The End of the Ralph Nader Era?

For the last three elections now, independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader has been the leading Independent vote-getter. He's been the champion for the call to change in the Untied States Political System.


In his first two election attempts he was a thorn in the side of both the Republican and Democratic parities. Not since Ross Perot in the early 90's was their a independent candidate that had so much influence on a United States Presidential race.


However now it seems that those who rallied behind Nader and his movement for the rise of a third party must now look elsewhere. Not only has Nader's vote totals dwindled since his first run back in 2000, leading to the rise of the Libertarian Party as the most influential Independent party, but earlier this month Nader "stuck the fork in himself." In a recent interview on Fox News Channel, Nader said that he hoped that in the coming months "Barack Obama would not become the Uncle Tom to the big businesses of America."


Thus the end of Ralph Nader appears all but upon us.


What Obama did for this nation has no doubt created history... in a good way. No matter what political stance you take, everyone should come to celebrate what has happened with the election of Obama. To think that 30 years the idea of a black president seemed impossible shows that America is a nation that is still evolving. We are now a nation that has moved beyond race.


What Nader did was not only racist, but showed that their are still some in this nation that are not up to date with their surrounding culture. That is the anti-independent mindset. That is the mindset we must all run away from if we hope to "get politics right" in the United States.


Why an intelligent man like Nader would say such a thing is beyond this writer. Perhaps it was bitterness, perhaps a misunderstanding about his ideas of the big businesses in the United States. Whatever the case it won't matter come 2012. I suspect Nader's political career is over, and if he does decide to come back then I no doubt believe it will be an embarrassment.


What once seemed like a promising start to a independent future now seems to have put all activists for a third party feeling as though they are back as square one. At least though they are not so far back as to be racists though.





-Ip