Because I haven't had enough

I am sick of hearing how stupid people who voted for Nader are and how Nader ruined it for Gore. I find it appalling that people wish Nader hadn't run because he didn't have a chance. I've even seen it proclaimed that voting for Nader was the "trendy" thing to do. Nader supposedly stole votes from Gore as if Gore has some kind of claim on those votes.

The way I see it, people didn't vote for Nader because they wanted to take a vote away from Gore or because they have the IQ of a brick. They voted for Nader because they didn't want to vote for Gore or Bush. Why is it stupid to cast your vote for someone who can't win? This isn't a horse race. You vote for the person that best represents the statement you want to make. The people who voted for Nader didn't believe in Gore or Bush. The people who voted for Nader weren't doing so in hopes Gore would win without them. If they wanted to vote for Gore, they would have voted for Gore.

I don't hear anyone complaining and bitter about all the people that didn't vote. There are probably quite a few people who would have voted for Gore but didn't feel like getting off the couch or going out in the rain. Why aren't they stupid? Why didn't they ruin it for Gore too? No, it's the people that wanted to exercise their right to vote. If you don't vote, you're ok. If you vote for the wrong person, you're an idiot.

The truth is, we'll never know for sure how many votes Nader pulled away from Gore. Maybe those voters wouldn't have voted at all if Nader hadn't been in the race. Maybe those voters would have voted for another third party candidate because they didn't feel right voting for Gore or Bush. Just maybe a few of those voters would have voted for Bush if they had to choose between the major party candidates. But the fact remains there are other choices out there.