{"id":269,"date":"2004-02-25T09:20:24","date_gmt":"2004-02-25T15:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/?p=269"},"modified":"2005-02-04T09:58:03","modified_gmt":"2005-02-04T07:58:03","slug":"nader-has-his-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/02\/25\/nader-has-his-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"nader has his reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve recently been having a discussion about Nader’s decision to run for president
\nwith a few friends at ITP. Unintentionally, this
\narticle<\/a> made one of my points for me. It quoted John Kerry as saying that
\nhe intends to "speak to all Americans. If people want to beat George Bush
\nbadly, and that’s what’s at stake here, they’ll see that I’m speaking to concerns
\nthat Ralph Nader and other people have."<\/p>\n

Now, I’m not saying I believe him (Kerry), but this is what a third candidate
\ndoes! They bring up issues that may have otherwise been left behind when the only
\nanswer is 0 or 1 (well, in this case, .5).<\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt from an email I recently sent: <\/p>\n

1. Just because I support Nader, does that mean I also do not support a movement
\nto get Bush out of the White House? Does it have to be Nader or Bush? It’s back
\nto the simple black and white, good and evil, that Bush spews: voting for Nader
\nis just as bad as voting for Bush; you are with us or against us… This is simply
\nnot true.<\/p>\n

2. Who says a vote for Nader is not tactical? On the contrary, in 2000, I *knew*
\nGore would take NYC, and, after knowing he would lose my electorates, I was voting
\nto try and get the Greens their 5% nationally, thus breaking the two-party system.
\nI’ll do the same thing this year, if circumstances dictate as such.<\/p>\n

3. A lot of people are talking about how narcissistic Nader is, but not many are
\nquestioning his intent from the other side. (I’m not saying I necessarily believe
\nthe following, but it’s just as possible as ‘pure narcissism’ is.) Given that
\nNader is being attacked by progressives, neo-liberals and conservatives alike
\n(from all sides), there isn’t a chance in hell that he’ll get the same turn-out
\nhe did last election year. Perhaps the "right to ____" he speaks of
\nis not to run for president, but to shake the system, to provoke Democrats into
\nacting more like Democrats. He energized non-voters, as well as Dems, to do just
\nthat once before… Get angry. Do this: get more people that are not angry to
\nbe angry – cuz Nader voters are not the enemy here.<\/p>\n

Also in response to the linked article – perhaps Nader is not on the Green Bill
\nbecause his *only* intent is to shake things up – he knows he can’t get 5%, so
\nrunning independently can accomplish only one thing: dialogue. If it’s narcissism,
\nwouldn’t he be on a bill that gave him a much better chance? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve recently been having a discussion about Nader’s decision to run for president with a few friends at ITP. Unintentionally, this article made one of my points for me. It quoted John Kerry as saying that he intends to "speak to all Americans. If people want to beat George Bush badly, and that’s what’s at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9blZT-4l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":310,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/03\/07\/stuff-for-the-technical-art-geek\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":0},"title":"stuff for the technical art geek","author":"nathaniel","date":"07 March 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Tech \/ Geek \/ Art: Slashster - a slashdot version of friendster for geeks who want to keep in touch... Peter Jackson has a few new movies in the works, including King Kong (2005) and the LOTR pre-quel, The Hobbit (note that this latter link is to a slashdot internal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":301,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/03\/14\/custom-bush\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":1},"title":"custom bush","author":"nathaniel","date":"14 March 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"So, Bush made this site where you could make posters for his campaign - Custom Posters. Then, 'wonkette' made The Sloganator: A Guide - some great suggestions of what to do with this tool. Eventually Bush caught on, but our slogans live on. Full story: Bush Site Unplugs Poster Tool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/01\/10\/nader-updown\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":2},"title":"nader up\/down","author":"nathaniel","date":"10 January 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Not sure if I agree with Nader's view on this particular point (The Independent: Nader Says a Run Would Benefit Democrats), but you have to love this quote: \"'I would not do this if I didn't really want to defeat Bush,' Mr. Nader said, calling the McCarthy era 'chicken feed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news and politics"","block_context":{"text":"news and politics","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/news-and-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":346,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2004\/05\/18\/ketchup\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":3},"title":"ketchup","author":"nathaniel","date":"18 May 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"near...ly...there.... Did you miss me? The last few weeks have been hektik with prepping for the artspace show, but in all, I think it went well. Marcus is cool. I booked my trip to Cuba, NYC and Dublin. I doubt I know anyone who will be at the former, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "me"","block_context":{"text":"me","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2003\/04\/15\/bloody-rant\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":4},"title":"bloody rant","author":"nathaniel","date":"15 April 2003","format":false,"excerpt":" Like many Americans, I'd like the US to again start acting like a democracy, instead of propagating the idea of one as a justification for war. I love my country, which is why I hate seeing it go to the Bushes. What can we do? VOTE. I'm going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news and politics"","block_context":{"text":"news and politics","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/news-and-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100,"url":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/2003\/06\/30\/is-nader-good-for-us-this-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":269,"position":5},"title":"is Nader good for us this time?","author":"nathaniel","date":"30 June 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Nader says he may be running for prez again. Even as a huge supporter, and someone who recognizes the truth (that he did not steal the election from Gore), I'm able to see this as the big mistake that it is... Or is he, perhaps, vying for the VP bid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news and politics"","block_context":{"text":"news and politics","link":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/category\/news-and-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nathanielstern.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}