FREE ESSAY ON BUSH AND GORE MAKE ME WANNA RALPH

BUSH AND GORE MAKE ME WANNA RALPH

Bush and Gore Make Me Wanna Ralph
DISCLAIMER: If you are planning to vote for Al Gore in November, good for you. Don't let
what I'm about to say change your mind because I've been told by all the experts that if
you do change your mind based on what I'm about to say, George W. Bush might win the
election and I certainly couldn't live with myself if that connoisseur of pharmaceuticals
(the kind you snort up your nose or the kind you inject on death row) won, in part,
because of a letter I spit out over the Internet.
So let's review -- you like Gore, you vote for Gore. He's a decent guy. I met him last
year at some benefit, he came up to me, big hug -- whoa, this veep is no stiff, I thought
- and thanked me for this and that. He even quoted lines from The Awful Truth - whoa,
scary, I thought, what's he doing watching cable channels above 40 on the box...not much
to do on this veep gig, eh?
I told him I admired what he did when he came home to America as a Vietnam Vet and spoke
out against the war. That took a lot of courage, I said (his dad lost his Senate seat for
being an early opponent of the war).
So, if Al Gore is your man, go for it. In fact, I insist on it, even if you are just
throwing your vote away. What I am about to say, though, is not intended for any Al Gore
(or George W.) voters. 
To Whom It May Concern:
I address this letter to the largest political party in the United States - the 55% of
you in the voting public who are so disillusioned with politics and politicians, so sick
and tired of all the broken promises, so disgusted with all the b.s. that you have
absolutely no intention of voting in November.
You know who you are. AND YOU ARE THE MAJORITY! You rule. You are the Non-Voters, all 100
million of you!
Until now, you have been the subject of scorn and ridicule. You've been called apathetic,
lazy, ignorant. Your actions have been viewed as unAmerican (I mean, what kind of citizen
in the World's Greatest Democracy would not exercise his or her most
important and cherished right - the right to freely choose your leader!). 
Well, may I be the first to tell you that, not only are you NOT stupid and apathetic, I
believe you are smarter than all the rest of us combined. YOU figured it out. YOU
uncovered the scam. And YOU had the guts to no longer participate in a lie. Way to go! In
1996, you helped set the all-time American record for lowest turnout ever at a
presidential election.
The reason you, the majority, no longer vote in America is because you, the majority,
realize there is no real choice on the ballot. The two parties both do the bidding of the
wealthy and agree with each other on 90% of the issues. They take 90% of their money from
people who make over a hundred-grand a year, and then enact over 90% of the laws those
contributors want passed.
On the ballot this November, you already know there is no contest. The independent Cook
Political Report in D.C. last week announced that, out of 435 House seats up for election
in November, there are only 47 seats where there is a true race between opponents - and,
of those, only 14 seats have a race that is even close between the two candidates. 14 out
of 435!
Ninety-seven to ninety-nine percent of incumbents running for re-election will be
returned to Congress in November, according to the Cook Report.
The Non-Voters already understand this. And they are not going to waste one iota of their
day on November 7 driving to some smelly elementary school gymnasium to participate in a
Soviet-style election with no friggin' choice on the ballot.
So, to you brave voter-resisters, I say congratulations on your act of civic
disobedience! I joined you this primary season and refused to go along with this charade
of choice. Nearly 80% of those of us of voting age - over 160 million Americans - staged
a sit-in on our living room couches during this year's primaries. THAT is the great
untold story of this election year. How much longer will the punditocracy be able to get
away with dismissing this massive no-show as a sign Americans are content with the
booming economy?
Now that we have made our presence known (you all don't mind me speaking for us, do you?
Good. In fact, I'll just assume the currently-vacant mantle of this majority party and
serve as your leader until you say otherwise...), it is time to find a way that says,
loudly and clearly, just how mad as hell we are and how we are not going to take it
anymore. We need to find a way where our vote screams None of the Above! A chance to act,
like that Chinese guy in Tieneman Square, standing in front of a moving tank and stopping
it in its path.
In November, we should find a way to follow in the footsteps of those intelligent
Minnesotans who, even thought they could care less about professional wrestling (and even
less, I'm sure, for Jesse The Body), proved to the world that they not only have a sense
of humor, but they know how to stick it to the whole bloody system. Think of just how
high their level of anger must have been against the One-Party-With-Two-Heads monopoly! I
mean, state government is no joke - somebody's gotta build the roads, run the schools,
catch the criminals. You don't want to turn the asylum over to the chief lunatic but,
damn it, that's what the people of Minnesota did - just to send a message! Wow. That took
some guts.
So, for those of you who weren't going to vote anyway, well...what if you actually did?
What if you drove down to that stinky gym where the little shell game behind the pretend
curtains is taking place (Pay no attention to the voters behind the curtains!), walk in,
sign in, take the ballot they hand you, and toss yourselves inside the booth like a
political molotov cocktail.
Boom!
You wanna tell me there's a choice here between two guys who both support NAFTA, WTO, the
death penalty, the Cuban embargo, increased Pentagon spending, sleazy HMOs, greedy
hospital chains, 250 million guns in our homes, more bombing of Iraq, the rich getting
richer and the rest of us declaring bankruptcy?
Boom! Not me.
Boom! I'm voting for Ralph Nader.
KAAAABOOM!
Friends, we are losing our democratic control over our country. We may have already lost
it. I hope not. But in the last 20 years of the Reagan administration, Corporate America
has merged and morphed itself to such an extent that just a handful of companies now call
all the shots. They own Congress. They own us. In order to work for them, we have to take
urine tests and lie detectors and wear bar codes on chains around our necks. In order to
keep our jobs we have had to give up decent health care, the 8-hour day (and time with
our kids), the security that we'll even have a job next year, and any unwillingness we
may have to compete with a 14-year old Indonesian girl who gets a
dollar a day.
And how frightening (and great) is it that the last place we can freely try to inform and
communicate with each other is on this very Web? Six companies run by six men control the
majority of the news we now get from newspapers, television, radio and the Internet. One
out of every two books is bought at a bookstore owned by one of only two companies. Is it
safe in a free society to have the sources of our information and mass
communication in the hands of just a few wealthy men who have a VESTED interest in
keeping us as stupid as possible - or at least in keeping us thinking like them so that
we vote for THEIR candidates? I fear the cement on this new oligarchy of power is
quickly
drying, and when it is finished hardening, we are finished. The democracy, the one that's
supposed to be of, by, and for the people, will cease to exist.
We must not let this happen, no matter how cynical and disgusted we've become at the
whole electoral process. Ralph Nader, to me, represents a chance for us to at least
temporarily stop the cement from drying. We need him in there kicking things up, stirring
the pot and forcing a real debate about the issues. Whether it's Ralph as Candidate or
Ralph as President, he may represent our last hope to get our country back from the
clutches of the powerful few.
I am not writing these words lightly. I am hoping to sound a siren and rally the majority
who, for good reason, have given up - but might just have it in them to find the will for
one last fight against the bastards.
Can Ralph win? Well, stranger things have happened in the past decade. C'mon, think about
it, not a single one of us ever thought we'd see the Berlin Wall come down or Nelson
Mandela as President of South Africa. After those two things happened, I joined a new
school of thought that said ANYTHING was possible. Jesse Ventura started with 3% in the
polls and won. Ross Perot in '92 started with 6% and, after proving to everyone that he
was certifiably insane, still got nearly 20% of the vote.
Ralph already has between 7% and 10% in the polls - before he's done any serious
campaigning. He's gone from 3% to 8% in my home state of Michigan. These are amazing
numbers and the pundits and lobbyists and Republicrats are running scared. Hey, you like
to watch scared Republicrats running? Tell a pollster you're voting for Ralph.
Now, look, before you all send me a lot of mail about how weird Ralph is 'cause he
doesn't own a car or is a sell-out 'cause he's got a few million dollars, let me say
this: I used to work out of his office, and Ralph is definitely one of a kind. In a
future letter I will write of those experiences but, for now, let's just agree that Ralph
is at least half as crazy as Jesse Ventura - and about a hundred times as smart. I'd say
he's also saved about a million or so lives, thanks to the consumer and environmental
legislation he has devoted his life to.
And between Gore, Bush, and himself, he's the only person running who would guarantee
universal health care for all, the only candidate who would raise the minimum wage to a
decent level, the only one who would get up each morning asking himself the question,
What can I do today to serve all the people of this country?
The list goes on and on. You can read more about what Ralph stands for by going to his
website (http://www.votenader.org). You'll agree, I'm sure, there's lots of common sense
there, regardless of what political stripe you are.
But remember. If you are even THINKING of voting for Al Gore, vote for Al Gore. Ralph
Nader does not need a single Gore vote. There are a hundred million of us out there who
are uncommitted and currently not voting. Right now, Gore and Bush are each hoping to win
by getting only 40 million votes.
If you are in the Non-Voting majority and want to let 'em all have it, if you want to get
our country back in our hands...well, if even half of you show up and vote November 7
then you won't be held responsible for Bush winning the White House. In fact, you won't
be held responsible for putting Gore in the White House, either. Rather, you will have
made history by putting a true American hero at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And you will have given every company, every boss who's done ya wrong, the worst
nightmare of their lives.