A reader of this site named John Parrett wrote me the following last week after one of my political comments…
I am sure you know of Ralph Nader. He says people should not pick the "least worst" candidate. "I know this one is bad, but have you seen the other guy?" does not result in good leaders. Third party candidates almost never win, but they do bring attention to issues the major parties will not touch for fear of losing voters. (Anti-slavery and women's right to vote are just two examples from the past.) If you haven't already, please look at his website. Voters need to know there is another choice and a mention from you would help a great deal.
Sure, I know of Ralph Nader and there was a time when I admired the heck out of him. I might even vote for that Ralph Nader if I'd seen him lately. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I thought his eternal candidacy was about anything besides getting attention for Ralph Nader…and even that wouldn't be so bad if he used that attention to talk about issues. But all he ever seems to talk about is why Ralph Nader is a viable candidate. I'm not even sure he deserves to be called a "third party" candidate any more since there never seems to be a party putting up a candidate. It's only about Ralph.
I agree that voting for the "least worst" candidate does not result in good leaders. Neither has voting for Ralph Nader. In fact, despite his tortured explanations of why it is not so, I'm unconvinced that Nader didn't cost Gore the 2000 election…so voting for Nader may well have given us the "most worst" guy that year.
Believe me, I'd like more choices. I'd love it if I could look at my presidential ballot and see a half-dozen names who all had even a distant shot at winning. That would triple the chances of me finding someone I like. But that's not going to happen until a couple of genuine alternative parties get established that are about something more than one guy's vanity campaign for the presidency. Nader should take himself out of the game and spearhead a move to locate and support the next generation of Ralph Naders for Congressional and local races, building an infrastructure that can someday make a serious bid for the White House. But he won't do that because it's only about Ralph.