Ralph Nader

You like Ralph Nader, not because you agree with everything he says, but because in a nation where politicians are too often self-aggrandizing liars, he's the real deal.

Nader (http://www.nader.org/) has been villified by many members of the Left for the role he played as a "spoiler" in the 2000 election. That's total bullshit. Citizens are free to vote, not free to vote for option A or B and never C. Besides, Gore didn't even carry his own state. The truth of the matter is that Democrats have idealized and set on pedestals utterly pedestrian presidents and presidential wannabes. Clinton will be forgotten by history - except for his game of hide the cigar with Lewinsky. And Gore's environmental cheerleading has already been exposed as sheer hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, Nader's record of legislative change is unparalleled for a private citizen. I fear that his vision of government for America would be too weak in foreign policy, and too strident domestically. But he's absolutely right that the current system gives far too much power to moneyed interests. I might not want Nader to be the president, but I do like the idea of him holding the feet of presidential candidates to the fire.

We need more of Nader - and other plain-speaking third-party candidates - not less.