friggin ralph friggin nader

so it looks like our new president is dubya. yippee. i'm thrilled. or not. dad was up for lunch yesterday (we just headed toward the white dog cafe without even discussing it) and we talked about the election. he asked who i voted for.

i vote absentee in virginia, and i voted for gore. i thought hard about voting for nader, but eventually decided on gore. a coupla things:

1. i think gore is the most qualified of the current choices to run the government. even so, i thought hard about voting for nader. virginia was sure to go to bush, by a wide margin, so voting for nader wasn't risking the election in virginia for gore--he didn't have a chance in hell anyway. and, like many americans, i think that the two party system isn't working. there are lots of people in america who aren't properly represented by either the democrats or the republicans. so i think we are in need of more parties, and (importantly) more serious parties. so i thought about using my vote as a strategy vote, and giving it to nader to show support for third parties.

2. however, i think nader's a little too freaky to be president. i agree with alot of his positions on issues, but i don't think he's grounded enough, or diplomatic enough to be president.

3. i eventually decided that even though i could "safely" vote nader in virginia and not hurt gore, i really wanted to vote for the man i thought should be president. so i ended up voting for gore.

4. and another thing. i'm pissed at nader. for spoiling the election for gore. i think he was COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE to continue to campaign all the way through election day, when it was obvious that the race was so close. he said that if gore lost, it wouldn't be because of him, it would be because gore wasn't a good enough candidate. while that may be true, i think that as the election approached and it became clear that the race was close, nader should've thrown in the towel and given gore what help he could by encouraging his supporters to vote gore. or even withdrawing completely. nader insisted that there was no real difference between bush and gore. while it may be true that bush and gore are more central, politically, than their parties used to be, there are still major difference between them. abortion rights and environmental issues come to mind. and with the supreme court up for grabs... DAMN ralph nader!

so, now we're stuck with bush. urg. well, at least the comics will be happy for the next 4 years...

and, luckily, our system of government makes it impossible for one man to have his own way. checks and balances, thank god. makes for some slow-moving bureaucracy sometimes (okay, alot of times), but it means that stuff can't get passed just because one nutcase wants it passed.