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Third Things First

© Ken Goldstein

"But what about the Supreme Court appointments?" my co-worker earnestly asks me. "We've got to protect women's right to choose!"

It's about a month before the 2000 presidential election, and she's taking me to task for my support of Ralph Nader, and refusal to no longer even consider the possibility of voting for Al Gore.

There are many issues in this, and indeed every, election. But for many of us our decision on who to vote for comes down to just one or two hot-button issues; abortion, capital punishment, gun control, social security, the environment, education, the list goes on.

For me, the issue at stake is nothing less than the fate of democracy in America. Before Ralph Nader was physically barred from entering the audience of first presidential debate, most folks were content to believe that the two-party system was choice of the people, not the corporations that control access to the media. Americans are waking up to the fact that they have not been given a true choice for a very long time.

The Commission on Presidential Debates defends their decision to bar Nader, Pat Buchanan, Harry Browne, and John Hagelin from the debates citing the "impossibility" of any of these candidates winning. The truth is that they each have their names on ballots in enough states to conceivably win an upset, if, and that's a huge "if", the public had an opportunity to hear what they had to say.

This is not just happening in presidential politics, but is occurring at every level. Medea Benjamin is running a strong campaign for US Senate in California, but you'd never know it from reading the major newspapers. Ms. Benjamin asked the press about her exclusion. The reply was that to get press she must be included in the polls.

So she went to the pollsters to find out why she was excluded there. The response was that she needed a "legitimate" campaign. She told the pollster about her many powerful endorsements, and her paid staff and volunteers working throughout the state, and asked if that was "legitimate." No, the reply came. To be legitimate you must have coverage in the major media. Catch-22.

Returning to my conversation with my co-worker, I reminded her how Al Gore was a key force in getting Bill Clinton to sign the 1996 Welfare Reform law. If she wanted a candidate who would be good for women and children, it was certainly not Al Gore.