General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Yes, Nader cost Al Gore the presidency in 2000. [View all]elzenmahn
(904 posts)...had Nader not run. I don't accept this as being necessarily the case.
For one, I think Nader votes were really a protest against the 2-party system, which Nader has been campaigning against for decades. People were disgusted with it, as they're disgusted with it now. And let's face it, Gore is a Corporate Democrat - liberal (maybe), but by no means progressive. Quite frankly, I hated the man, and hated the fact that he was the only viable option to go up against the Repubs.
The problem is, that we have a political system that is set up to only accept two viable options for the national seats. Having multiple parties involved would be more democratic and encourage more participation, but would require fundamental changes to our election system, such as instant run-off voting (which, I think, would have been a more productive use of Nader's time and energy.)
As far as being "close enough to steal" - if anything, Nader's candidacy pointed out the very flaws in our electoral system that should have been fixed by now (and might have , if 9-11 didn't happen.). It took Nader's candidacy to point out the rot.
So I don't fault Nader for running - as a citizen, he has every right. I fault SCOTUS, the people running the Florida election, the Republicans for being behind the whole mess, and the Democrats for not standing up as they should have.