Reply #17: I am not a Nader promoter

[Two Americas]

And I wouldn't vote for him.

But I will always defend the right of people to post his ideas here, and the right of all of us to hear them in an atmosphere free from bullying and ad hominem attacks, smears and character assassination, mocking and ridiculing.

Elections are but one small part of self-government. we have a moral obligation and s civic =duty to express out opinions, even when they are unpopular. Elections are the effect of the ongoing national political discussion, not a cause, and should never be seen used to justify restricting or constraining a free and open discussion where all ideas can get a fair hearing.

There was a time when Abolitionists were in the minority and mocked and ridiculed, and when the Republican party started as an anti-slavery third party they were accused of being spoilers.

We have a moral obligation to speak the truth as we see it, not merely to side with the "winners" or with the powerful or what happens to be popular today. What is right should always be more important than what is popular.

"Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling, against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them." - John Stuart Mill