Ralph Nader's Absurdity

Once I thought the insufferably self-righteous Ralph Nader was merely delusional for his repeated insistence that his presence in the 2000 presidential election campaign, where he clearly siphoned votes away from Al Gore, did not lead to the election of George W. Bush. Now, with Nader yesterday declaring his intention to enter the 2008 campaign, I not only find him delusional, I believe he has lost his mind and with it whatever credibility he retained as a consumer advocate. Nader claims the marginalization of independent political candidates is comparable to the Jim Crow laws faced by black people in the South as they tried to exercise the right to vote.

One is based on race, and the other is based on status. They are basically discriminating against us because they think we're going to take votes away from them. Look at it from the voter point of view: They're denying us a free choice of candidates.

Nader's statement is patently absurd. As far as I know, there is nothing enshrined into law that prevents citizens like him from organizing political parties and seeking the support of their fellow citizens for elective office. In contrast, African Americans were faced with a number of devices - grandfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests, voter intimidation, just to name a few - that disenfranchised them.