Nader doesn't rebel against "the corporate socialism of the Democratic Party." He rebels against the corporate captivity of the Democratic Party. Raimondo misreports this one, and it's pretty scurrilous of you, Doug, to amplify it. This take by Raimondo is just a willful mis-hearing of what Nader says.
The reason to vote against Nader is not political-theoretical. It's 100 percent tactical.
Nader is not a man of the Old Right, whatever elements of its talk he may echo. The cornerstone of Old Conservatism was anti-democracy. Nader is a staunch democrat, and always has been. And, isn't it worth saying that conservatism is a healthy aspiration? Aren't we all struggling for a world in which we can read the papers and look out the windows and honestly conclude that all big things are best? All good radicalism should contains the seeds of future conservatism, although not too many.
And, BTW, how is this kind of Nader bashing any better than what Nader is doing? Shouldn't we LBO types be very careful not to give aid and comfort to the DP's internal Nader-bashing shills, who want us all, ala N. Newman, to stop all complaints about the past, present, and future nature of the DP?
Nader is not insane or evil, and if you insist he is, then be consistent and observe the same about Horseface, who is 10 times the slut and idiot RN ever was. RN's simply making a bad tactical decision to keep going, probably out of personal desperation, and with lots of decent reasons.
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 1:53 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Tariq Ali endorses Kerry, denounces Nader
Michael Pugliese quoted Justin Raimondo:
>Nader's distrust of bigness, either corporate or governmental, his
>fear of centralized power, his sharp critique of the
>managerial-bureaucratic mentality, all recall the distinctively
>American tradition of individualist populism. Just as Nader rebelled
>against the corporate socialism of the Democratic Party
>establishment, so the mostly Midwestern progressives turned against
>the New Deal when it became a stalking horse for corporatism and
>war. Nader's views are attractive to the Left but are rooted, at
>least in part, on the libertarian and populist Right.
[...]
>I know Ralph Nader is supposed to be a man of the Left, the Eugene
>Debs or the Norman Thomas of our times, but as I listen to him on
>the stump, I keep hearing the voice of the Old Right.
Bingo. Why do left Naderites have such a hard time recognizing this? It's both painful and amusing to hear self-identified Marxists claiming they're doing the Red thing by voting for this petit bourgeois. When I brought this up the other week with Anthony Arnove of the ISO, he just dismissed it mockingly and refused to engage any further.
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