.
Recently, Mr. Nader has said that:
If given a choice between Bush and Gore, he would vote for Bush. Mr. Nader would happily throw the country to the Right, placing the Supreme Court and the entire executive regulatory system in the hands of the most retrograde elements in our political life.
Environmental reactionaries serve a positive function. Mr. Nader has argued that past appointments like Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt usefully serve as "provocateurs" for change. He has also denounced the Sierra Club and other long-standing allies for their "servile mentality" in not supporting him.
The repeal of Roe vs. Wade would be of little consequence. Never a champion of women's rights, Mr. Nader claims that abortion rights might just as well be left up to the states.
All U.S. aid to Israel should be cut. No matter what one thinks of the current situation in the Middle East, such rhetoric is not only irresponsible, it is inflammatory.
But these are only the latest Orwellian utterances from Mr. Nader and his supporters. From the start, he said his effort would help the Democrats gain votes in the House of Representatives -- while at the same time he has vilified the Democrats as no different than the Republicans. He has claimed to uphold the rights of organized labor, without once explaining his own firm anti-labor stance within his own organizations. The list goes on, from refusing to release his income tax returns like all other candidates -- this from the supposed paragon of honesty and openness -- to the disingenuous claims by his supporters in various states about a "risk-free" Nader vote in places where Gore or Bush are strong -- even as Mr. Nader himself aggressively looks for votes in liberal cities and on college campuses in vital toss-up states.
Should Governor Bush be elected President, and the Republicans hold the Congress, conservative Republicans will have captured control of all three branches of the Federal Government for the first time since 1930. Mr. Nader, who is also supporting divisive Green congressional candidates in some tight races, plainly does not care about this -- or worse, seeks it, under the naive impression that it will heighten social contradictions and lead to what he has called "a progressive convulsion." This is sectarianism of a familiar sort in the century just past -- a sectarianism that had reaped nothing but catastrophe for liberal and progressive politics.
We implore all liberal and progressive voters to reject the Nader campaign on Nov. 7 and to vote for the Democratic ticket.
Signatories (list in formation)
Benjamin Barber, Rutgers University Paul Berman, writer and critic Marco Calavita, film critic Ellen Chesler, writer and critic Mitchell Cohen, City University of New York, Dissent Bogdan Denitch, City University of New York Ronald Dworkin, New York University Dagoberto Gilb, writer Todd Gitlin, New York University Francisco Goldman, writer Mary Gordon, novelist and critic Hendrik Hertzberg, the New Yorker John B. Judis, the New Republic David Kusnet, writer and critic Jeremy Larner, writer and critic Wendy Lesser, the Threepenny Review Harold Meyerson, Los Angeles Weekly Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate, novelist and critic Jo-Ann Mort, Open Society Fund Brian Morton, novelist and critic David Osborne, writer George Packer, novelist and critic Jayne Anne Phillips, novelist Gloria Steinem, writer and activist James Shapiro, Columbia University Ruy Teixeira, Century Foundation Siva Vaidhyanathan, New York University Judith B. Walzer, formerly New School University Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Dissent Jim Weinstein, In These Times Sean Wilentz, Princeton University