george,

thanks for sending along that clip. believe me, i share the disgust of the nader people with the moribund politics of the center, which serve the interest only of the status quo and the american moguls who want it to stay that way.

this very fact itself shows why serious third party movements will never get very far in our land.

as i am not prepared to throw everything to the wind and try to promote mass uprising to break the grip of the moguls on america, and i don't believe that third parties can survive without being swallowed up through the insidious influences called "co-optation," i try to vote for candidates who will go at least a short distance in the direction of moderate reform.

maybe a day will dawn when other avenues are open. today, there are none such and many of my progressive friendshave acted this week to effect the election of the moderate reactionary at the expense of the moderate reformer. nader may say that gore lost the election (if gore does lose), but if we witness the operation of a bush administration over the next years (including appointments to the courts and the cabinet, to the nlrb, epa, fda, and so on), we may often wish that nader had not contributed to gore's campaigning ineptitude by slicing off just enough here and there to have made the difference.

best luck to us all,

may better days lie ahead,

jim shea (a lesser-of-two-evils guy) (electronic mail, November 9, 2000).