[Am-info] Re: Global Resistance at home

[Steve Cohen]

> "Glenn T. Livezey, Ph.D." <glivezey@mail.ahc.umn.edu> am-info@venice.essential.org [Am-info] Re: Global Resistance at homeDate: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 09:15:35 -0600
>
>>From: John Poltorak <jp@eyup.org> Subject: Global Resistance
>>Isn't Ralph Nader some big shot consumer group leader? I thought he 
>>was at the forefront of anti-MS activity among conumer groups some 
>>time ago. John
>
>It was indeed Ralph Nader who began this list by organizing a public
>debate of Microsoft's business practices. I signed on for information
>regarding that 3 day forum and remained on what became the AM-INFO
>(Appraising Microsoft-Information) list. We owe a great debt to his
>organization for raising this debate to a level where the DOJ could
>no longer ignore their duty. Unfortunately, the same Ralph Nader
>chose to stick to his own political campaign, draining votes in an
>election he knew he could not have a snow ball's chance in hell of
>winning, and thus contributed to the selection of George Bush. Now he
>denies any responsibility for George's rapid reversal of all past and 
>present efforts to do the right thing with regard to consumers, the 
>environment, the economy, war and peace, foreign and domestic affairs 
>of any kind, you name it - George the Destroyer has undone peace and 
>prosperity to maximise his handlers profits. And the DOJ/Microsoft 
>'settlement' is just another example of the "integrity" these bastards
>have "returned to the WhiteHouse". I still don't know why anyone not
>directly benefitting from his Reverse-Robinhood policies (and that is
>a MAXIMUM of 5% of the populace) would ever support George Bush, 
>directly or indirectly.
> 
>I don't know if Mr. Nader has enough of his own integrity left to do
>something positive in this case. But it sure wouldn't hurt for him to
>try.
>
>Glenn
>
>-- 
>Glenn T. Livezey, Ph.D.
>
>University of Minnesota
>Neuroscience Department
>Room 6-145 Jackson Hall
>321 Church St. S.E.
>Minneapolis, MN 55455
>
>(612) 624-2991 FAX 6-5009 
>glivezey@lenti.med.umn.edu
>livezey@bigfoot.com
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Not to put words in Ralph Nader's mouth, but I'm sure he would say something to the effect that the events of the past year have proven there WASN'T the great difference between Republicans and Democrats that Democrats might wish to say there is.

Frankly, it AMAZES me that Democrats are still taking the lash to Nader instead of doing ANYTHING to organize real resistance to the policies of Bush (which were INDEED not the policies he campaigned under).

Nader' share of the vote in Florida may have been decisive but Nader did not cause Gore to bungle the campaign as he did.  

If Gore could have carried his own state he would have won.  

If Gore had fought with anywhere near the intensity of the take-no-prisoners Republicans in the Florida recount (instead of asking supporters like Jesse Jackson to muzzle themselves), he might still have won.

If, after the Bush victory, the Democrats had aggressively demanded that Bush live up to the moderate program he was "elected" under instead of veering far to the right, they might have accomplished much.

Why did it take, of all things, a Republican defection from the Bush program to get the Democrats to wake up from their deep slumber?

Why in the aftermath of September 11, did the Democrats fall all over themselves to centralize unheard-of powers in the Presidency  controlled by Bush, in many cases leaving only the token of a single negative vote?  While there was a need for some national pulling together, they went, IMHO, way overboard in passing actions that diminish their own power and allowing civil liberties of Americans to be drastically reduced, in many cases in ways that have nothing to do with terrorism.

Why is Rep. John Conyers the only national Democrat with the guts to attack this settlement for what it is?  Where is Gore?  Where is Clinton?  Where are the Clinton Justice Department people who prosecuted this case?

None of these may legitimately be laid at the feet of Ralph Nader.  If the Democrats are that dissatisfied with the Bush administration, why don't they try LEADING a fight against it, instead of blaming their continuing inaction on Ralph Nader??  (which incidentally, only splinters the feeble forces they might possibly bring to bear on these matters?)

So, you're not in power anymore.  Quit whining about it.  Enough excuses already.  Time to DO SOMETHING!  




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