Nader 2004: Move Over MoveOn.org
by Carl J. Mayer
The efforts by Moveon.org and other organizations to convince progressives
that the Democratic Party is their natural home are almost comical. This is
akin to proposing that the Vatican will lead church based reform around the
globe. The Democrats haven't nominated a progressive since the eighties when
the last round of corporate insider trading went un-remarked by, well, the
Democrats.
Most surprising is that media outlets don't question the wildly exaggerated
assertions by organizers claiming to speak for the progressive community in
America. When the just recently constituted "Campaign for America's Future"
and Moveon.org announced in June that they were holding "the largest gathering
of progressives in twenty years" the media dutifully reported this claim.
Well, about 1,000 people showed up at this gathering in, of course, Washington
DC. If that is the largest human assemblage progressives can generate, it is
time to close up shop.
Fortunately, that is nowhere near the largest gathering of progressives in
twenty years, or even three years. The largest gathering was on October 13,
2000 at the rally held for the Ralph Nader for President campaign in Madison
Square Garden. 20,000 people packed the Garden to the rafters. The second,
third, fourth fifth and sixth largest rallies occurred in Portland, Seattle,
Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles and they ranged between 10,000 and 16,000
people. The rallies were all in support of the Nader 2000 campaign.
Moveon.org has only a fraction of the nearly 3 million progressive who voted
for Nader in 2000.
Despite this, they give the impression that they are the locus of progressive
activity in the United States and that somehow the Democratic Party will
miraculously turn progressive after mortgaging itself to corporate lobbies for
twenty five years.
The Democrats have become masters of settling and compromise. On the big
issues of the day - the economy and war - they simply rubber stamp Republican
initiatives. The Republicans aided and abetted the largest corporate crime
wave in the history of the country; so did the Democrats. The Democrats did
not stand up to the Republicans on the war or on the bloated military budget.
They didn't even fight Republican tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate
welfare for the companies that slather both parties in campaign cash.
Time and again the party has sold out workers, students, taxpayers, consumers,
women and minorities on issues ranging from free trade to the minimum wage to
civil rights to bankruptcy reform. There is no Democratic Party anymore. There
is a loose affiliation of corporate fundraisers.
The best way to understand the demise of the Democratic Party is to compare
standards. Have you heard any Democrats these days use language like this: "A
small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control
over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor,
other people's lives… these economic royalists complain that we seek to
overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we
seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions
requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind
the flag and the Constitiution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag
and Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not
tyranny, for freedom, not subjugation; and against a dictatorship by mob rule
and the over-privileged alike." That was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his
acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia in 1936.
Democrats don't talk like that anymore. They certainly don't act like that.
And if Howard Dean -- a middle of the road Vermont Governor who favors the
Republican military budget, favors the Republican-backed death penalty, and
opposes the moderate gun control advocated by Arnold Schwarznagger - is the
best Moveon.org can come up with represent progressives, their next gathering
will be smaller than their last.
It's time to take our chances with Ralph Nader.
Time and Life magazines have both named Ralph Nader one of the 100 greatest
Americans of the twentieth century. His unprecedented achievements touch each
of our lives daily. Hundreds of thousands of American lives have been saved
because of the auto safety standards Nader had enacted into law. Our water is
safer, our food is less dangerous and our air is cleaner because of the laws
Nader fought for. Nader has founded countless public interest groups that
fight for women, consumers, students, workers, taxpayers and investors every
day.
There are few Americans in history that can rival the principled action,
substance, accomplishment, genius and compassion of Ralph Nader. We used to
elect leaders with those qualities: Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Jefferson and
Teddy Roosevelt were all such men of character and vision.
But, the refrain comes: "he can't win." He is a spoiler. Impossible. This
can't happen.
These are the same things people said about the Berlin Wall falling, about
humans walking on the moon, about the end of apartheid. In fact, the same
things were said about the birth of this nation. Impossible. No third party
candidate can win the Presidency. That's exactly what they said about Abraham
Lincoln who ran on a Third Party ticket and won the Presidency in 1860.
That is why thousands of people are forming the effort to Draft Nader again
for the Presidency. They are Independents, Republicans, Democrats and Greens.
They are forming groups in all fifty states.
The Draft Nader movement is on the move. Go to www.draftnader2004.com. You can
even vote to select Nader's running mate.
Apparently Nader is seriously considering the Draft, as he told the New York
Times: "It is quite clear that the Democrats are incapable of defending our
country against the Bush marauders. They have been unwilling to go all out to
stop the destructive tax cuts for the wealthy. They have been soft on
corporate crime. They have gone along in almost every issue except judicial
appointments. They have cowered, surrendered or divided themselves."
Carl J. Mayer is an attorney and author of the book Shakedown
http://www.draftnader2004.com/articles/move_over.html
If we all work hard Nader could get half of the liberl vote.
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