Left out?
Or just out of it?
As low as my regard for Ralph Nader is these days, I'm still willing to concede that there may be a few well-meaning, if misguided, progressives mixed in among his ranks of Republican signature gatherers. I know some fine people who are frustrated by the failure of the Democratic Party to put forward a leftist candidate with a leftist agenda, but the simple fact is that the Democratic Party isn't a leftist party. It's a centrist party influenced, but not dominated by a liberal wing. Right now, in fact, the liberal wing is somewhat ascendent, with one of its central figures having captured the Presidential nomination, and another holding the highest position in the House caucus.
Still, American liberalism isn't really a leftist political philosophy. It just plays one in a government dominated by radicals who have stolen the mantle of conservatism. Liberalism is the American mainstream, although it's been in exile for a bit, largely due to the effective propaganda of the radical Republicans. Liberalism will never fully satisfy the genuine left, but the genuine left simply hasn't made its case to Americans. Not in our history, not in our present, and not in the forseeable future.
But there are leftists out there, and they can choose to be irrelevant in the context of election politics, or they can order from the menu offered. I'm absolutely not one of those who feels that we need to make any concessions whatsoever to Nader in order to appeal to those folks, but I do think it's still worthwhile to appeal to them on the basis of simple reason and common decency. If they ignore the appeals, well, we just have to work on the voters we can reach, and leave the ideologues in the dust.
With that in mind, here are a couple appeals to left leaning Naderites that bear repeating.
Matt Yglesias scores some telling points on his personal blog.
To steal a point from Eric Alterman, the truly astounding thing about the Nader program is that it proposes to build a progressive movement in America by taking steps condemned by every labor union, ever civil rights group, and feminist group, every gay and lesbian group, and every environmental group of any note in America. It would seem that working people, racial minorities, gays and lesbians, and environmentalists all feel that a Democratic administration would offer them a thing or two.And Jesse Berney makes the case as plainly as it can be made at the DNC blog, Kicking Ass.
I could go on. Suffice it to say that unless the Left for some reason doesn't care about the interests of poor people and unpopular minority groups, John Kerry is offering them quite a bit more than nothing. Is he offering them everything? No. Is he offering me everything? No. I want an assault rifle in every garage, developers running roughshod over local zoning ordinances, and draconian measure to limit CEO pay. And it looks to me like it's not going to happen. But I'll take lower premiums, health care for millions of additional citizens, cleaner air, fairer treatment of the sexually unorthodox, and a higher minimum wage. If that stuff is "nothing" to you, then I don't know what your problem is.
Look, this election is no longer about rejecting the failed policies of George W. Bush (although that's certainly a nice benefit). It's about John Kerry's vision for making a stronger, better America. And as Matt points out, that means a higher minimum wage, fewer people without health insurance, more kids going to college, and much more.Real results for real people.
This election is about bringing real results that will change the lives of real people for the better. And that's why John Kerry is the right choice.
Yep, that's our ticket.
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