I'm Steve Krulick, from Ellenville, NY. I'm helping set up a new Green chapter in the town of Wawarsing, and am a contact person for the Nader campaign in South Ulster County.

If you've been reading campaign editorials, or watching the beltway pundits, or even if you've merely hinted to people that you're "thinking of" voting for Ralph Nader for president, you've been exposed to the "slogans of fear":

1. A Vote For Nader Is A Vote For Bush. (AVFNIAVFB)
2. Nader is just a Spoiler. (He's "siphoning" votes from Al Gore.)
3. A Vote for Nader is a "Wasted" Vote. (He CAN'T win, so you're
throwing away your vote.)

Has anybody NOT been exposed to at least one of these claims?

I am here to immunize you against such infectious nonsense!

1. A Vote For Nader Is A Vote For Bush.

NO. A vote for Nader is a vote FOR NADER. A Nader vote doesn't add a single vote to Bush's total vote count; he'll still need the same number of votes to beat Gore as if you didn't vote at all. After all, a vote for Nader doesn't deduct a vote from Gore's total count either. And many of Nader's votes will be coming from independents and non-voters who weren't planning to vote for Gore OR Bush anyway. Unless their turnout for Nader is so great that Ralph actually wins, their votes, just like the non-voters who stay home, will NOT change the Bush-Gore totals one bit.

Frankly, the Democrat and Republican leaders don't care if you vote or
not; the fewer people who vote, the fewer people they have to go after. That over 100 million eligible voters will probably NOT be voting this November doesn't seem to bother them one bit. Why not?

Our analysis is that the Demicans and Republicrats are REALLY a Corporate Uniparty Duopoly, a cash-milking, patronage-doling, re-election protection machine that supports the status quo. In this regard, a vote for Gore is a vote for Bush, and a vote for Gush is a vote for Bore, and a vote for Tweedledumb is a vote for Tweedledumber. The Uniparty OWNS both Bush AND Gore, so, in their view, it's a done deal ---they've already won!

To quote columnist Alexander Cockburn: "A vote for Nader is a vote for revitalizing the system and breaking the iron ceiling of the current one party with two heads."

2. Nader is just a Spoiler, "Siphoning" votes from Al Gore.

Now, if you are a Democrat or Republican, please don't take this personally; it is not directed at you, but at the party leadership that takes YOU for granted, just as they take whole blocs of people for granted. For example, if you are an environmentalist, or a union member, or a teacher, or black, the Democrat leadership has already added YOUR vote to their column. After all, they cynically figure, where else can you go? In their minds, they already OWN YOUR VOTE!

How dare the party bosses and their media apologists assume that Gore or Bush OWNS your vote, that Nader is somehow STEALING or SIPHONING votes away like a gasoline thief during the gas shortage!

NOBODY owns your vote... NOBODY! Each candidate should get votes the old-fashioned way -- they must EARN them, and give you a POSITIVE reason to vote for THEM, not just tell you that the other guy is too scary to let win. They must learn that they CAN'T take YOUR vote for granted. IF Gore is failing to win votes, that's Gore's fault... not yours... and not Ralph's.

Some argue that Bush is so horrible that even if Gore is merely a little less horrible, we should vote for "the Log," JUST to keep "the Shrub" out of the Executive Mansion. That's the lesser-of-two-evils rationale. But that strategy just gets you disappointment (and the "evil of two lessers") over and over again.

To hell with the least bad! Some of us are voting for... the GOOD!

But let's be practical. If all of you HERE vote for Nader; if all your relatives and friends... and all THEIR relatives and friends... vote for Nader, George W. Bush will NOT win New York's electoral votes.

In 1996, I voted for Nader, and Bob Dole did not win New York State... in spite of my vote. If you vote for Ralph Nader this November, YOU will not tip New York to George W. Bush. YOU will not be responsible for putting either Bush or Gore in the White House; THAT will be up to a mere handful of too-close-to-call states in the midwest, and there is NOTHING you can do about THAT by your vote HERE in New York.

3. A Vote for Nader is a "Wasted" Vote. (He CAN'T win, so you're throwing away your vote.)

There are actually 51 elections, one in each state plus DC.

According to conventional thinking, Gore "can't" win Idaho (or Wyoming, or Texas, for example), so you'd be wasting your Idaho vote by casting it for Gore. Likewise, Gore couldn't lose Massachusetts if he appeared at the debates in a miniskirt. He wouldn't need your vote in Massachusetts, and you'd be "wasting" a perfectly good vote by voting for Gore. In those states, and ALL the others that Gore CAN'T lose or CAN'T win, why not vote for Nader and let that vote stand FOR something!

It's a safe bet that Gore WILL win New York State. Why waste a perfectly good vote on someone who doesn't need it? Why not vote for Nader?

One, you'll feel better that you didn't hold your nose to vote for the lesser evil, the least worst. To quote John Quincy Adams: "Always vote for a principle though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost."

Two, you'll send a message that says NOBODY owns your vote and you'll NEVER be taken for granted by any candidate or party again.

Three, it's a vote for optimism. Vote your hopes, not your fears. You'll help establish a viable progressive party, with federal matching funds for future presidential elections, and Green ballot lines in most states, and Green candidates running for almost every office to give everyone a choice other than the Corporate Uniparty Duopoly.

So, to sum up:

1. A Vote for Nader is a Vote... FOR NADER.
2. Your Vote belongs to Nobody but... YOU. Make each candidate EARN it.
3. Why Vote for the least worst? Why not Vote for... the GOOD!

"Nothing can stop the power of an informed citizenry when it is empowered, organized, and motivated." Ralph Nader

You can reach Steve Krulick, at kryolux@ulster.net

or Wawarsing Greens

For a full text of political links and some brilliant words from Michael Moore, please visit, Yeah, No Chicks on the Tix page!

Editor's comment:  These are the only the 2 articles I've printed that is written by men here, (in over 3 years).  I think the issue is so important and the men have worded the concerns so eloquently, I could not deny them space in this forum.