Dissent Magazine, Spring 2004
Ralph Nader and the Will to Marginality
by Todd Gitlin
Yes, I love it! The new slogan: 'A Vote for Nader is a vote against
Todd Gitlin' is sure to mobilise old SDS'ers.
But there is no evidence that nonvoters differ from voters in any
ideological way. They are not bashful saints or hidden leftists
biding their time until a candidate appears with the precisely
correct political position. They are disproportionately low-income
and younger people who, if they want anything from politics, want
practical results. Their cynicism about politics is self-interested;
they have real needs. What they are not looking for is a prophet or
a new party.
If those who suffer most from corporate domination were susceptible
to Nader's appeal, why was his black vote in 2000 so puny-only 1
percent in Washington, D. C., for example, where Nader won 5 percent
overall? He certainly didn't increase turnout among blacks or any
other minority. A Green vote was a luxury that could only be
afforded by those who didn't need politics to defend their material
interests. In fact, Nader's base is a sliver of upper-middle-class
whites-"the liberal intelligentsia," you might
say-disproportionately located in such states as Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, and New Hampshire with the smallest black
populations.