One word...Nader

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on February 24, 2008 at 3:18pm

Electoral politics in the United States won't change things no matter who is elected. IMNSHO [in my not so humble opinion] elections are a massive distraction: they suck up enormous amounts of energy, space, time and money.

Political parties and their chosen ones won't heal the earth - WE WILL!! One plus one plus one plus ....

My personal bias [i.e. what I personally feel called towards] is on working for LOCAL CHANGE: creating interdependent community webs that will sustain, support and work towards healing the earth right here, right now where I live.

As I look at the current state of the earth and her life support systems, I cannot help but foresee a vastly changed biosphere brought on by the positive feedback of CO2 in the atmosphere. The words "catastrophic change" came to me, but I don't want to be dismissed as an alarmist. I believe in looking at what's ahead squarely in the eyes because that's "what is".

At the same time [and yet here, I don't want to be dismissed as 'new ageist'] I also wholly believe in focusing on living a life grounded in JOY, GRATITUDE and LOVE. Yes, the biosphere is truly F*ed up and 'life', on the grand scale, is in for a very hard ride ahead. That's fact. How we respond to it, how well (individually) we prepare for it, and how prepared our 'local interdependent community webs' are to support us through it, this should be our focus.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on February 28, 2008 at 4:13pm

I agree, politics is not the path forward! As far as the state of the biosphere, life will find a way. It always does. The really pertinent question is will humans be a part of the mix. That's what we are really talking about with all this save the world stuff, saving our own butts. Some days i look around and think it's not worth the effort. Maybe the universe would be a better place if we allowed extinction to remove us from the mix.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on February 28, 2008 at 4:34pm

P.S. I doubt Nadar would be any more effective than the rest of the motley field. The bureaucrats hold the power of daily decisions so most things wouldn't change, and he would have to battle both parties in the congress to get anything done. Totally ineffective on everything. Is that what we need?

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Egan on February 28, 2008 at 10:11pm

Thank you for finally getting to the point of this forums topic. Now, this country is a democracy and is set up to represent the people. Yes, it is true that the bureaucrats hold Washington by the balls and it shouldn't be that way, but what are you going to do? Nader, in my opinion has been fighting for reforms in this country for almost 50 years and has been extremely involved in environmental issues that, I think, you, me and most the people in this community will agree on, are very important. He's a candidate with a voice that both Hillary and Obama will be listening to, in order to get the "green" voters. This is where you and I come into play. Instead of complaining that a whole world is going straight to the shitter, why not at least attempt to try and swim out.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on February 28, 2008 at 1:23pm

I really like Ralph Nadar and all he has done but I feel its too late in the race for him to be a real contender. I'm not happy about the negative comments that have nothing to do with political issues that have surfaced between Hilary and Obama. It makes me not want to vote at all. I do realize that would be foolish when it is a privilege to vote for what we believe in when many countries do not have this. I hope Ralph Nadar continues fighting for other important causes but gracefully leaves the race for president for others.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Egan on February 28, 2008 at 10:20pm

There's still nine months in this election, so don't say that its "too late" cause there's a lot of race left. We still don't know who's going to be the democratic candidate yet. Yet realistically, I do agree with you that he should gracefully leave the race because of the last two elections. But, I don't want him to drop out because this is a Democracy and it shouldn't be Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican... ect. It's the principal of the thing. His voice should be heard and so should yours.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on February 29, 2008 at 7:51am

I know he won't do this, but my thoughts are that Nader, like Kucinich, should push the progressive edge as hard as he can while his hat is "in the ring", so to speak, for environmental and health issues. Hilary and Obama will have to listen and respond accordingly. Then, when the time is prudent and he has achieved the desired effect on the positions of the candidates, again like Kucinich, he should withdraw from the race so as not to split the Democratic/Progressive voting block.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on February 29, 2008 at 11:36am

You've made good points I've overlooked.

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