[Nettime-bold] Move On

[officegallery <office_gallery@yahoo.com>]

(from a politically attentive friend of mine in New
York)... something to think about.


Dear Friend of MoveOn,

It now looks like Nader will cost Gore the presidency.
 In key swing 
states 
-- Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Maine, New Mexico --
Nader has 
garnered 
enough support to throw the electoral votes to Bush. 
And those votes 
could 
very likely make the difference.  Even in key
battleground states where
Nader 
support is thin, like Florida, Michigan, Nevada and
Pennsylvania, he 
could 
take enough votes from Gore to swing the electoral
votes to Bush.  
Latest 
polls even show Gore at risk of losing California with
Nader pulling 
away 6%

of the vote.  With the election tightening in every
state of the union, 
no 
state is safe.

We've been flooded by emails asking what we can do. 
The Nader camp is
deeply 
divided over whether they should endorse Gore -- at
least in swing 
states.  
Many say they never got into the race to play the
spoiler.  What was 
positioned as a safe protest vote has now become a
kind of kamikaze 
vote.  
The specter of a Bush presidency looms large.

Let Ralph Nader hear your feelings.  His contact
information:

   campaign@votenader.org
   fax: 202-265-0183
   phone: 202-265-4000
   
Nader has a lot of power in this situation?  What
should he do?

Please carbon copy us on your email to Ralph Nader at 
naderletters@moveon.org.  We want to know what you
think.

As a sample, we've attached below an open letter that
has been floating 
around the net.  However, a personalized message is
always better. 

Sincerely,

- Wes Boyd
  MoveOn.org
  
P.S.  Here's are some of the latest state level poll
results, so you 
can see

how close it is in these key races:

               Gore  Bush  Nader Undecided Source
Washington      45%   43%    5%      7%    10/16
American Research 
Group
Oregon          40%   44%    7%      9%    10/12
KPAM-Radio
Minnesota       41%   44%    8%      6%    10/18
Minneapolis Star 
Tribune
New Mexico      42%   42%    5%     10%    9/28  NM
State Univ.
Michigan        43%   43%    4%      9%    10/19
EPIC/MRA Poll
Florida         43%   44%    3%      9%    10/18 John
McLaughlin and 
Assoc
Nevada          44%   43%    3%      9%    9/21 
Public Opinion 
Strategies
Pennsylvania    43%   45%    3%      9%    10/19
Public Opinion 
Strategies


AN OPEN LETTER TO RALPH NADER

[Please sign this email with your own name and send it
to Ralph Nader 
at  
campaign@votenader.org.   Then forward it to every
person in your email 
address book, to the newspapers and broadcasters in
your area, and 
anyone 
else you can think of.  With the race so close and
such a short time 
until 
the election, it's time for action.]

Dear Mr. Nader:

Over the years you have done a great deal for the
American people.   
Now you

are about to do great harm.  Your candidacy in this
election has been 
important.  You have raised serious issues that need
to be addressed.  
But 
now your message is out and it's time to set aside
ideology and step 
aside. 
If you don't you will ensure that George W. Bush is
our next president.  
And

if he is elected with a Republican majority in
Congress, the American 
people

stand to lose most of the social, economic and
environmental progress 
we
have 
made in the last thirty years.   If there is any
question in your mind 
of 
this, consider the following:

THE SUPREME COURT

Bush will appoint activist conservative judges who
will actively seek 
to
take 
away a woman's right to choose.

They will also support the corporate interests you
have been so 
gallantly 
fighting against by promoting "tort reform" which, as
you know, is 
another 
way to disempower the average citizen and take away
his or her right to 
sue 
corporations who damage them or cause death.

And the Bush Supreme Court will be anti-environment
and side with the 
exploiters and polluters who so willingly sacrifice
the public health 
and 
safety on the alter of short term profit.

THE DEFICIT AND THE MIDDLE CLASS

While Gore intends to use the surplus to pay down the
deficit, Bush 
plans to

refund a large part of it to the wealthy.  He says
it's their money and 
they

should get it back.  Well, it's their deficit as well
and they should 
help 
pay it off.

At this time the nation is almost five trillion six
hundred billion 
dollars 
in the red.  That's $5,600,000,000,000.   Over the
past ten years we 
have 
paid over three trillion dollars in interest.  This
year we will pay an 
estimated three hundred and sixty-two billion dollars
in interest.  
That's 
$362,000,000,000, Mr. Nader.  About $1,400 for every
man woman and 
child in 
this country.  Do you have any idea what that amount
of money could do 
for 
the environment and health care and education if it
was not being 
wasted on 
interest?

Next year we will pay even more.  And the years after
that still more. 
And 
instead of paying down the deficit it will grow
larger.  Why?  So Bill 
Gates

and Paul Allen and all the other multimillionaires can
have their much
needed 
tax brakes.   And if Bush is elected and then
inheritance tax is 
eliminated,

the middle class will be asked to make up the hundreds
of billions of
dollars 
in those lost revenues as well.

THE ENVIRONMENT

As governor of Texas Bush has put the polluters in
charge of the 
state's 
environmental program with the result that Texas is
now an 
environmental 
disaster.  Although he doesn't dare articulate it
during the campaign, 
the 
Republican agenda includes doing away with the
Environmental Protection 
Agency.  If it's not eliminated completely it will be
emasculated to 
the 
point where it exists in name only.

And in service of his major contributors, the Oil and
Coal 
conglomerates, 
Bush and the Republicans will encourage oil
exploration in 
environmentally 
sensitive areas and the burning of fossil fuels to
produce electricity 
etc.

If you think global warming is bad now, just give a
Bush administration 
a
few 
years to pay of its debt to these special interests.

And whether you want to admit it or not, Mr. Nader, Al
Gore has been 
one of 
the strongest advocates for environmental protection. 
He recognized 
the 
danger of global warming before most people had heard
the term.  And he 
almost single handedly, and against the advice of all
his political
advisors, 
saved the Kyoto Accords.  But a rabid Republican
Congress has blocked 
their 
implementation along with almost every other
environmental effort put 
forth 
by the Clinton Administration.  You're correct.
Clinton/Gore haven't 
got a 
lot done.  But if you'd been president these past
eight years, neither 
would

you.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

You warn us of the growing power and influence of the
corporations on 
our 
lives and our democracy yet you threaten to help
defeat the only 
candidate 
with any chance of doing the one thing that will help
solve this 
problem.  
You know Bush and the Republicans will not support
Campaign Finance 
Reform.

But Gore has promised that he will work with John
McCain in his mission 
to 
bring about the reform we need.  Why on earth would
you actively work 
to
keep 
this from happening?

SOCIAL SECURITY

You know Bush plans to divert hundreds of billions of
dollars to Wall
Street. 
 It seems like a great scheme while the market is
going up as it has 
been
for 
the past several years.  But what goes up also comes
down.  While this 
risky

scheme may put a few billion in the pockets of the
brokers and 
underwriters,

it will turn Social Security into Social Insecurity
and endanger the 
retirement of many people who unfortunately don't have
as much money as 
you 
do.

Mr. Nader, you have stated publicly that you would
rather see Bush win 
than 
Gore.  You seem to believe that Bush will make things
so bad that the
country 
will rise up.  This reminds me of the days when
doctors bled patients 
in 
order to cure them.  The problem was the patients
often died from the 
treatment rather than the disease.

As someone who agrees with you on so many things and
would love to see 
you 
continue your campaign to educate and enlighten us
about the things for
which 
you care so much, I ask you to do the right thing. 
The election is too
close 
and now is the time for you to throw your support
behind Gore.  If you 
help 
Bush win you will have single handedly done more
damage than any well
meaning 
person could possible conceive of.  Please don't let
this happen.

Sincerely,



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