Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
We can thank Nader and his supporters for the election mess -- and they're not even sorry.
Nov 15, 2000 | Like children who have mastered the art of manipulation by holding their breath until they turn blue, Ralph Nader's supporters have learned how to get what they want. There can be no doubt that Nader's supporters fulfilled their wish of making an impact on politics by throwing the vote count in several closely contested states -- including, unfortunately, Florida -- to Gov. George W. Bush.
There may be some Nader voters who are feeling sheepish about their decision -- especially, I imagine, some of his college-age supporters. This is a tough lesson for them to learn about the price of idealism (to the exclusion of realism) in politics. But when Nader and his legion have effected the disruption they threatened all along, it's hard to believe that many actually feel sorry.
Certainly Nader himself has no qualms. Speaking on Tuesday, he blamed Vice President Al Gore's woes on Gore, as he has since the election. "There aren't many presidential candidates who can't carry their own state," he said. (So I guess that means George McGovern really did deserve to lose to Nixon.)
It would be hard to imagine a man with less grasp of irony than Nader. Certainly he showed no inkling of the irony in announcing his opposition to a hand recount in four Florida counties, insisting that the same method should be used throughout the state. Here's the guy who made his reputation protecting the interests of citizens over the interests of corporations and unsafe machines, but is now willing to put the right to have your vote counted accurately into the hands of machines -- even though those machines are so unreliable they won't even read clearly marked ballots if a tiny piece of cardboard happens to be hanging off the back. Can a PR position at General Motors be far behind?
Last Thursday morning CNN showed Nader voters ecstatic and unapologetic about their part in the election mess. "I'm a part of history," burbled one woman. If Bush does take this election, let's hope that some whiz intercuts that woman's mindless enthusiasm with footage of seniors who can't afford prescription drugs or are forced to work because the retirement age has been raised, or inner-city kids whose schools are collapsing because private-school vouchers have drained away public funds for education, or women denied abortions after Dubya stacks the Supreme Court with opponents of Roe vs. Wade.
Along with that woman CNN showed another Naderite who shrugged off the prospect of a Bush presidency with the following: "I believe things have to get worse before they get better." But since most of Nader's supporters are white, solidly middle class and college-educated, they won't be the ones feeling the brunt when things do get worse.
It's a joke to hear Nader's supporters talking about how the "so-called left wing of American politics" has abandoned minorities and working people when Nader enjoys little substantial support from blacks, Latinos or unions, and when he brushed aside the concerns of feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem and Kate Michelman.
Nader's candidacy should make those of us on the left hang our heads in shame. It's a blatant display of our ugliest secret: the contempt of some leftists for the people they presume to care about. The stink of paternalism and the willingness to sacrifice the underclass that has emerged from Nader's campaign should make us sick. It's the conviction of white liberal intellectuals (do you know anyone else supporting Nader?) that they are better equipped to make decisions for minorities and the poor and that issues concerning women aren't really that important.
Nader's supporters represent what novelist Padgett Powell called "the entire army of modest Americans who believe themselves superior to other Americans (but not to any foreigners, except dictators) mostly by virtue of doing nothing but electing to think themselves superior."
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