--- Max Sawicky <sawicky at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
> The definition of "liberal" tends to arise
> as if by decision tree, wherein the initial
> questions are more about things like the
> environment, civil liberties, and discrimination;
> mundane things like food, clothing & shelter
> are deferred till when a candidate gets over the
> first set of hurdles. Some issues are held to
> be absolute, while on others great flexibility
> is afforded. In fact, hardly anything is absolute;
> most issues run to shades of gray.
>
I'm all for voting third party candidates, happily voting for McReynolds (of course my write-in wasn't even bothered to be counted) It brings up issues not raised by the corprate funded candidates, gives me hope that things can change, ect.
The question however is *IF* a progressive third party candidate can indeed get any of his or her policies past in any meaningful way. I remember reading somewhere a long time ago about local Greens in Florida getting power in some city down there, and the press called them "economically fiscal" or something like that and stated that most of the policies they campaigned for weren't implemented. The business class was happy.
I think Americans romanticize the idea of elections which is part of the problem. We tend to think in terms of "This or that person is in power for the next 2 years and there is nothing we can do about it but wait until the next election". We have to remember as progressives that we have to continue to fight even after we pull the lever, even if the lever we pulled helped win the candidate of our choice. We have to be sure that our elected officials are accountable to the people and to our interests.
The idea that Nathan and others seem to be thinking is that "George Bush is in power. This means that there will be goose-stepping SS in the streets and massive terrorism against the workers will ensue for sure."
Whether Al Gore wins, whether McReynolds or Nader wins, or even whether Bush wins, we can't sit idly by.
Certianally certian wins make the struggle that much more difficult but thats no excuse to not do anything about it.
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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