Sic semper Naderus. (A response to the recent pro-Nader posts)

[freshwest]

40. HIs statement here is my answer to dilettantes who blithely call for destroying everything:

'...Never mind the many thousands who would suffer or die as a result of his actions: Nader wanted a Bush presidency that would be so bad, so destructive, so injurious to the populace that Nader’s own political fortunes would be enhanced. And he got the cataclysm he wanted. In fact, we all got that cataclysm, even though the rest of us didn’t want it (because WE suffered, while his wealthy, privileged a** suffered not one bit).

For all the mealy mouthed complaints about things that are imperfect, or insufficiently doctrinaire, the ones who are helpless in the midst of the mayhem are accounted as 'collateral damage' to the greater good. I mean that in the same way the MIC does. Those are real people, we are real, too.

Part of the deception is in labels. The terms Left and Right are from a period in the times of the French Revolution. Excesses and injustices that were cruel and barbaric, were committed before, during and after that time. And the people ended up with an Emperor who was an imperialist and took his nation to war against what he thought were the enemy to his order, and anyone who wants to argue that with me can talk to the hand, because those were the short term results.

That can happen again and often does. Did it iron itself out in time? Surely. But woe to those in the middle. And in some cases, they will never rise again, because they are dead, impoverished or democracy has disappeared, their nation ruled by those who are the new bosses under the new, improved label, that everyone must agree with or else, the same as they had to bow to the monarchs before them.

People confuse captalism, socialism and communism as being more than what they are. We get fooled by calling them Left or Right. Totalitarian or authoritarian forces don't need a government to create those conditions, all they need are organized groups, be they corporations, churches, militias or sports, to steal the freedom of mind from those who don't agree with them. It's the results that matter in human terms that is important, not the labels.

Not just from this OP, but others, I have lost espect for Nader. It hurts to see him as something other than what he was respected to years ago, as a consumer advocate, and diligent on the rights of workers. I don't believe it was all a sham, and I respected him as true eccentric.

The presidential election debate corporation, which he railed about, was privately owned, instead of having the League of Women Voters moderate as had been done for years. Its privatizaation was and is a terrible disservice to the nation. The debates with more voices in the nineties were able to shift or define the positions of the better funded candidates and answer the needs of real people. But force was applied to stifle them.

AFAIK, it was under the influence of Clinton and Edwards, that others were shut out of the 2008 debates. The way the debates were handled in 2000 and 2004 were too exclusive. 2008 was worse when they shut out Dennis and others as 'minor' candidates. Those 'minor' candidates still represented millions. Their voices needed to be heard to push the 'major' candidates. (and it's wrong to judge who is 'minor' and 'major' by money) to get them closer to human concerns that needed to be heard.

It was Barack not being arrogant or dismissive of the 'minor' candidates that got him my vote. Even though he was not as 'liberal' as I would have liked, he showed he had an open mind, and not the egoism of some of the other candidates. But I would have voted for whoever was against the GOP in the general election.

But now Nader comes across like so many others, as a nihilist, a B&W thinker who can afford purity. Many Americans are not offered such a lofty position in life as to play that game. And I have no respect for them, as they have none for those who suffer, except to use the sufferings of others as justification for their ideology.

I don't usually comment on the Nader threads, don't read them. Now he is going to just be another pundit paid to destroy civil society for the benefit of an older, uptrending conservative and privatized country. And now to add Nader to my keywords to ignore...