I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA what goes on in the offices of The Stranger these days. But I've been told there's apparently some internal turmoil over there about endorsing Ralph Nader for President.
According to the rumor, many of the paper's editorial staffers want to go for Ralphie, but one or two of the top brass are hesitant. (You may recall, the Stranger endorsed Paul Schell for mayor in '97, only to have spent the past year denouncing its onetime official hero.)
Most other alt-weeklies across the U.S. (except Seattle Weekly and the New Times chain) have shown few such qualms about Ralphie-boy. So have a smattering of "mainstream" journalists, most prominently Harper's editor Lewis Lapham. Indeed, one Boston Globe writer has christened Nader "the candidate of crank columnists."
Nader's campaign also represents another plateau in the way-new left's "new positivity," as expressed in places like the new local alt-paper Tablet.
(At early planning meetings I sat in on, several of that paper's punk-rock instigators renounced cynicism, proclaiming they didn't want to define themselves solely in contrast to somebody else's worldview. And I foolishly thought that was what punk rock used to be all about.)
It's this positivity, this spirit that progressives can finally Get Something Done rather than just sit and mope, that's attracted celebrity endorsers such as Eddie Vedder (who's made a few political-type statements before but has never publicly supported a candidate for anything).
And the new positivity's certainly part of what I've seen in the enthusiastic support the Nader campaign's gotten among local lefties who, just one or two elections ago, would be proudly staying home. All over the Pike-Pine corridor, on the Ave, and anywhere else anti-corporate or anti-statist types gather, Nader's green campaign signs and bumper stickers adorn scores of shops and poster-boards. Some of these signs ask that you vote for Nader not as a protest against the major-party candidates, but as a vote specifically for Nader's agenda of worker rights, decentralized institutions, and checks on corporate power.
But what do I myself think of him and his candidacy, you might be asking?
He does have a number of good points in his platform (a wider and more comprehensive platform than almost any recent prominent third-party candidate).
He's beholden to nobody, has his heart in the right place, and really would, given half a chance, try to turn this into a country where non-monetary values are treated with serious consideration.
But would I endorse him? I just might wait until the east coast votes start coming in. Then, if Gore's making it, I'll run to my polling spot and click for some nursing from Mr. R.N.
(Hmm, I seem to recall another Presidential candidate who once had the initials R.N., who also dressed drably and who also once promised a break from politics-as-usual. Of course, the similarities between the two completely end there. For one thing, that prior R.N. had the support of a few Democrats.)
(Oops, that last piece of facetiousness is the sort of borderline negativity hardcore Naderites wouldn't like. Oh well, they'll just have to live with it.)
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