Stop Nader from Running (with Poll)

A few days ago I received a fundraising letter from the Nader campaign. I was frankly (and perhaps naively) stunned that he was considering a run after 2000. I'm not sure what the overall sentiment is at DKos, but I line up pretty strongly with Eric Alterman, who strongly opposes such a run.  

Anyhow, I've pasted a copy of the letter I wrote to the Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee (with the address) and encourage those of you who don't want a Nader run to write him at this address.

As my letter makes clear, I'm adamant in my opposition to a Nader run, but am curious what others think.  

His website suggests that he'll make a decision in the next few weeks, so this is of the moment.

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Nader 2004
Presidential Exploratory Committee
PO Box 18002
Washington DC 20077-5759

Dear Nader 2004 Presidential Exploratory Committee:

I donated money to the Nader 2000 campaign but by the time the election came around it was obvious to me that I had made a mistake. This was confirmed by a fundraising letter you just sent me. This letter included an attempt by Theresa Amato to argue that it was wrong to call Mr. Nader a spoiler in 2000.  This attitude is irresponsible, immature, and wrong. It's frustrating that we have a political system in which 3rd party candidates inevitably end up spoilers, but that's what we have, and I'll take the Constitution and its Amendments as a whole any day. Mature politics deal with reality; that Mr. Nader is even considering a 2004 run suggests he doesn't understand that.

I only hope Mr. Nader and those who continue to support his destructive presidential bids come to realize that his runs for President only serve to weaken the important principles he supports  Of course it is his right to run, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. In this context Ms. Amato's argument that it is "contemptuous" to call third-party candidates spoilers or that the term spoiler "signif[ies] second-class citizenship to third-party candidacies" reflects a desperate attempt to justify a bad argument, not logic. Third-party candidates in America are called spoilers not because people like me think that Mr. Nader does not merit full citizenship, but because third-party candidacies historically (almost without exception) cause the candidate representing a minority view to win an election with a plurality; other voting systems would produce different results, but that's not what we have now. I'm offended by this letter, by its misrepresentation of my beliefs, by its demonization of many good Americans, and most of all by the damage it does to the principles that Mr. Nader and I share.  

It's plain that there are many more effective ways than running for President to, as Ms. Amato says, "move . . . the progressive agenda and this country forward": Mr. Nader could recognize the political structure of the United States as it is and run in one of the party's presidential primaries, he could run for any other office, or he could use his considerable organizational skill to support and influence the current majority parties. Even the President doesn't control the whole of the political agenda, so perhaps Mr. Nader could settle for an influence profoundly greater than that of the vast majority of citizens. Many lesser individuals have done more good for the country by acting more realistically, and few Americans have been able to undermine so much of their own good work so quickly.    

Based on what you say in this letter, I am embarrassed to have ever given Mr. Nader any contribution and saddened that he'd discredit his laudable career this way. Unfortunately it took the 2000 election for me to realize how misguided his candidacy was. As long as your letter felt justified in throwing around terms like "contemptuous," I'll finish by saying that the damage Mr. Nader would do by running for President as a third-party candidate in 2004 would make him contemptible in effect if not in intent.

I hope I have some chance of persuading Mr. Nader not to run.