Nostalgia Nader Style

This past Saturday night, April 13, on a lark I decided to attend a Ralph Nader rally at that hotbed of Arab intrigue, the SunDome at the University of South Florida. Earlier in the week I found a discarded placard advertising the event. The musical entertainment intrigued me. Iris Dement, Jello Biafra, and Patty Smith. Ralph Nader and Michael Moore were the speakers. Wow! Three decent musicians and two comedians. How could I resist? So I went.

I thought I was back in time, somewhere in the '60s or early '70s, at a Democrat Convention. There was fervent talk of the environment, pro-labor pronouncements, corporate bashing, and they even trotted out a migrant farm worker from Immokalee. There was even a smattering (as far as propriety would permit) of anti-war talk. It was retro all the way.

It dawned on me that what they were trying to do was recreate the issues of liberals 30 years ago. The only problem is we don't have the problems we had then. If they expected me to come away unhappy with what the two major parties offer, they would be very disappointed.

I came away feeling that this country has never been in better shape. First, the only labor grievances they could bring up were sweatshop conditions in third world countries. Why? Because all the menial jobs have moved away from here to third world countries. It would be difficult to come up with legitimate labor grievances here. About the only thing they could come up with would be health care, and most irritation with health care stems from dealing with HMOs.

There was a general mention of the environment, but with global warming in dispute, they could not come up with any concrete environmental concerns. The air is purer than it has been in a long time. The water is cleaner; to my knowledge no rivers have caught fire in many decades.

Racial issues? There are no racial issues. What we're dealling with now are minorities who are assimilating into society, and that just takes time. Any grousing they make is just from impatience. It takes time. It will happen. Just as it did with the Italians, Irish, and other minorities who came over here. What possible legislation or judicial decision could improve the status of minorities? None. The only "issue" that the Democrats can come up with is reparations for descendants of slaves.

And that brings me to another point. The Democrats are no longer a liberal party. They are centrist. The Republicans are a lot less conservative than they used to be. The only burning issues are questions of semantics. They all agree on the problems; it's the way to solve them that they disagree.

Therefore, I came to the conclusion that this is the finest hour for our country. There is more freedom than ever before, the internet has provided access to information unparalled in our history, and everybody is doing well economically. Even our "poor" have VCRs, cell phones, color tvs and cable, and computers. Our compact cars are vastly superior to the luxury cars of 30 years ago. Everyone eats.

I felt sorry for the Nader people. They are burning so much energy trying to get attention. They are trying their best to manufacture issues, and they just aren't there. They are firebrand activists without a legitimate cause. Don't get me wrong. We always need these people. If we all thought alike, we would stagnate.

I didn't stay for Ralph. He would have put me to sleep. The best speaker by far was Michael Moore, and the second best was Jello Biafri. He was the lead singer for The Dead Kennedys, so I thought he would perform. He didn't, but he spoke eloquently. They brought out a number of minor firebrands, and again they gave me a sense of deja vu. I was back on the college campus listening the impromptu speakers on the green area as I walked to class. The musical entertainment was very good. Iris DeMent sang her retro protest song which was excellent. It didn't sound as whiny as it has in the past. It was more like this is what a protest song would sound like if one were written today. Fortunately, not too many are. Patty Smith was very good. I remember watching her on Saturday Night Live in the '70s. She was a waif of a girl doing a fair Bob Dylan imitation. Now here she was, a mature woman in her 40s.

Well, I sure didn't expect the reaction I had. I even clapped on numerous occasions, for their fervor if nothing more. I had a wonderful time, and I'm glad I went. I sure did get a new perspective on the state of the old union.

"There was fervent talk of the environment, pro-labor pronouncements, corporate bashing,…”

"It's difficult to argue you are for working men and women when your policies prevent them from working by destroying the businesses that would employ them." --Jack Kemp

Are Democrats really centrist, or have they simply been temporarily waylaid there?

It's hard to think of socialism as centrist, at least where I stand.

"And that brings me to another point. The Democrats are no longer a liberal party. They are centrist. "

That "centrist-ism" is only their pr image- fomented by the willing media.
Without that 5% of their vote that comes from socialists, they would hold about, oh, 25% of our elective offices.
If Gore had had the Nader vote, he'd have won the presidency.

GO, RALPH, GO! (And someday the Dem's media will have to start covering you again- despite the damage it will do to the Dems.)

Good to hear this report that Ralph and Michael are out there cutting that socialist vote away from the Dems- the media have a blackout on him. They didn't even give him any credit for the success of his signature campaign issue- campaign finance reform.

Good to hear this report that Ralph and Michael are out there cutting that socialist vote away from the Dems...

Amen.

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A bump for Ralph's socialists: the Achilles heel of our enemies!