Green Party presidential candidate Ralph
Nader speaks to an audience of thousands at the Long Beach
Arena during his Super Rally Friday night. The rally also featured
singer Patti Smith and congressional candidate Medea Benjamin.
By Barbara Ortutay
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Green Party candidate Ralph Nader continues to urge people to
“vote their conscience” despite criticism from some
Democrats that his campaign might hurt Democratic candidate Al
Gore’s chances of being elected today.
“Major changes in our society come from major changes in
direction,” said Nader during his Super Rally Friday night in
Long Beach, which attracted thousands. On NBC’s “Meet
the Press” Sunday, Nader said he would be disappointed
regardless of who gets elected.
Though the 66-year-old consumer advocate maintains that there
are no differences between Gore and Republican candidate George W.
Bush, progressive organizations such as People For the American Way
and Voters for Choice disagree.
“Voters vote their conscience if they understand the
difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush,” said Julia
Fitz-Randolph, director of the organization. “This is a very
critical election, and voting with a conscience is more than just
voting for change; it’s voting to uphold change that already
happened.”
Because the next president may make as many as four new
appointments to the Supreme Court, many Democrats are concerned
that if elected, Bush will appoint conservative justices who may
potentially overturn Roe v. Wade. Although Bush has said he
doesn’t think the country is ready to overturn the case,
which legalized abortion in the United States, the Republican Party
platform calls for a constitutional amendment making abortion
illegal except in cases of rape or incest or if the mother’s
life is in danger.
Fitz-Randolph said, if elected, Bush would set the clock back on
the civil rights of women, racial and religious minorities, and gay
men and lesbians through his Supreme Court appointments.
Nader, however, has received support from many college students,
including fifth-year biology student Ryan Thomson, who stood
outside the Gore rally in Westwood last week, clutching a Nader
sign in his hands.
“The Democratic Party has moved too far to the center. It
doesn’t represent the people any more,” Thomson said.
“Honestly I think both Bush and Gore are corporate puppets;
it doesn’t matter who wins the election because, in the end,
it’s the corporations that make the decision.”
Although Nader has received support among college students and
liberal voters across the country, Fitz-Randolph said she is
concerned some of them may not realize the impact of their
vote.
“They need to take a hard look at how their vote will
affect the outcome,” she said.
Nader needs to win at least 5 percent of the vote in order to
get federal matching funds in the next election. According to the
Associated Press, he averages about 4 percent in national polls,
but he has higher support in California, Minnesota, Michigan,
Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin, states where the race between
Bush and Gore is tight.
In a number of those states, the Republican Party has paid for
television ads supporting Nader.
Democrats, including feminist Gloria Steinem as well as People
For the American Way, have called Nader a friend but said his
candidacy would only hurt progressive advances in this country.
But many of his supporters continue to rally behind Nader. Greg
MacArthur, a New York businessman, took out a full page ad in the
New York Times saying that a “vote for Nader is not a vote
for Bush.”
With reports from the Associated Press.