Ahmed Amr
Editor’s Note: The forthcoming USA presidential election concerns the whole world. However, it is primarily a matter for eligible USA voters. Any articles published on the World Crisis Web on the subject of the election are presented to stimulate free thinking and debate, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of the editor.
This election season promises to be as thrilling as the Bush/Gore show four years ago. The first half of the campaign has been wasted on Kerry’s claim to being a war hero. Bush partisans have vigorously contested Kerry’s entitlement to five medals and raised the battle cry “you’re no hero, John.” The first act of this insane performance probably cost a few hundred million dollars.
What more could we possibly expect from two virtually identical candidates presented to the public courtesy of Skulls and Bones? Instead of watching these losers quibble over bronze and silver medals, it makes more sense to just toss a copper penny. If it lands on heads, vote for Lincoln.
Our aristocratic political class has become a poor imitation act of their continental predecessors who starved French peasants, taunted them to eat cake and posted warning signs advising that “Apres Moi, Le Deluge”. Well, Apres Bush, we can only hope for Kerry as a substitute Deluge.
This much is clear: Our self-designated elites have failed to wisely govern because of their ossified collective imagination. Never before has the War Party offered the citizenry less choice. They now have the audacity to present us with a single platform endorsed by both Bush and his Democratic clone.
But never despair. Hope is on the way. November’s election offers the opportunity of a century to build a third party. Or, to be more precise, an authentic second party. This political season is the perfect moment for the emergence of an alternative third force on the political landscape.
A new dynamic third party can easily be established if only the peace movement and labor activists combine forces with civil libertarians, the environmental movement, disenfranchised minorities and health care reformers. Add to them the dissenters from left and right who oppose the establishment of an American Empire and you have a formidable combination of natural allies who constitute solid building blocks for a new coalition that can trounce the War Party any day of the week.
The core constituency of the Peace Party will be drawn from an American middle class anxiously waiting for a wake up call. Give them an alternative to the War Party and they will flock to the ranks. Offer them the real prospect of affordable quality education and universal health care and you will win their votes in exchange for their peace of mind. Show them the path to peace and they will follow. Promise to alleviate the suffering of less fortunate Americans and their hearts will explode in ecstasy. Today, more than ever, they know that – there, but for the grace of God - they too might walk among the ranks of the poor and disenfranchised.
As a demographic group, the great American middle class is the most likely constituency to join in the long march back to the City on the Hill. All they ever wanted is a sensible secure future for their kids. Only Nader’s Peace Party has the agenda to deliver the goods.
Kerry’s partisans insist that Ralph Nader doesn’t have a chance, regardless of his superior agenda. They are well advised to worry about the prospects of their own nominee. After all, who would dare propose the absurd notion that Democrats should switch their allegiance because the Republican incumbent is the likely victor? Perhaps the senator from Boston should take another look at the polls. The numbers suggest that the greatest obstacle to his election is another candidate from the War Party – George Bush.
Someone should inform the donkeys in the War Party that Nader’s faithful are not alienated Democrats. They are ex-Democrats and ex-Republicans and the many other Americans who will take their chances on any alternative to the brand name politicians and their stale kleptocratic war mongering agendas.
If the only reason you are holding out on voting for Nader is your conviction that he can’t win – then you are merely reinforcing the religion of the War Party. You have become a major part of the problem. A generation ago, the American peace movement voted for McGovern even though they were certain he would lose. Liberals voted for Carter knowing that Reagan was the likely victor. America Firsters voted for Buchanan as a matter of principal – not because of his political prospects.
Besides, whatever happened to voting for the political agenda that would best serve the nation. This is not a horse race. It’s an election. There is more at stake here than a two-dollar bet. We shouldn’t be expected to vote on the odds – any more than we should consider voting for the candidate with the largest campaign coffers.
The time for horse trading with the pack of mules in the Democratic Party is over. Their leaders have done nothing but inflate the size of the big elephant in the room. Kerry’s battle cry is that he has better hair than the incumbent. Toss him a plastic comb and vote for the candidate with a real alternative agenda – Ralph Nader.
Independent minded Americans should forget about the polls and which War Party candidate their brother is voting for. If enough of us decide to vote for our first choice, Ralph Nader will win. If we lose this time, we will win next time. If not this Ralph – another Nader will rise to lead us to an America we can proudly leave as an inheritance to future generations. To waste such a promise on a vote for Kerry borders on criminal insanity.
The Peace Party should rather lose with honor than honor the agenda of the War Party. Let future generations know that many of us rallied to the Peace Party’s barricades even though the odds were stacked against us. Let us resolve to make no concessions to the War Party. Show no fear.
This is our Alamo and Ralph Nader is our Davy Crockett. We may lose the battle but we will inevitably win the peace by dramatically redrawing the boundaries of America’s political map.
Libertarians, Greens, independent progressives and authentic conservatives should join hands with Buchanites and rally to the Peace Party’s camp. We all need healthier choices at the political salad bar.
If we are content with a choice of the CNN candidate or the Fox nominee – we might just as well stay home and have Rupert Murdoch appoint our next president. Given the chance, what true patriot would not join the fray to deliver a crippling blow to the insidious assault on the democratic process by the unelected media titans who would rule us with the iron fist of Rupert’s Murdochracy. On that count alone, we have more in common than any issue that might divide us.
