Vote like your life depended on it

Here's my thing: Back in 2000, I remember a number of well-meaning lefties voting for Nader because they wanted real change. Though I agreed with them in spirit, I had a real bad feeling about another Bush getting into the White House. One of my Naderite friends said, "Even if Bush DOES win, things can't get much worse." Yeah, I'm sure he's choked on those words a few times since then. If not, he should ... hard core.

I don't think the Democrats are significantly better than the Republicans, but I do think what we've got now isn't so much a Republican administration as it is a corporatist hijacking of our government. Essentially, this creates a paradox because it at once proves that Nader was right and that we still shouldn't have voted for him when it was this close.

Say what you will, but we wouldn't be in Iraq right now if Gore had been elected. I don't believe 9/11 would have happened either, but if it had, we'd have come up with a plan that would have actually done something to curb terrorism instead of make the problem worse. In any case, Americans wouldn't be dying in Iraq right now.

So next Tuesday, I hope you plan to get out and vote because it should be plainly obvious by now that voting does indeed make a difference.