Challenge: voting for Ralph Nader

[Jabu Khan]

the talk of a debate about whether voting for Nader is throwing your vote away. The election is getting closer and I think its become more and more apparent everyday that the dems are essentially lapdogs of the reps. We have no representation in our govt. anymore. I feel voting for a REP or DEM is throwing your vote away more so than any other vote you could possibly cast its like saying I like things the way they're going and wouldn't change anything. Compare the RIULPA to the FBCI. Compare the communications secracy act to the patriot act. Compare Clinton's and Bush's welfare and medicare reforms. Compare the US militaries actions under the two leaders as well. Does anyone really think Kerry is all that different? Hes more wealthy than Bush he has the same corprate attachments, the same questionable military service the same marks of privledge. They are 11th cousins. They were both members of The Skull and Bones even at the same time for one year. They both are descended from Conneticut social eletists who were tainted by arms misdealings and drug-running.Everything that Kerry seems so opposed to in Bush now that hes running against him is the same issues he backed Bush on with his votes in the Senate. If you really want change stop electing the same fucking dude. Vote for someone different someone that actually seems to stick to his moral convictions and believe in the good of the people. Someone who doesn't belong to the same social circles who isn't descended from the same robber barons and eletists and believe in the same supernatural being that likes rich white guys better than everyone else in the world.
Of course if I did participate in such a debate I would try to establish connection between the DEM and REP committees and the nominations they put forth and support my thoughts on this subject.

[itsdatruth]

Ironically, the Reform party, through the Nader endorsement, has thrown back all the "two parties are too much the same" back in their own face. Get this-the Greens, generally more liberal than the Dems, and the Reforms, generally considered more like the Reps than the Dems, are both running the SAME candidate. Wow...Nader's a 0th cousin to himself! Hows that for two parties looking alike?

[infinity]

i would be willing to debate this, provided a little more clarification is given.
are you wanting to debate the politics of the election... ie, digging up as many googled news sources as possible to make claims of links between parties?
are you wanting to debate the (for lack of a better term) ethical connotations of whether voting this way or that way has any actual meaning?
are you wanting to debate whether 3rd parties have any signifigant or noticable impact of national policy?
or are you wanting a mish-mash of all of them?

i'm honestly not terribly interested in a google-off, but if you want to discuss some of the intellectual concepts behind 3rd party voting and the essence of democracy, then i will be happy to do it

*edit to add*
wow, i didn't even bother looking at the original post date of this proposal. it was just bumped and i didn't double check. oh well. is this challenge even still active? if not... heh... ignore me

[KnightWhoSaysNi]

wow, i didn't even bother looking at the original post date of this proposal. it was just bumped and i didn't double check. oh well. is this challenge even still active? if not... heh... ignore me

I'd recommend sending Jabu a PM, letting him know you've picked up his gauntlet. He's still around. Last time he was online was 11 days ago.

Jason

[luvluv]

Off-topic, but I once heard Eric Alterman debate Cornell West on this same topic at a church near Washington Square in Manhattan. Alterman argued that liberals should vote for Gore, West thought liberals should vote for bush.

West probably won the argument (He's Cornell West, after all) but in retrospect Alterman was right.