After spending years defending my two votes for Ralph Nader for president – one in 2000 and one in 2004 – I finally had backup.
I finally had somebody on the phone as capable as anybody of defending the guiding principles that went into my casting those powerful votes.
Ralph Nader was on the phone - ready, willing and able to talk about the importance of taking your conscience with you into the voting booth.
My government reform activist buddy Gene Stilp had grabbed Nader while Nader was on Capitol Hill in Harrisburg yesterday shaking the pillars of state government. Stilp, a longtime friend of mine who had a hand in breaking open what is known as “Bonusgate,” is a kindred spirit to Nader.
Nader, a legendary consumer and good government guerrilla, had stormed the Capitol to announce that he wanted several branches of government to launch a new inquiry into political dirty tricks that are now alleged to be criminal. Some of those sleazy tactics were meant to oust him from the Pennsylvania ballot in 2004.
Back then, Democrats seriously worried about Nader.
Times were tough enough as it was for presidential nominee John Kerry without Nader pulling liberal votes that Kerry needed to win. In the end, Kerry needed an act of God to win the presidency.
And now, in the midst of what might become the state’s biggest political scandal, Nader was back to demand justice for himself as well as everybody else.
Stilp was by his side in Harrisburg yesterday when they called “Corbett” to talk about democracy and why people must stand up to the elected and appointed officials who too often soil the parchment of the Constitution.
Such savage sacrilege must stop.
Only the people can stop it.
Stilp told Nader that he better call because I wanted to re-enlist in Nader’s Raiders and storm the barricades of corrupt government.
After all these years, my blood raced as I told Nader that I voted for him in two presidential elections.
Democrats and Republicans either blame or dismiss people like me and accuse us of mucking up the system with our third-party follies.
That’s too bad.
That’s America.
Nobody will ever convince me that I have thrown away my vote, wasted my vote, or tacitly approved an evil Republican by voting for Nader or anybody else who doesn’t dance to the tunes set by party bosses like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and his henchmen and henchwomen.
That’s why I’m writing in Hillary Clinton’s name come November. The New York senator is my choice for president. And that’s that.
Nader understands.
Nader wants people to challenge the system that keeps the two mainstream parties indebted to corporations for campaign cash. Nader wants a better version of democracy.
What’s wrong with hope?
What’s wrong with change?
Are we only allowed one candidate of hope at a time?
Not in my country.
On the phone Nader’s voice took on an urgency of spirit the way it always does when he’s engaged in changing the world. Maturity and fearlessness came through loud and clear in the interview you can hear in its entirety elsewhere on this website.
I got so caught up in the revolution that I almost promised to vote for Nader for president if – and when - he clears the increasingly obstructive bureaucratic hurdles and gets on the Pennsylvania ballot for November’s election.
I can and will sign his nominating petitions.
So should you.
Even if you vote for somebody else, Nader and other third-party candidates deserve the right to run. Running for office shapes the pulse of patriotism, unless you are a political hustler who wants it all for yourself at everybody’s expense.
Hustlers run the state nowadays. Hustlers run the country.
Hustlers have to go.
Rattle those cages, Ralph.
Now’s the time for all Americans to shake, rattle and roll.
Sue Henry
