In 2000, Ralph Nader ran for the Green Party and was accused of stealing votes from the Democrats. It was the same thing in 2004.
In 2008, it looks like Nader is back to his old games. Unfortunately this time it screwed over the party he used to run for. That’s right, due to his past times of running, he divided the Green Party.
To start off, I’ll address the myth that the Green Party tends to steal votes from the Democrats. Technically it’s true. The Greens end up taking votes that would otherwise go to nearly every party on the ballot. The parties the Greens take the most votes from are Republicans and Libertarians. Yes, in some ways the Greens do want bigger government. This is in the case of topics like health care, education and support for the smaller, local and regional businesses. Yes, they also tend to support local and regional businesses more than multi-national corporations. OK, I will admit, they might have marginally screwed Al Gore out of the presidency. However, in the case of John Kerry, they didn’t. If anything, as stated earlier, they were stealing more votes from President Bush than they were from Kerry.
I had nothing against Nader the past two presidential elections because he was saying something that no one else was saying. He was also bringing up points that I agreed with. However, this time around the platform for the Green ticket (Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente) and Nader’s ticket (Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez) were similar. Also, due to his ideals, there were those Greens who, rather than supporting their party to make sure that they reached the 5 percent necessary to have an assured spot on the ballot as well as matching government campaign funds, voted for Nader.
OK, it is democracy. I will not hold their choice against them. However, if the party was not divided the Greens would’ve had a bigger chance at getting the 5 percent, even with the media black out that they suffered. Even with the debate black out, if they stayed united as a party, they were still capable of getting the five percent.
I like Ralph Nader and the things he stands up for. However, his divisiveness is something that will plague both himself and the Green Party as long as he continues to try. We need someone new to get a third party on the ballot and Cynthia Mckinney was the person to make a third party a viable choice.
There is a bipartisan stranglehold on this country held by the Democrats and Republicans. What the third parties need to do, if they want another change in the democracy we claim yet seem to restrict, is to work together. We need to get another candidate to put a viable third party before we can focus on a fourth, fifth, etc.
Choice, viable choice, is the cornerstone of democracy, especially in grassroots democracy. However, if there is fighting between the Libertarian Party (which just happens to be a more conservative, less environmental version of the Green Party), Green Party, Ralph Nader, etc., the big change toward a truer sense of democracy will never happen.
I am a Green saying that for the sake of democracy Nader, the Libertarians and the Green Party should work together to get one of them the national political respect that is usually only reserved for Democrats and Republicans. Once one viable third party has been added, more can follow in suit. For the sake of America, independents can make another positive change in American society, much like Barack Obama’s election to the presidency showed that more and more of our country is starting forget old prejudices. This time will be a change of truer democracy prevailing. It will be the change of being able to choose something other than Democrat or Republican, and having that choice for something else matter more than it does now.