Yes, in honor of another stupid, counter-productive Nader ego trip I am asking everyone to donate, hopefully $25, in his honor...to effecting REAL change, not just feeding Nader's ego.
Growing up, I saw Nader as a hero. But by now I despise the man. The Greens did the right thing in 2004 by steering away from him...and they should just keep moving on away from Nader and form themeselves into something other than a Nader fan club.
But more importantly, we all have to reshape the left into something effective and a force to be reckoned with. Nader's way did nothing but further marginalize himself and the left. Below are my suggestions for donations in "honor" of Nader.
To me the best strategy is not the dumb strategy of Nader, but more the strategies of people like Dennis Kucinich, Democracy for America, and Howard Dean who work WITHIN the party. Focusing on winning primaries, supporting Progressive Democrats within the party and focusing on organizations that are right now electing true progressives to all levels of government. That is the slow but winning strategy.
First off, although Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lean more to the right than I like, come on. Either of them are pretty damned good. Honestly, I would far rather support an intelligent, capable woman or black man who has a shot of making history and restoring at least SOME sanity to our country than voting for another egotistical white guy like Nader. Sure I'd prefer somoene more progressive, whatever their gender or ethnicity, but Nader proved himself to be worse than useless, so he isn't even an option anymore.
So my first suggested donation in honor of Nader's flashback ego trip is a donation to support the Democratic nominee for President, whether it is Obama or Clinton.
But for those who really want to turn America more progressive, the thing to do is NOT go Green, like that trick EVER works. The thing to do is to push even harder for those Democrats who ARE more progressive...in primaries. This is the DFA "primaries matter" strategy, and I have been putting together a list of primaries that I consider important for restoring good old fashioned progressive American values. Kucinuch is included on this list as are some friends of mine running in NY State and a few others I have come across.
And let's not forget that among those we elected in 2006 there really were some good progressives. True, Congress as a whole has disappointed. But there are some who have pretty consistently upheld the values we elected them on in 2006. We should not forget them even though other Dems have disappointed. So, in honor of the members of the class of 2006 who have mostly NOT disappointed, and who are likely to be targeted by the Republicans, please help support the Freshman Allstars of Congress, the ones who remember why they were elected.
Finally, thinking beyond the Democratic Party structure, there are a whole slew of progressive organizations that are effective at actually electing progressives, far more effective than the Greens have been. Groups like Progressive Majority and Democracy for America. Here I offer a list of progressive organizations that work alongside the Democratic Party structure, sometimes against it in primaries, but focusing on electing progressive Democrats at all levels.
Together this strikes me as a far better strategy than another Nader ego trip. Fighting the Republicans head on, redoubling our efforts in key primaries against machine, establishment Dems, supporting already elected progressive Dems who deserve it, and supporting organizations that are already being effective electing the next generation of progressive Democrats. Join me in this. Let's show Nader how it SHOULD be done. I will donate to whichever site gets the most donations by the end of today. The Win the White House site starts at $225. The Progressive Primaries site starts with $400. Freshmen Allstars starts at $330. And the Progressive America site starts at $150. Whatever gets the most donations today is what I will donate to.