Bush & Gore
Make Me Wanna Ralph
by Michael Moore
A
Letter from Michael Moore
to the Non-Voters of America
Dear friends,
 DISCLAIMER: If you
are planning to vote for Al Gore in November, good for
you. Don't let what I'm about to say change your mind
because I've been told by all the experts that if you do
change your mind based on what I'm about to say, George
W. Bush might win the election and I certainly couldn't
live with myself if that connoisseur of pharmaceuticals
(the kind you snort up your nose or the kind you inject
on death row) won, in part, because of a letter I spit
out over the Internet.
So let's review --
you like Gore, you vote for Gore. He's a decent guy. I
met him last year at some benefit, he came up to me, big
hug -- whoa, this veep is no stiff, I thought -- and
thanked me for this and that. He even quoted lines from
"The Awful Truth" - whoa, scary, I thought,
what's he doing watching cable channels above 40 on the
box... not much to do on this veep gig, eh?
I told him I admired
what he did when he came home to America as a Vietnam
Vet and spoke out against the war. That took a lot of
courage, I said (his dad lost his Senate seat for being
an early opponent of the war).
So, if Al Gore is
your man, go for it. In fact, I insist on it, even if
you are just throwing your vote away.
What I am about to
say, though, is not intended for any Al Gore (or George
W.) voters. If you are one, please click off now.
To Whom It May
Concern:
I address this letter
to the largest political party in the United States --
the 55% of you in the voting public who are so
disillusioned with politics and politicians, so sick and
tired of all the broken promises, so disgusted with all
the b.s. that you have absolutely no intention of voting
in November.
You know who you are.
AND YOU ARE THE
MAJORITY!
You rule. You are the
Non-Voters, all 100 million of you!
Until now, you have
been the subject of scorn and ridicule. You've been
called apathetic, lazy, ignorant. Your actions have been
viewed as unAmerican (I mean, what kind of citizen in
the World's Greatest Democracy would not exercise his or
her most important and cherished right -- the right to
freely choose your leader!).
Well, may I be the
first to tell you that, not only are you NOT stupid and
apathetic, I believe you are smarter than all the rest
of us combined. YOU figured it out. YOU uncovered the
scam. And YOU had the guts to no longer participate in a
lie. Way to go! In 1996, you helped set the all-time
American record for lowest turnout ever at a
presidential election.
The reason you, the
majority, no longer vote in America is because you, the
majority, realize there is no real choice on the ballot.
The "two" parties both do the bidding of the
wealthy and agree with each other on 90% of the issues.
They take 90% of their money from people who make over a
hundred-grand a year, and then enact over 90% of the
laws those contributors want passed.
On the ballot this
November, you already know there is no contest. The
independent Cook Political Report in D.C. last week
announced that, out of 435 House seats up for election
in November, there are only 47 seats where there is a
"true race" between opponents -- and, of
those, only 14 seats have a race that is even
"close" between the two candidates. 14 out of
435!
"Ninety-seven to
ninety-nine percent of incumbents running for
re-election will be returned to Congress in
November," according to the Cook Report.
The Non-Voters
already understand this. And they are not going to waste
one iota of their day on November 7 driving to some
smelly elementary school gymnasium to participate in a
Soviet-style election with no friggin' choice on the
ballot.
So, to you brave
voter-resisters, I say congratulations on your act of
civic disobedience! I joined you this primary season and
refused to go along with this charade of
"choice". Nearly 80% of those of us of voting
age -- over 160 million Americans -- staged a sit-in on
our living room couches during this year's primaries.
THAT is the great untold story of this election year.
How much longer will the punditocracy be able to get
away with dismissing this massive no-show as "a
sign Americans are content with the booming
economy"?
None of the
Above
Now that we have made
our presence known (you all don't mind me speaking for
us, do you? Good. In fact, I'll just assume the
currently-vacant mantle of this majority party and serve
as your leader until you say otherwise...), it is time
to find a way that says, loudly and clearly, just how
mad as hell we are and how we are not going to take it
anymore. We need to find a way where our vote screams
"None of the Above!" A chance to act, like
that Chinese guy in Tieneman Square, standing in front
of a moving tank and stopping it in its path.
In November, we
should find a way to follow in the footsteps of those
intelligent Minnesotans who, even though they could care
less about professional wrestling (and even less, I'm
sure, for Jesse "The Body"), proved to the
world that they not only have a sense of humor, but they
know how to stick it to the whole bloody system. Think
of just how high their level of anger must have been
against the One-Party-With-Two-Heads monopoly! I mean,
state government is no joke -- somebody's gotta build
the roads, run the schools, catch the criminals. You
don't want to turn the asylum over to the chief lunatic
but, damn it, that's what the people of Minnesota did --
just to send a message! Wow. That took some guts.
So, for those of you
who weren't going to vote anyway, well... what if you
actually did? What if you drove down to that stinky gym
where the little shell game behind the pretend curtains
is taking place ("Pay no attention to the voters
behind the curtains!"), walk in, sign in, take the
ballot they hand you, and toss yourselves inside the
booth like a political molotov cocktail.
Boom!
"You wanna tell
me there's a choice here between two guys who both
support NAFTA, WTO, the death penalty, the Cuban
embargo, increased Pentagon spending, sleazy HMOs,
greedy hospital chains, 250 million guns in our homes,
more bombing of Iraq, the rich getting richer and the
rest of us declaring bankruptcy?"
Boom!
Not me.
Boom!
I'm voting for Ralph
Nader.
KAAAABOOM!
Friends, we are
losing our democratic control over our country. We may
have already lost it. I hope not. But in the last 20
years of the Reagan administration, Corporate America
has merged and morphed itself to such an extent that
just a handful of companies now call all the shots. They
own Congress. They own us. In order to work for them, we
have to take urine tests and lie detectors and wear bar
codes on chains around our necks. In order to keep our
jobs we have had to give up decent health care, the
8-hour day (and time with our kids), the security that
we'll even have a job next year, and any unwillingness
we may have to compete with a 14-year old Indonesian
girl who gets a dollar a day.
And how frightening
(and great) is it that the last place we can freely try
to inform and communicate with each other is on this
very Web? Six companies run by six men control the
majority of the news we now get from newspapers,
television, radio, and the Internet. One out of every
two books is bought at a bookstore owned by one of only
two companies. Is it safe in a "free society"
to have the sources of our information and mass
communication in the hands of just a few wealthy men who
have a VESTED interest in keeping us as stupid as
possible -- or at least in keeping us thinking like them
so that we vote for THEIR candidates?
I fear the cement on
this new oligarchy of power is quickly drying, and when
it is finished hardening, we are finished. The
democracy, the one that's supposed to be of, by, and for
the people, will cease to exist.
We must not let this
happen, no matter how cynical and disgusted we've become
at the whole electoral process.
Ralph Nader, to me,
represents a chance for us to at least temporarily stop
the cement from drying. We need him in there kicking
things up, stirring the pot and forcing a real debate
about the issues. Whether it's Ralph as Candidate or
Ralph as President, he may represent our last hope to
get our country back from the clutches of the powerful
few.
I am not writing
these words lightly. I am hoping to sound a siren and
rally the majority who, for good reason, have given up
-- but might just have it in them to find the will for
one last fight against the bastards.
Can Ralph win? Well,
stranger things have happened in the past decade. C'mon,
think about it, not a single one of us ever thought we'd
see the Berlin Wall come down or Nelson Mandela as
President of South Africa. After those two things
happened, I joined a new school of thought that said
ANYTHING was possible. Jesse Ventura started with 3% in
the polls and won. Ross Perot in '92 started with 6%
and, after proving to everyone that he was certifiably
insane, still got nearly 20% of the vote.
Ralph already has
between 7% and 10% in the polls -- before he's done any
serious campaigning. He's gone from 3% to 8% in my home
state of Michigan. These are amazing numbers and the
pundits and lobbyists and Republicrats are running
scared. Hey, you like to watch scared Republicrats
running? Tell a pollster you're voting for Ralph.
Now, look, before you
all send me a lot of mail about how weird Ralph is
'cause he doesn't own a car or is a "sell-out"
'cause he's got a few million dollars, let me say this:
I used to work out of his office, and Ralph is
definitely one of a kind. In a future letter I will
write of those experiences but, for now, let's just
agree that Ralph is at least half as crazy as Jesse
Ventura -- and about a hundred times as smart. I'd say
he's also saved about a million or so lives, thanks to
the consumer and environmental legislation he has
devoted his life to.
And between Gore,
Bush, and himself, he's the only person running who
would guarantee universal health care for all, the only
candidate who would raise the minimum wage to a decent
level, the only one who would get up each morning asking
himself the question, "What can I do today to serve
all the people of this country?"
The list goes on and
on. You can read more about what Ralph stands for by
going to his website (http://www.votenader.org).
You'll agree, I'm sure, there's lots of common sense
there, regardless of what political stripe you are.
But remember. If you
are even THINKING of voting for Al Gore, vote for Al
Gore. Ralph Nader does not need a single Gore vote.
There are a hundred million of us out there who are
uncommitted and currently not voting. Right now, Gore
and Bush are each hoping to win by getting only 40
million votes.
If you are in the
Non-Voting majority and want to let 'em all have it, if
you want to get our country back in our hands... well,
if even half of you show up and vote November 7 then you
won't be held responsible for Bush winning the White
House.
In fact, you won't be
held responsible for putting Gore in the White House,
either.
Rather, you will have
made history by putting a true American hero at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
And you will have
given every company, every boss who's done ya wrong, the
worst nightmare of their lives.
November 7. Payback
Time.
The revenge of the
Non-Voters!
So
sayeth their unappointed leader, yours truly,
Michael Moore
PS. Come to think of
it, Democrats should be on their knees thanking Ralph
for running. Rather than taking votes from Gore, Ralph's
going to be the one responsible for turning the House
back over to the Democrats.
When millions of
these Non-Voters enter that booth to vote for Ralph, and
they come across their local race for Congress, they
will find no Green Party candidate in most of the 435
Congressional districts. So who do you think Ralph's
army of Non-Voters will plunk down for Congress? The
Republican? I don't think so.
The Democrats are
only six seats short of regaining control of the House.
Ralph Nader will be the reason the Democrats get the
House back for the first time since Newt's Contract on
America in 1994.
Democrats should send
their checks to Nader 2000, P.O. Box 18002, Washington,
DC 20036.
(Or, better yet,
let's try to elect enough Greens to Congress -- a dozen
or so -- and they'll hold the deciding votes because
neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will have the
majority. It'll be a friggin' Knesset!)
PPS. If you're still
worried this letter might convince a weak-kneed Gore
voter to flip over to Nader -- and thus lead to
President George W. stacking the Supreme Court to make
abortion illegal, well, it's all a bunch of hooey.
Please read my latest grassroots.com column entitled,
"I
Ain't Fallin for That One Again."
Book
written by this author:
"Downsize This"
by Michael Moore
Info/Purchase
This Book.
About
The Author
Michael
Moore can be contacted by email at
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or by visiting his websites: http://www.theawfultruth.com
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where you will find archives of his
previous articles and columns.
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