{"id":32,"date":"2008-02-25T11:48:35","date_gmt":"2008-02-25T16:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/key-issue-missing-from-ralph-nader-table\/"},"modified":"2022-05-23T15:25:29","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T19:25:29","slug":"key-issue-missing-from-ralph-nader-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/key-issue-missing-from-ralph-nader-table\/","title":{"rendered":"The Key Issue Suspiciously Missing from Ralph Nader&#8217;s &#8220;Table&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div style=\"display:block;float:left;padding:5px;\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-2162106478346973\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-08-03: STBlogPostPage300X250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"6465476065\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"EDF1F0\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"EDF1F0\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"008000\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"008000\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/div>Yesterday, <a title=\"Ralph Nader\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polheroes\/nader.shtml\">Ralph Nader<\/a> announced that he will once again run for president. In&nbsp;explaining his reasons for running, he gave his usual litany of stances on a number of issues with&nbsp;which, in great part, I can&#8217;t argue. He summarizes these positions in this&nbsp;table on&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a title=\"Ralph Nader Issues that Matter in 2008\" href=\"http:\/\/www.votenader.org\/issues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Issues section of his&nbsp;campaign website<\/a> detailing the solutions that he has &#8220;on the table&#8221; that&nbsp;none of the major party candidates has on the table:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Ralph Nader Issues that Matter for 2008\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/naderissues.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Ralph Nader Issues that Matter for 2008\" src=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/naderissues.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"Ralph Nader Issues that Matter for 2008\" align=\"middle\" border=\"1\" vspace=\"5\"><\/a><\/center>It is true that on these many key issues, Nader does, as his&nbsp;table reveals,&nbsp;have particular solutions on the table that none of the major party candidates have on the table. However, I&#8217;ve taken the liberty of adding the one line that Nader doesn&#8217;t show on his&nbsp;table that I believe goes to the very heart of what is missing in all of his campaigns for president:<\/p>\n<p><center><a title=\"Nader Missing Issue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/naderissuemissing.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Nader Missing Issue\" src=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/naderissuemissing.jpg\" alt=\"Nader Missing Issue\" align=\"textTop\" border=\"1\" vspace=\"10\"><\/a><\/center><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-right: 5px; float: left; margin: 0px; padding-top: 10px;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"https:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=howardssystem-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as1&amp;asins=1583226303&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;lc1=008000&amp;bc1=008000&amp;bg1=EDF1F0&amp;f=ifr\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Notice that I didn&#8217;t say addressing whether&nbsp;<em>he, Ralph Nader<\/em>,&nbsp;is or is not a&nbsp;&#8220;<a title=\"The Spoiler Problem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/instantrunoffvoting.shtml#spoiler\">spoiler<\/a>.&#8221; I said addressing the issue of&nbsp;an election system in which &#8220;spoilers&#8221; are even <em>possible<\/em>.&nbsp;Nader is wise enough, as his own chart shows, to realize that <a title=\"Open Debates\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/opendebates.shtml\">open presidential debates<\/a> and fairer ballot access for <a title=\"Third Parties: Bringing Color and Flavor to American Politics\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/writingscreative\/speeches\/thirdparties.shtml\">third party candidates<\/a> are crucial issues if any of the other issues he cares about are to even be given the fair, widespread hearing that they deserve within the presidential campaign arena. However, in typical strange and suspicious fashion, he ignores the crucial <a title=\"Campaign, Election and Media Reform: Levers and Leverage Points for Improving Our Society\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/michael-moore-social-change-in-america-part-5\">leverage point<\/a>&nbsp;role of advocating consistently and proactively&nbsp;for&nbsp;a majority election&nbsp;system, such as <a title=\"Instant Runoff Voting\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/instantrunoffvoting.shtml\">Instant Runoff Voting<\/a>&nbsp;(IRV), <a title=\"Range Voting\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/rangevoting.shtml\">Range Voting<\/a> and\/or <a title=\"Approval Voting\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/politics\/polissues\/approvalvoting.shtml\">Approval Voting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even the debate issue, which he does put on his list, is greatly affected by the current voting system, since debate inclusion is based on polls and, in a plurality system like we have, far less people are willing to even consider voting for Nader, which lowers his poll numbers and plays a role in keeping him out of the debates. Still, even when asked directly about the possibility of &#8220;spoiling,&#8221; and despite his ability to bring greater attention to the issue than anyone in America with a major incentive to do so, he refuses to use it as an opportunity to advocate for these types of election system reforms.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve written at length on the seeming conspiracy of silence regarding the true nature of the &#8220;spoiler&#8221; issue, most notably from Nader himself, in several pieces, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Instant Runoff Voting Excluded: An Unreasonable Omission from An Unreasonable Man\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/an-unreasonable-man\/\">Instant Runoff Voting Excluded: An Unreasonable Omission from <em>An Unreasonable Man<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Fix The Election System: Don't Blame Nader\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/writingscreative\/commentaries\/dontblamenader.shtml\">Fix The Election System: Don&#8217;t Blame Nader<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now with him in the race again, I believe he must be pushed hard on this issue. I urge the press and voters to ask Ralph why, on the issue of advocating for a fair and inclusive&nbsp;majority election system, he, who should be most vocal of anyone in this country, is as silent as anyone else in this presidential race. The issue is particularly interesting this time around since all three of the candidates most likely to be in the race have explicitly expressed support for at least one of these reforms, Instant Runoff Voting, in the past:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ralph Nader claimed to support IRV on his previous campaign website, despite his failure to consistently talk about the issue.<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"John McCain Endorses Instant Runoff Voting\" href=\"http:\/\/fairvote.org\/?page=1758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John McCain has endorsed Instant Runoff Voting<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Barack Obama Introduced an Instant Runoff Voting Bill in the Illinois State Senate\" href=\"http:\/\/fairvote.org\/?page=1755\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Barack Obama introduced an Instant Runoff Voting bill in the Illinois State Senate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 5px; float: right; margin: 0px; padding-top: 5px;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"https:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=howardssystem-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as1&amp;asins=0415931940&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;lc1=008000&amp;bc1=008000&amp;bg1=EDF1F0&amp;f=ifr\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I can only hope that, after the 2000 and 2004 Nader campaigns failed to make election reforms like Instant Runoff Voting household phrases, the third time will be a charm. And I can only hope that Ralph Nader, this time around, will commit to being a part of making that happen. While I absolutely support the right of any candidate to run for president, if Nader doesn&#8217;t use his campaign platform to speak&nbsp;loudly and consistently&nbsp;about the need for an election system that is &#8220;spoiler-free,&#8221; then to me he is either using a flawed strategy, which I doubt given his prodigious intellect, or I have to suspect that he has ulterior motives for running.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>NOTE<\/strong><\/span>: With the addition of Matt Gonzalez as Ralph Nader&#8217;s running mate, it appears as if election reform may <a title=\"Ralph Nader Running Mate, Matt Gonzalez, to Shine a Spotlight on Election Reform\" href=\"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/ralph-nader-running-mate-gonzalez-spotlight-election-reform\/\">receive the spotlight that it deserves<\/a> within the campaign after all! I guess you could say this is what Gonzalez &#8220;brings to the table.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, Ralph Nader announced that he will once again run for president. In&nbsp;explaining his reasons for running, he gave his usual litany of stances on a number of issues with&nbsp;which, in great part, I can&#8217;t argue. He summarizes these positions in this&nbsp;table on&nbsp;the&nbsp;Issues section of his&nbsp;campaign website detailing the solutions that he has &#8220;on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[505,506,148,69,507,78,512,171,513,514,80,509,510,511,79],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2008-presidential-election","tag-approval-voting","tag-barack-obama","tag-election-reform","tag-election-system","tag-instant-runoff-voting","tag-john-mccain","tag-leverage-points","tag-open-debates","tag-political-debates","tag-politics","tag-ralph-nader","tag-range-voting","tag-spoiler-issue","tag-third-parties"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.systemsthinker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}