Endorsement for President

Before I tell you about any of the specific issues and changes that I think that the country needs, I would like to offer to you my endorsement for President of the United States. I am doing this in part because I don't want to be associated with Barack Obama every time I use the word "change". I'll be straight with you here: I support Ralph Nader for President. I know that my endorsement means little or not at all to anyone besides myself, but the fact of the matter is I like to hear myself talk (and, yes, I am talking this out as I am writing it), and because I would like to provide myself with the happy delusion that I am of at least some little importance. Now, let me just tell you why exactly I support Ralph Nader for President when there are two such great candidates running for the Democrats and the Republicans. The two general reasons are that (1) I don't consider the Democrats and Republicans to be that great (I am an Independent personally, happily unaffiliated with either major party); and (2) Ralph Nader has impressed me with his record of public service as a consumer advocate, and he says essentially nothing that I really disagree with. To provide examples:

Nader advocates citizen engagement and activism, and he supports the "National Initiative for Democracy", a proposal of Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel's, which would allow the American people to make laws via a national ballot initiative in partnership with their elected officials. This is a pet issue of mine (since I was a supporter of Mike Gravel for President from April 28th, 2007 to May 25th, 2008), and I appreciate Nader for taking it up as an issue. To learn more about the National Initiative for Democracy, visit ni4d.us. This proposal is not even on the table for either Barack Obama or John McCain.

Nader advocates cutting the terribly, unnecessarily bloated military budget. Out of the United States budget, approximately 50% of funds are spent on defense. This is hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars we're talking about here. This spending might be necessary if we were in the middle of a World War with several powerful enemies, but the fact of the matter is that the United States's defense spending makes up 50% or so of the world's total for defense spending. Not a single other country in the world---not Russia, nor China, nor even Iran---makes up more than 10% of the world's defense budget. There are no real threats to the United States around the world, no major enemies, and so why is our defense budget so dreadfully high and wasteful? Which power are we defending ourselves from? I expect that it must be Lesotho. Of course!

Nader advocates an Israeli-Palestinian policy much different from that of Obama and McCain. One day, I asked my mother why the United States is so strongly pro-Israel, overlooking any of the sufferings and problems of the Palestinians forced off their lands, overlooking the amazing ratio of Israeli to Palestinian deaths in Gaza---1 Israeli civilian dies for every 400 Palestinians that die. And the conflict and deaths continue despite a great desire for peace, and a two-state solution, among the peoples of both Israel and Palestine. Ralph Nader, who asserts that we should be concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the harm caused to Palestinians as well as Israelis, sides with these peace movements of both sides who desire an end to the conflict and killing; Barack Obama and John McCain side with AIPAC and the extremist right-wing Israeli militarists who continue the conflict. Neither Obama nor McCain will substantially change our Israeli-Palestinian policy, and, as I believe this to be an important issue, I support Ralph Nader and his ideas for President.

I have provided three detailed examples. Here are a few others of how it seems to me that Nader is the best progressive candidate for President, more desirable than Obama and McCain.

(1) Nader advocates a universal, single-payer, government-provided health insurance plan that removes profit from the equation of the nation's health.

(2) Nader supports Fair Trade rather than Free Trade. Fair Trade provides for tariffs and regulations to protect the American worker, while Free Trade does not. As for worker's rights, Nader is strongly pro-worker and pro-union---he advocates the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Union Act of 1947, so that "tens of millions of workers, whom surveys show want to form trade unions, [can] engage in collective bargaining with their employers."

(3) Nader supports the Impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Obama and McCain do not consider defending the Constitution in such a manner.

All in all, I consider Nader to be the most principled, best qualified candidate with the best ideas about the issues. His official campaign website is votenader.org.