Dear George,

I read Michael Moore's essay. Funny, sarcastic, but basically bitter. An idealistic man who's disappointed that his ideals get chipped away at by real life. But to support Nader, Nader of all people, who has bragged that he hopes to throw the election to Bush?

What happens to Michael's ideals for a better world under a polluter-friendly Bush administration, hmm? What happens to the Supreme Court and the whole federal judiciary, which is bad enough as it is, thanks to W's pappy?

I am a woman, and I have come a long way, baby. Nader and I do not live in the same world. He's shockingly ignorant about the hard-won rights of half our population. I do not want to regress even one step back to father-right, male-supremacy, back-alley-abortion, don't-bother-your-pretty-little-head-shut-up-and-reproduce days.

Let Michael throw himself on his sword for a principle, but he is not going to throw me. I'm voting Democratic.

Yours ever,

Carolyn Jones Silver (electronic mail, November 5, 2000)