Reply #23: I agree with most of your assessment, but...

[slenderfungus]

If the constituencies of the Democratic party are not receptive to the vision, ideas and positions of a significant demographic, then the reasonable alternative is for that demographic to align themselves with leaders who do represent those issues. In my opinion, that's what democracy is all about. If the Democratic party has no interest in considering the non-platform positions of those not in their fold, then they do so at the risk of not winning their support.

However, I do disagree with your assessment of the value of Ralph Nader's overall contributions to our society. If more people were as dedicated to public service as Nader has been, we would have a much stronger societal infrastructure and probably wouldn't even be having this discussion. Out of curiosity, in what ways has Nader harmed the causes he claims to care about?