Nader on the Retreat of the Left

"They have reduced themselves to a cipher.
They vote. The vote totals up. But it means nothing."

Flickr / Nick Bygon


He tells Chris Hedges at truthdig: "The more outrageous the Republicans become, the weaker the left becomes. The more outrageous they become, the more the left has to accept the slightly less outrageous corporate Democrats. ... The left has nowhere to go. Obama knows it. The corporate Democrats know it."

"There will be criticism by the left of Obama this year and then next year they will all close ranks and say 'Do you want Mitt Romney? Do you want Sarah Palin? Do you want Newt Gingrich?' It's very predictable. There will be a year of criticism and then it will all be muted. They don't understand that even if they do not have any place to go, they ought to fake it. They should fake going somewhere else or staying home to increase the receptivity to their demands. But because they do not make any demands, they are complicit with corporate power.

"Corporate power makes demands all the time," Nader went on. "It pulls on the Democrats and the Republicans in one direction. By having this nowhere-to-go mentality and without insisting on demands as the price of your vote, or energy to get out the vote, they have reduced themselves to a cipher. They vote. The vote totals up. But it means nothing."

January 5, 2011 8:42 AM | | Comments (1)

1 Comments

By Kyle Gann on January 6, 2011 8:56 AM

Thanks -- read the whole thing. Really powerful and inspiring and depressing and true. It's amazing how therapeutic it is to see someone print the truth publicly. My wife listens to news on NPR all the time, and it's a steady stream of half-truths and obfuscations. How bracing it would be if they'd interview Nader (and Chomsky) once a week.

It would be bracing. I have a hard time listening to NPR myself. I finally gave up. V. happy to have your comment, Kyle. -- JH

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