Friday, August 13, 2004

One Vote, One Party, NO Choice

An audio message from Mumia Abu-Jamal was played at the July 25 rally in Boston on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, and, among other things, he said in the message:
I have seen an amusing cartoon-graphic of a sarcastic bumper sticker printed in a libertarian-type magazine, which reads:
BUSH
KERRY '04
REPUBLICRAT
One Vote, one party,
NO choice
In the bottom, right-hand corner, in small Olde English-style letters, is written, "Skull and Bones," and there's a graphic of that, and it says, "Yale University." It gets a grin out of me every time I see it, for bumper stickers, which are a kind of witty shorthand of oversimplification, tend to do this, if they're good.
It says a lot about the perceptions of millions of voting-age Americans, who really see these things that way, and as a consequence, refrain from even the pretense of voting for what increasingly looks like a single party, with two heads.

It also encapsulates rather nicely the gist of the now-flagging independent presidential campaign of consumer advocate, Ralph Nader.
Listen to the message in full at Prison Radio: Mumia Abu-Jamal, "Vote For Whom?" (recorded on July 18, 2004).

Since the time when Mumia's message was recorded, however, support for the Nader/Camejo 2004 campaign has been inching back up again, despite the difficulty of getting on the ballots due to the Democratic Party's commitment to disenfranchising Nader/Camejo supporters. In the latest Gallup poll, Nader gets the support of 3% of likely voters, 5% of registered voters, and 5% of adults:
3A. As of today, do you lean more toward –- [ROTATED: Kerry and Edwards, the Democrats, Bush and Cheney, the Republicans (or) Nader and Camejo, the independents]?

Kerry/
Edwards

Bush/
Cheney

Nader/
Camejo

OTHER
(vol.)

NONE
(vol.)

No
opinion

%

%

%

%

%

%

Likely voters

2004 Aug 9-11

46

48

3

*

1

2

2004 Jul 30-Aug 1

45

51

2

*

1

1

2004 Jul 19-21

47

46

4

*

1

2

2004 Jul 8-11 ^

50

45

2

*

1

2

2004 Jun 21-23

47

48

3

*

*

2

2004 Jun 3-6

49

43

5

1

*

2

2004 May 21-23

47

46

4

*

1

2

2004 May 7-9

45

47

5

--

2

1

2004 May 2-4

47

47

3

*

1

2

2004 Apr 16-18

44

50

4

*

*

2

2004 Apr 5-8

43

47

4

1

2

3

2004 Mar 26-28

45

49

4

--

1

1

2004 Mar 5-7

50

44

2

1

1

2

Registered voters

2004 Aug 9-11

45

46

5

*

1

3

2004 Jul 30-Aug 1

47

48

2

*

1

2

2004 Jul 19-21

47

43

5

*

2

3

2004 Jul 8-11 ^

50

42

4

*

1

3

2004 Jun 21-23

46

45

6

1

*

2

2004 Jun 3-6

45

42

7

1

1

4

2004 May 21-23

46

44

6

*

1

3

2004 May 7-9

46

41

7

*

3

3

2004 May 2-4

44

45

6

1

1

3

2004 Apr 16-18

44

47

5

*

1

3

2004 Apr 5-8

46

45

5

*

2

2

2004 Mar 26-28

43

48

5

--

1

3

2004 Mar 5-7

47

45

5

*

1

2

National adults

2004 Aug 9-11

45

45

5

*

2

3

2004 Jul 30-Aug 1

48

45

3

*

2

2

2004 Jul 19-21

47

43

5

*

2

3

2004 Jul 8-11 ^

49

41

5

*

2

3

2004 Jun 21-23

45

45

6

1

1

2

2004 Jun 3-6

44

42

8

1

2

3

2004 May 21-23

46

42

6

1

2

3

2004 May 7-9

46

41

8

*

3

2

2004 May 2-4

44

44

7

1

1

3

2004 Apr 16-18

43

46

7

*

1

3

2004 Apr 5-8

45

45

5

1

2

2

2004 Mar 26-28

44

46

7

--

1

2

2004 Mar 5-7

47

44

5

1

1

2

(vol.) Volunteered response

^

Vice presidential candidates Edwards, Cheney, and Camejo added beginning with the July 8-11, 2004 survey.

(David W. Moore, "Bush Approval at 51%: Presidential Contest Remains Tight," Gallup.com, August 13, 2004)
3-8% of the voting-age population -- calculated conservatively based upon the November 2002 "Current Population Survey" by the US Census Bureau -- means roughly 6.3-16.8 million Americans. The task of leftists is to create a political party in which they can find their permanent political home.

In the states where open and closet Democrats inside and outside the Green Party succeeded in excluding Nader/Camejo from the ballots, we have to organize write-in campaigns.

3 comments:

Morgan W. Brown said...

Once again Yoshi, excellent work!!! Thank you.

Morgan

Morgan W. Brown said...

opps, my apologies, I meant: Yoshie

sorry.

Anonymous said...

Where do I find that Bush/Kerry '04 bumper sticker?
I want one!
email me: tbaas@uwm.edu