>Austere yes and I disagree with him on a lot of issues, but he is still one
>of the foremost activists of the last generation. Except for a few heated
>comments at points when I was particularly pissed off, I never went in for
>the personal bashing some folks did on Nader.
It's nice to see that you equate criticism with "bashing" even when it's directed against Ralph. And yes, he is "one of the foremost activists of the last generation" - which is both his strength and weakness. Strength in that he's accomplished some good things - weakness in that his "activism" isn't always well-considered. E.g. his general love of competition (ignoring its cost-cutting, which means wage-cutting, disciplines, and its corrosion of social solidarity), his (perhaps unwitting) contributions to transport dereg in the 1970s, his love of small business, etc.
Doug