> Nader campaign failed to win the 5% of th evote (did not come even close!)
> and it's only accomplishment seems to "spoil" Gore taking over Florida
> (althought that conclusion would be unwarranted if Florida had a higher
> than usual voter turnout). So the end result is that we have two of the
> worst possible worlds:
>
> 1. The repugs controlling the white house, the congress and the senate, and
> soon the supreme court - with the likely effect all kinds of lowlife
> crawling up from their hiding to make the Reagan presidency look like the
> golden era of progressivism;
Yawn. How would this be different than the Democratic lowlifes who have infected the White House for the past 8 years. Janet Reno, Donna Shalala, and so on.
> 2. showing how weak the progressive movement really is - not even a match
> to the 8% which that goof ross perot was able to pull.
If you measure the progressive movement by the number that votes. I suspect that twice that number didn't vote.
Actually, I examined the state by state results pretty carefully last night. I was impressed by how well Nader did in states where one doesn't expect many progressives. Look at the numbers for Montana and Nebraska for instance.
Nader may not have reached 5%, but he had a respectable showing for somebody who didn't get the media exposure that Perot did.
> Another humiliating aspect of yesterday's election is the trailer-trashy
> south and midwest imposing its political will on the urbane north-east and
> west. What a bummer!
Well, that the problem with progressivism that is stuck in the past. If you think that your base is still in the upper Midwest and Northeast, you are missing out on demographic shifts. I started focusing on organizing anarchists in the southern U.S. after I came into contact with more and more radicals from that region. I suspect that many families with radical backgrounds have moved south in the past few decades, as part of the general societal shift to the south.
One of the more visible anarchist actions yesterday was a banner drop on I-95 north of Miami.
> So the bottom line is that while Nader failed to achieve its objective, it
> will be blamed (rightly or wrongly) for "spoiling" the election. The
> imminent backlash will drive a wedge between "green" and unionists / NAACP
> crowd and bury the idea of ajn alternative to the dem/repug monopoly for a
> long time to come.
You sound like the Gore supporters who are whining and worrying in my office this morning. Yes, this could drive a wedge, but look at the silver lining. Finally, progressives, especially African-Americans and union members, will start re-examining their commitment to the Democratic Party. After all, the corporations donate money to both parties, so why don't unions understand this?
Chuck0