An Open Letter to Ralph Nader from David C. Korten
Published on Thursday, October 21, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1021-32.htm
An Open Letter to Ralph Nader
From the author of "When Cor****ations Rule the World"
by David C. Korten
Dear Ralph:
You have publicly expressed your dismay at what you perceive to be a
loss of nerve by those of us who sup****ted you in the 2000
presidential race, but now endorse Senator Kerry. It is not a question
of nerve. It is a question of pragmatic good judgment in a time of
deep national crisis.
I bought into the argument in the 2000 election that there was little
consequential difference between Bush and Gore and joined with you to
send a signal to the Democratic Party and build the Green Party. The
judgment that there was no consequential difference between the two
establishment candidates has proven to be more wrong than I ever
imagined possible. If Gore were president, the United States would not
be bogged down in a pointless and unwinnable war in Iraq; we would not
have the biggest budget deficit in our history; and we would not be
experiencing a massive rollback in civil liberties and in
environmental, health, and worker protections. We might not even have
had 9/11. You more than anyone should be aware of this.
With regard to differences between Bush and Kerry, I must admit to
having serious questions about a political system that offers us a
presidential choice between a rich white male graduate of Yale
University and a rich white male graduate of Yale University. However,
to deny the significant differences between Bush and Kerry on issues
ranging from environmental protection, nuclear proliferation, women's
rights, civil liberties, the Supreme Court, labor rights, and national
security is intellectually dishonest. Furthermore, Kerry has a
stunning advantage over Bush in his intelligence, honesty, emotional
and moral maturity, understanding of the world beyond America's
borders, respect among foreign leaders, his ability to admit and learn
from mistakes, and his capacity to articulate a coherent sentence.
These are far from inconsequential differences.
Bush stands on his record. Indeed, the accomplishments of his
administration have been breathtaking. In less than four years it has
turned the largest budget surplus in our nation's history into the
biggest deficit; presided over the first net loss of jobs since
President Herbert Hoover; squandered lives, money, and international
reputation on an unwinnable war with no exit strategy against the
wrong enemy; weakened milestone environmental protection laws like the
Clean Air Act; exacerbated inequality, threatened Social Security and
Medicare, undermined guaranteed overtime compensation and key labor
rights; dismantled what once were considered unassailable
Constitutional rights; appointed extremist judges to our country's
courts; and established a new military doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear
war.
Perhaps Bush's greatest failure is in the area he claims to be his
greatest strength: national security. The most devastating terrorist
attack in human history occurred on his watch. Three years later his
administration has yet to identify and charge a single U.S.-based
accomplice. Nor has it charged anyone with responsibility for the
subsequent anthrax attacks. The administration that immediately
identified Osama Bin Laden as the September 11 ringleader could not
find him in Afghanistan; so it invaded Iraq and captured Saddam
Hussein instead.
I have no illusions that Kerry will be a great progressive leader, but
he will at least be a competent leader. At this point a return to
competent plutocracy as usual will be a major improvement over gross
incompetence and ****d fascism — and this improvement is the best we
can hope for in the 2004 election.
Whatever the original intention of your campaign, the only issues that
have gained any attention center on personal ballot access for a
candidate whose main sup****t comes from his sworn enemies. You have
not even positioned your run to build a third party.
Like Bush's war against Iraq, your campaign is the wrong war against
the wrong enemy for the wrong reason. Tragically, it has come
increasingly to appear that its primary intention is to throw the
election to Bush to extract your personal vengeance against the
Democratic Party, an outcome that will serve only to further harm your
reputation and the hard-won victories of your lifetime of service.
George W. has become well known for his inability to admit a mistake
and his self-righteous dismissal of all who challenge him. You risk
history saying the same for Ralph Nader. When so many of your once
closest friends and most ardent lifetime sup****ters urge you to
withdraw and your main sup****t comes from those on the Republican far
right who detest everything you stand for, perhaps you should take
note. Your one hope of avoiding further harm to your country, your
cause, and your own reputation is to announce that you have made your
statement and that now it is time for your remaining sup****ters to
cast their ballots for Kerry.
This is a time for unity among all of us concerned for democracy and
the future of America. We simply cannot afford four more years of what
may be the most extremist, corrupt, and dangerously incompetent
administration in U.S. history.
- David C. Korten
David C. Korten is the author of "When Cor****ations Rule the World."
http://www.pcdf.org/
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