Running for office is incredible tough, and something that is difficult to imagine unless you've done it. So one interesting phenomenon we see is that credible people who run as fringe-y third party candidates tend to have interesting insights into what's wrong with the political system, but no actual willingness to subordinate their egos to actual solve the problems they cite. In 2000, though Gore and Bush weren't identical, there was definitely a reasonable critique of both parties as militaristic and excessively corporate; the next eight years have seen a vicious intra-party fight within the Democratic Party to expel the DLC. We are far from winning, but Nader was a good signal that such a fight was on the horizon.
Now Bob Barr, a creature of the right and Ralph Nader, an entrepreneur of the anti-partisan 1970s left, are
teaming up.
Nader took that as a sign he appeals to disillusioned voters on the right and left - one of his few points of optimism: "Things are getting so bad, for libertarians and liberals there's starting to be a convergence of interests," he said. "I think it's a huge step." Nader said a critical mass is building on both ends of the political spectrum pressing for transparency in government spending and an online database of military contracts.
To that end, Nader and Barr are working to put out a joint statement stressing the shared goals of liberals and libertarian conservatives on the issues of corporate subsidies, civil liberties and, of course, election reform. "You can't focus on voters' rights and ignore candidate rights," Nader said. "They're inextricably related."
I'm not exactly sure what these two hope to get done. Probably nothing, actually, except some media exposure. Nader hasn't really done anything significant since 2000, and what he did then was not particularly, um, progressive. And it's been years, perhaps decades, since he did any real organizing.
Still, when Nader and Barr talk about the convergence between liberals and libertarians, they aren't wrong. I'm not sure though what Nader has to do with either liberals or libertarians at this point.
