So, it just occurred to me that I haven't heard a thing from old Ralph Nader so far in this (pre-)presidential campaign season.
My knowledge of political history is far from rock solid -- certainly nothing compared to Jacob's knowledge of world dictators; see his blog at right -- but as I recall Nader has been the Green Party candidate for president the last several times around. Granted, in the past he has been lucky to get 2 percent of the vote, so ordinarily I wouldn't blame him if he had finally decided to give up his presidential dreams and settle for being master of his own domain (the only title we can each hold firmly for ourselves -- sorry, I'll stop).
But, in case no one has noticed, we seem to be right now in the midst of a media onslaught of pro-environmentalism. Al Gore won an Oscar and Nobel prize for raising awareness about global warming (a wholly altruistic endeavor, I am sure). I even just got back from an electric utility industry conference, where the biggest topics of the day were carbon emissions, global warming and how future government regulations are going to impact the power industry, which is responsible for much of the carbon emissions via their burning of an awful lot of coal.
So isn't this the Green Party's time to shine? The mass media has primed the nation for an all-out environmental platform from a presidential candidate. If the voters aren't ready for Nader now, they never will be.
Who knows, maybe Nader does plan to run and is just saving his energy and campaign dollars for after the party primaries.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Nader could actually win. Even with all the green media coverage of late, I doubt you could find more than 10 percent of the population that would rank the environment as the No. 1 campaign issue. Plus, the Democrats (and maybe even some Republicans) are going to be positioning themselves as green candidates as well and further thinning Nader's potential voter pool.
OK, and now that I think of it, those electric utility guys are going to be using some big bucks and major political influence to fight extra-hard against radicals like Nader. They know carbon regulations are coming, so they want someone in office who will make sure the rules are not unreasonably harsh -- from the power industry perspective.
Well, now I've gone and talked myself out of it. You know what, Nader: why don't you take it easy this year?
But where is Ross Perot? The little guy sure gave amusing TV interviews.
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5 comments:
Nader and the Green party was an uneasy alliance. Nader needed a party to run with to advance his message and the Greens needed a recognizable name for their ticket. He actually didn't even run as a Green in 2004. He ran as an independent and if he runs in 2008 he'll likely do the same. He's made a few comments that suggest he's considering running, but condsidering he doesn't have to worry about any hotly contested primaries in the winter/spring, he won't need to make it official or campaign until it's time for the real campaign.
Sadly, I knew all of that except for the parts about the upcoming election without even looking it up.
Jacob is smarter than you, and he knows it. Just kidding. Palestinia, Jacob. Anyway, I'd still like to see more frequent posts from you, Chris, than once a week (if we're lucky), but I also appreciate that your posts seem a little more well thought-out than all of us NaBloPoMos.
I second the more posts suggestions. You leave lengthy and insightful comments on our blogs (which we all appreciate), but why not turn some of them into your own posts?
I already knew Jacob was smarter than me, or at least more full of random knowledge. I considered researching this more completely (as I suspected there would be factual errors in my original), but then I figured the inaccuracies and half-truths would only lead to more interesting comments.
As for more posting, hopefully I'll get around to that once I get past my little spree of out-of-town conferences for work. Those are kind of a drain on time and energy.
Okay, Chris. We're now officially hooked on your blog, having read every entry to date.
Will need a fix soon.
(PS - If you're interested, www.goodreads.com has a fun blog widget to keep up with what you're reading and have read.)
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