Serious citizenship demands going beyond images of race, gender and class symbols—much as many of us ache to see leadership that looks like us--- to look at candidates' actual policies and voting record—all available on the Internet. Americans already have had an experienced candidate with an long and impeccable record of service in the public interest, with wide-ranging legislation that ranged from air protection to government transparency: Ralph Nader. He ran for president three times, yet, was refused a fair hearing by being banned from all debates. When the Supreme Court and the Republican dirty tricks in Florida stole Al Gore's victory in 2000---the Democratic Party stood by and did nothing to stop this atrocity against the (alleged)”greatest democracy on Earth”. Instead, they blamed and slandered Nader, as an egotistical “spoiler” who “cost” Gore the election. The fact is, most Nader voters said they'd have stayed home if Nader hadn't been on the ballot, not voted for Gore.
Reality-check: there's indicators of more voting machine meddling in 2004, 2006—and perhaps in the New Hampshire 2008 primary that Clinton won against the predicted big margin victory for Obama.
Hmmm...maybe, policies aren't the only things the corporate-sponsored/war-supporting Democrats have in common with Republicans.
For more of “What You Won't Hear From the Front-runners”, see
http://counterpunch.org/nader01152008.html
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
