TO THE EDITOR
last election — fraud. Besides the tens of thou-
sands of eligible voters banned from the polls in
Florida and in other Southern states, writer
Greg Pallast has recently stated that there were
one million uncounted votes. The corporate
media constantly uses Ralph Nader as the ex-
cuse for what happened. At the Nader conven-
tion in April in Portland, the R-G and
Oregonian focused their stories entirely on the
few protestors outside, instead of the 700-plus
supporters inside. Why? To distract our atten-
tion so that we won’t think about the dangers of
electronic voting and the way that black and
brown people are treated in this country.
It can be scary to hear the truth. Once you
know what’s happening, you can no longer pre-
tend that you don’t. On Nov. 2, vote your con-
science.
Loren Asrael
Eugene
MARK OF A LEADER
The morning of 9/11 provided President
Bush with an unfortunate test of leadership and
character. On that fateful day, after being in-
formed that a plane had crashed into the South
Tower, our president proceeded to a presched-
uled visit to an elementary school classroom.
While there, he was told a second plane had
struck. President Bush did nothing for seven
minutes. Weren’t there phone calls to make, or-
ders to give, advisors to consult? Wasn’t it im-
perative to be apprised of the unfolding tragedy
second by second? His excuse that he wanted to
appear calm does not fly. I prefer substance over
appearance. Meanwhile, flight 77 traveled un-
detected for 36 minutes before striking the
Pentagon. Perhaps a more responsive reaction
could not have stopped the third strike, but we’ll
never know. In my opinion, President Bush
failed the ultimate test of leadership character.
Contrast the reaction to crises (or lack
thereof) of Bush, to that of John Kerry. On the
Bay Hop River in Vietnam, Kerry was told that
a man was overboard. John Kerry turned the
boat around, headed back into ambush, and
with his uninjured arm, pulled James Rassmann
aboard to safety. This is the split second deci-
sionmaking that extols the leadership and char-
acter I expect in a president.
On Sept. 11, when Bush’s motorcade sped
away from the school to Air Force One, it ini-
tially headed in the wrong direction. In my
opinion, the Bush administration has continued
6 JULY 22, 2004
in the wrong direction. We all want responsive
leaders of character and courage for this great
country. My hope is on the Kerry/Edwards
ticket, where I see a proven embodiment of
those qualities.
Debbie Parker
Eugene
PREFERENCE VOTING
There’s a lot of talk these days about the
“lesser of two evils” (7/8 letters Paul J. Green
“Nader helps Bush” and Bob Watson
“Uncompromising Nader”). I find the idea in-
teresting, however, that a vote for Nader is a
vote for Bush and the apparent reality of this
predicament. Is it really American to not vote
for the individual you are most in favor of due to
the fear of the individual you are least in favor
of winning? This seems to me to indicate a
fundamental flaw in the electoral process
itself.
It’s amazing to me how few people know
about the voting technique used in most other
democratic nations around the world that is
often termed “preference voting.” This tech-
nique would allow a voter to rate the candidates
on a scale of least to most favorite and would
eliminate the either/or, “lesser of two evils” sce-
nario. In this way you could vote Kerry or
Nader first or second and still vote Bush as third
(or not at all). A vote for Nader would not be a
vote for Bush and would reflect the people’s
true opinions.
The fact of the matter is that a Democrat
would typically rather see a Republican as
would a Republican rather see a Democrat get
the election than a “liberal” or a “green” and the
suggestion of this voting technique has perpetu-
ally been downplayed and buried, thereby
maintaining the either/or, “lesser of two evils”
scenario.
As was suggested in the Natural Resistance
article (7/8), “Breaking Three Hearts,” there is a
tendency of those in power to want to limit al-
ternatives that are seen as threats to their reten-
tion of power. The crucial distinction between a
dictatorship and a democracy is the absence or
presence of processes that allow alternatives to
enter public discourse. Preference voting is one
of these processes.
So how ya gonna vote people, remocrat or
depublican?
Rob Brown
Eugene