To the Editor:

As the Gore campaign intensifies its attack against Ralph Nader and the Green Party, I feel it incumbent upon me to assert the need for an alternative party.

Gore and Bush are both beholden to corporate interests, as are the mainstream media. The two parties hold the keys to the debate club, thereby not allowing the citizens of the United States the chance to hear other candidates’ views. The founders of our country are turning over in their graves at the state of our democracy.

The time has come for an alternative, whether it be the Green Party, or another third party. We can no longer continue along this path. If we do not take back our power and our constitutional right to an informed, legitimate choice now, then when?

The Democrats are preying on their party members’ fears that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. How sad that the proud United States of America has come to this. That its citizens should be terrified of one of its Presidential candidates and sick at heart to have to vote for the other as the lesser of two evils. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to who believe completely in the Green Party’s ideas, but are too scared to vote for Mr Nader. If we don’t take a stand now, then when? Four years from now there will be another Republican candidate. Why should anything be different then? Will the Democrats continue this cycle of fear, moving further and further right, until they may as well be Republican? The time is now for an alternative party!

Many Republicans I have spoken to, especially those who voted for McCain in the primaries, are also disgusted at the money pouring in from corporations to influence the two parties. Nader is unilaterally accepting no corporate money. His funding comes from small donations from millions of individuals. Republicans say they want small government and espouse the rights of individuals to make their own decisions. How can corporate control of governmental policy accomplish that? You want individuals to have more choice and power? So do the Greens! If we don’t vote in an alternative now, then when?

Whoever you vote for, it is important that you be able to vote your conscience, not your fears! Here we are in the glorious United States of America, the supposed bedrock of democracy. Let’s make that mean something!

Sincerely,

Anna Salo

23 Pond Brook Road, Newtown                                   October 30, 2000