Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
Bianca Jagger, Ani DiFranco, Gloria Steinem, Toni Morrison, Sean Wilentz, Tom Laughlin and other pro- and anti-Nader folks wage e-mail combat.
Nov 6, 2000 | Ralph Nader's candidacy has been the most deeply galvanizing force in this election. His divisive campaign has split liberal and progressive voters who are faced with the predicament of having to choose between the promise of third party politics and the possibility that a vote for longtime consumer advocate Nader could contribute to a George W. Bush victory on Nov. 7. The following letters, which have been making the e-mail rounds, illustrate how deeply the rift has grown in the days leading up to the election.
----------
Dear Mr. Nader:
Over the years, you have accomplished a great deal for the American people. Your candidacy in this election has been important. You have raised serious issues that need to be addressed.
However, the time has come to forego ideology and self-interest and step aside. You need to reconsider the consequences of your campaign. If you do not, you will ensure that George W. Bush is the next United States president. You are focusing your campaign in crucial states such as Michigan, Minnesota and Oregon, where, if converted to you, Al Gore supporters will give the state to Bush with disastrous consequences for the future of this nation.
If Bush is elected with a Republican majority in Congress, the American people stand to lose most of the social, economic and environmental progress we have made in the last 30 years. If there is any question in your mind of this, consider the following:
THE SUPREME COURT
You claim that there is no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Have you looked at George W. Bush's record in Texas? When we look at their likely appointees to the Supreme Court, George W. Bush's justices would repeal established individual rights and civil liberties. Let's take a look at federal judge Edith Jones, a Reagan appointee, frequently mention as a possible Bush Supreme Court nominee. On Oct. 27, she was part of a three-judge panel and ruled with the majority to reinstate Calvin Burdine's death sentence on the grounds that -- although his court-appointed lawyer James Cannon slept through portions of the trial -- "We cannot determine whether Cannon slept during a critical stage of Burdine's trial." Cannon not only slept but failed to object to prosecutorial language clearly designed to stir homophobia. The prosecutor urged the jury to impose the death penalty on Burdine because "sending a homosexual to the penitentiary certainly isn't a very bad punishment for a homosexual." Texas by far leads the U.S. in executions, with a total of 232 in the last 18 years; of this number, 145 executions have been carried out during Bush's tenure as governor. Bush will appoint ultra-conservative judges who will actively seek to take away a woman's right to choose. They will also support the corporate interests you have been so courageously fighting against by promoting "tort reform" which, as you know, is another way to disempower the average citizen and take away their right to sue corporations who damage them or cause them death.
Furthermore, a Bush Supreme Court will be anti-environment and will side with the exploiters and polluters who so willingly sacrifice the public health and safety on the altar of short term profit.
Al Gore's judicial heroes are Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan. You will agree that they are among the very best in the Supreme Court. Al Gore has a balanced judicial outlook and no doubt would appoint justices from the progressive side of the American political spectrum. The balance between Bush's and Gore's ideal justices provides a litmus-test distinction between the major candidates. These constitutional issues are likely to make the fundamental difference and will strengthen or tear apart the fabric of American society.
THE DEFICIT AND THE MIDDLE CLASS
While Gore intends to use the surplus to pay down the deficit, Bush plans To refund a large part of it to the wealthy. He says it's their money and they should get it back.
At this time the nation is almost five trillion six hundred billion dollars in the red. That is $5,600,000,000,000. Over the past ten years, Americans paid over three trillion dollars in interest. This year Americans will pay an estimated three hundred and sixty-two billion dollars in interest. That is $362,000,000,000, Mr. Nader. About $1,400 for every man woman and child in this country. Do you have any idea what that amount of money could do for the environment and health care and education if it was not being wasted on interest?
Next year Americans will pay even more. And the years after that still more. And instead of paying down the deficit, it will grow larger. Why? To insure that multimillionaires can have their much needed tax breaks. And if Bush is elected and inheritance tax is eliminated, the middle class will be asked to make up the hundreds of billions of dollars in those lost revenues as well.
THE ENVIRONMENT
As governor of Texas, Bush has put the polluters in charge of the state's environmental program with the result that Texas is now an environmental disaster. Although he doesn't dare articulate it during the campaign,
The Republican agenda includes doing away with the Environmental Protection Agency. If it's not eliminated completely it will be emasculated to the point where it exists in name only.
And in service of his major contributors, the Oil and Coal conglomerates, Bush and the Republicans will encourage oil exploration in environmentally sensitive areas and the burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity and much more.
If you think global warming is bad now, just give a Bush administration a few years to pay off its debt to these special interests.
And whether you want to admit it or not, Mr. Nader, Al Gore has been a strong advocate for environmental protection. He recognized the danger of global warming before most people had heard the term. And he almost single-handedly, and against the advice of all his political advisors saved the Kyoto Accords. However, a rabid Republican Congress has blocked their implementation along with almost every other environmental effort put forth by the Clinton Administration. You are correct. Clinton/Gore have not got a lot done. But if you'd been president these past eight years, neither would you.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
You warn us of the growing power and influence of the corporations on our lives and our democracy yet you threaten to help defeat the only candidate with any chance of doing the one thing that will help solve this problem.
You know Bush and the Republicans will not support Campaign Finance Reform, Gore has promised that he will work with John McCain in his mission To bring about the reform American politics need. Can you explain why you would actively work to keep this from happening?
SOCIAL SECURITY
You are aware that Bush plans to divert hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street. It seems like a great scheme while the market is going up as it has been for the past several years. But what goes up also comes down. While this risky scheme may put a few billion in the pockets of the brokers and underwriters, it will turn Social Security into Social Insecurity and endanger the retirement of many people who unfortunately do not have as much money as you do.
Mr. Nader, you have stated publicly that you would rather see Bush win than Gore. You seem to believe that Bush will make things so bad that the country will rise. This reminds me of the days when doctors bled patients in order to cure them. The problem was the patients often died from the treatment rather than the disease. As someone who agrees with you on so many issues and would love to see you continue your campaign to educate and enlighten us about the things for which you claim to care so much, I ask you to do the right thing. The election is too close and now is the time for you to throw your support behind Gore.
If you help Bush win, you will have single-handedly done more damage to this nation than any right wing candidate. Please do not let this happen.
Sincerely,
Bianca Jagger
Get Salon in your mailbox!