Philosophically I'm with Barbara 100 percent. One party masquerading as two is bad for democracy, and only credible threats of defection from the wings can keep the parties from merging. They understood that they risked electing Clinton, but thought the differences between the parties were so minor that the risks were small. Thinking someone owes you his vote just because you pay a wee bit more lip service to his ideals is emblematic of the arrogance that lost Bush the 1992 election. If Democrats dismiss the Nader movement as merely a temporary insanity that has beset a few egotistical members of their own party, they risk a 1992-style comeuppance.
Voting is important, but sitting out an election is no crime.
One big problem with mass abstention today is that it favors collectivists over individualists, and thus left over right. Investment bankers who don't want to vote stay home. Housing-project residents, union members, and government employees who don't want to vote get the day off, fifty bucks, and a party invitation to board a bus to the polling station. We'll highlight selected readers' remarks as the Roundtable progresses. Christopher Caldwell is the senior writer at The Weekly Standard.