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Opinion Editorial Nader throws wrench into Democrats' works The presidential race became muddy two weeks ago when Ralph Nader announced he was entering the race to bring, as he put it, a "Jeffersonian revolution" to U.S. politics. As a consumer advocate, Nader has saved lives and pushed for solutions to some of America's worst corporate abuses. The man is not intellectually impaired. So why is he running? On Feb. 24, he told NBC's "Meet the Press" that ordinary citizens have lost control of Washington and that he can get things done. Nader is partly right. Washington's elected elite are a cesspool of the self-indulgent, self-interested and self-serving. It's hard to believe that even one elected official is a patriot who places country above self. But Nader getting things done? I doubt it, because he won't compromise, and compromise gets things done more than obstinacy. Further, Nader's my-way-or-you're-wrong approach won't get him elected and it will — as it did in the 2000 election — get a Republican elected. Why a man as smart as Nader can't see that is a mystery. If he sees it and forges ahead, one can only conclude it's his ego at work. That makes Nader's motive for seeking office as inappropriate as those who do so for self-aggrandizement. Both major parties would have a difficult enough game to play without this kind of interference. Consider the effect were Rep. Ron Paul or former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to break from the GOP to take on Sen. John McCain. Or, an even greater threat to McCain, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if he hadn't taken himself out of the race on Feb. 27. Our two-party system may not be ideal, but it's what we have. Anyone has the right to run, a precious part of our democracy. In this instance these marginal candidates interfere with choosing the lesser of the evils. But until we have a viable multi-party system in this country, they should just go away. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: March 6, 2008
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