Ralph Nader's candidacy

Sunday, February 22, 2004 by Dave Winer.

News 

Today Ralph Nader announced that he is a candidate for President, running as an independent.

Conventional wisdom says this will hurt the Democrats and their presumed nominee, John Kerry.

A contrarian view 

Imho, Nader's run separates the people who "get" American democracy, and those who don't. If Nader is going to win the election for the Republicans, then now's the time to fix the bug in the process. Kerry isn't nominated yet. Think. What's the problem that Nader exploits? What's so fixed about our political system that a minority independent candidate, who likely won't be able to register in many states, is going to spoil it for.. who exactly is he going to spoil it for? Think. Is this the America you imagined when you were a kid? Why can't we make it better? Why can't we have a dozen people running for President? By trying to hold back Nader (good luck) maybe you're preventing exactly the kind of transformation we need. I think Nader is a patriot. Give him a medal. And think instead of being part of the herd.

Dave Winer

PS: Ralph Nader is not a soapbar either.

PPS: On Meet the Press today, Nader made nice sounds about John Edwards. I wish Russert had asked the obvious follow-up. "Will you still run if Edwards were the Democratic nominee?"

PPPS: Imho stands for In My Humble Opinion.

PPPPS: Lots of links on today's Scripting News.