Imagine if Ralph Nader or Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone was the third voice in the Bradley and Gore debates. He would have had the opportunity to spend hours on NPR, CNN and C-SPAN talking about ways to save family farms, provide universal health care, curb corporate power, cut military spending and take government back to the people. He probably wouldn't win, but issues would get introduced into the public debate and vanishing voters might find someone who was speaking for them. As it stands now, Nader, who refuses to be tainted by the Democratic Party, looks like he will make another third-party run for president. This is not the time to give up on all Democrats.
Good ones are out there.
We cannot have both. Every person should have access to affordable, comprehensive and high-quality medical care. But instead of forcing the Pentagon to clean up its act, Congress and the president would rather throw billions more into the abyss. Yeah, some members of Congress still have them. Joel Bleifuss is the editor of In These Times.