"The left-wing says that every election and it's never worked yet!"

Yeah? So what are you so afraid of with Nader and the Greens, then?

The leaning of the courts isn't going to change significantly one way or the other with one presidential term, regardless of who controls the White House. Truly, the much more important focus in this year's elections are the Congressional races, which most of you, just like the mainstream media, is ignoring gleefully in favor of playing these rhetorical games over the import of the imperial presidency.

Kerry has remained silent about the Patriot Act, and his civil rights voting history in the Senate has been lukewarm, at best. So your concerns about the assault on the Constitution rings hollow. Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, remember? He hasn't spoken out AT ALL about the civil and human rights violations being perpetrated by this administration any more than he did during the Clinton administration.

As to Kerry's pet theme, the environment. I have yet to see him make any kind of a stand that is pro-environment that in any way threatens his pro-free trade cronies in business and industry. No progressive could call his positions on environmental protection "progressive". They just aren't as regressive as Bush's.

I'll stand with my union compatriots who are calling this year's entire election strategy, and the "business as usual" agenda of the AFL-CIO and the elite union bosses who are in bed with the corporate bosses, into question this year. I'm voting for Nader because I ALWAYS vote strategically, based upon the way the presidential electoral race is playing itself out. If I didn't think it was important to support Nader and what he is saying, I wouldn't vote for him, or defend his right to run regardless of the impact on the Bush/Kerry race.

Nader represents the best argued, most rational, militant opposition to the Kerry/Edwards ticket, IMO, although I also feel David Cobb and the Greens also deserve to be supported and voted for, for those who have the option. I just don't believe that the "Anybody But Bush" contingency, be they Democrats, Greens, or independents, is pursuing the best strategy for the long term struggle for change in this country. And I'm voting strategically in this election for the long term strategy, not the short term, just to get rid of Bush. I really don't share the views of most liberals that replacing Bush with Kerry will constitute a major improvement in peoples' lives--especially the working poor and poor peoples' lives. I believe that voting for Kerry will truly prolong their suffering, not ammeliorate it.