it's heating up

[Chuck0]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> 
> At 11:46 PM 10/24/00 -0400, John Halle wrote:
> >Hi Folks,
> >
> >Our local Green party office is going to be picketed tomorrow (according
> >to flyers) by a group which professes to want "to save the supreme court
> >from Bush appointees" based on the premise that "Nader is endangering the
> >Supreme Court and will bring Civil Rights back to 1950." Behind it,
> >apparently, is a local attorney with close ties to Lieberman.
> >
> >There have also been several reported incidents of Nader lawn signs having
> >been stolen from front yards.
> 
> I do not understand.  In any normal country (i.e. one with a true
> parliamentary system) a small party's wet dream is to enter into a
> coalition with a large party to form a government.  That means COOPERATION
> between a small party and a large party.
> 
> In the US, which arguably has the least democratic political system among
> developed nations, a small party's need to cooperate with a large one is
> even greater, because absent a proportional representation system, a small
> party will not even register on a political radar screen by itself, let
> alone form a government.  What we see, however, is exactly the opposite -
> small parties trying to piss off the large ones as much as they can.  This
> appears to be self-defeating behavior, because in addition to reducing the
> small party's chance of getting near the halls of power to nil, it also
> alienates its potential allies.
> 
> Is there anything I am missing here, or - putting it mildly - thinking
> strategically is not the strongest point of American politics, especially
> its left wing?

Yes, the Democrats and Republicans are simply wings of the Corporate
Party.

A majority of Americans understand that, which is why they won't be
voting in two weeks.

On the other hand, the pro-Nader folks are taking his campaign way to
seriously. It used to have some value, in the "politics as theater"
sense. It was supposed to raise issues of corporate power, worker
rights, health care, and so on. Now that campaign has degenerated into
poll-watching and electoral fetishism.

Too bad. It was entertaining for a while; now it is simply becoming
annoying. 

Chuck0