Paul Krugman nails it: Why we're on DEMOCRATIC Underground

[cascadiance]

81. If you blame Nader instead of wanting something like IRV in place...

... you (not you specifically here, but those that want to blame Nader) are more just personally offended that a Democrat didn't win and you're trying someone to blame and dislike for this. If you really want to fix the system to ensure this sort of thing from happening, you should work less towards trying to marginalize people like Nader, and more to constructively fix the election system to make a "spoiler" candidate less of a problem and finding a way for voters to better be represented ultimately in how they vote. That's what working for IRV would help. You might then try to criticize other third parties for not jumping on board if they continue to choose to run as spoilers and not try to jump on board to help put in place such fixes, but I think most of them would like a system where even if they don't get elected, they feel that the voter is better represented and they and their parties at least have a voice that is heard more.

I like Bernie Sanders approach now more than I liked what Nader did too, but I don't just blame Nader for what happened, which arguably hadn't had as costly problems in the past in other elections as it did then. And as some argue here, if the votes had been counted properly and other forms of voter suppression hadn't happened with Katherine Harris, Nader as a "spoiler" would have been a non-issue too.

There are so many things that Nader has done for this country that we shouldn't forget, and we should be thankful for him for his work in the past on things like making our automobiles and other consumer products more safe for Americans that have saved many lives. We shouldn't forget that.