Sunday, February 22, 2004

Vote For Kodos
I have two contradictory thoughts about Ralph Nader. a) Run, Ralph, run! Because in the election to come, even the small number of votes Nader draws away from the Democrat, presumably Kerry, might just make the difference. b) I hate third parties. Do you know what third parties give us? Presidents elected by a minority of the voters. In 1992, Bill Clinton won 43% of the vote and was elected president; in 1988, Michael Dukakis garnered 45.6% of the vote, but was sent back to Massachusetts as a joke. The Electoral College is in the Constitution, it is how we elect our presidents. Nevertheless, it is better for our democracy for Electoral victory to coincide with numerical victory at the polls. Without Nader, Al Gore's numerical victory in 2000 would have translated into Electoral victory. Now, I believe it is a good thing that Gore did not win the presidency (especially, but not exclusively, in light of 9/11), but as a general rule third party candidates do not raise the level of the political discourse, they simply act as spoilers.

But, since Ralph is in and the latter point is thus moot, go, Ralph, go! As the comedian Pat Paulson said in his many "campaigns" for the presidency,"We're upped our standards, now up yours."

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