[dar-list] Ralph Nader/Proportional Representation

[Jonathan Horn]

Whatever the faults of the Clinton Administration, and they were many, 
and whatever the faults of the national Democratic Party, and they too 
are many, I can't imagine a worse spokesperson than Ralph Nader.  Denied 
the seat at the table he thought he should have during the Clinton 
Administration, Nader let his anger and his ego run wild and destroy a 
lifetime of credibility.

In the process, he travelled the country peddling the blatant lie that 
there were no fundamental differences between today's Republicans and 
Democrats.  No difference regarding the Supreme Court and the federal 
judiciary, no difference on civil liberties and civil rights, no 
difference on reproductive freedom, no difference on the environment and 
on and on.

This was a lie and Nader knew it was a lie.  The real strategy was to 
"punish" the Democrats for being insufficiently pure and ultimately push 
the party and in the direction Nader and his alies felt it needed to 
go.   On the stump, he was generally harder on Gore than he was on 
Bush.

Whether or  not Nader in fact influenced the outcome of the 2000 
election, we are all living now with the reality that Nader tries so 
hard to obfuscate.   No one on the front lines on any of the issues I 
mentioned has the slightest illusion about the realities of living under 
a "faith based", extreme right wing, anti-science, conservative 
Republican government.

As for proportional representation,  it doubtless has its virtues.  It 
can also. as in Italy and Israel, confer vastly disproportionate 
influence on tiny splinter parties (as the major parties seek to cobble 
coalitions).  These parties are just as likely to be reactionary or 
religious as progressive.

Jonathan
(Dar List newbie)