Why you gotta be a Nader Hater

Ralph's running again.

Okay, people are always talking about deeds rather than words. Fine. Let's look at Nader's actions for a moment. Not his work on product safety and the environment in the 1960s and 70s, for which he is a legitimate national hero, but his actions in the past decade. And let's ignore, for the moment, his words about corporate dominance of American politics (which has hardly been mitigated by his recent efforts) or the similarities between the two major parties (which haven't been less similar in a century). If we were to judge him simply on his actions, what would we deduce his goals to be?

Simply, we would deduce that he desires to increase Republican chances of winning the presidency. Gore undoubtedly would have taken the White House in 2000 had Nader not been running. No, Nader didn't cost Kerry the White House in 2004 -- Nader only got .38% of the vote. But again, that's a chunk of the vote that would have leaned strongly Democratic had Nader not been running. How many individuals in American politics can actually swing a presidential vote away from Democrats by nearly half a percentage point by themselves? How many Republicans would sell their children into slavery for that kind of power?

If Nader were true to his stated goals, he would be celebrating this current presidential race, not trying to mess with it. The Democratic nominee will hardly be a radical but will definitely be left of center. The likely Republican nominee is a bit of a jumble policywise, but he's moderate enough that conservatives don't trust him. And most polls suggest that the Democrat will win in November, despite being somewhat more ideologically extreme than the Republican. In other words, the government is likely to shift, modestly but detectably, to the left next year, without his help. His entry into the race reduces the chances of that happening.

I am so tired of this guy.