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NUMBER-TWO GREEN
Three-party system
BY DEIRDRE FULTON

On Tuesday, Ralph Nader’s running mate, Peter Camejo, sat down for an interview with the Phoenix. Camejo, who ran as a Green Party candidate during last year’s gubernatorial recall election in California, talked about praying for lies, looking to abolitionists for inspiration, and breaking down the two-party system. Here are some highlights.

Q: How would you assess the presidential race so far?

A: Nader is not a candidate — he is an issue in the campaign. We’re political prisoners in a two-party system that’s set up to create this reaction. That’s the point of view that Ralph Nader and myself are presenting. We’re saying, if we’re not willing to break with that framework, in that sense we agree with the abolitionists, the makers of the Liberty Party. They said no. You reach the point where you’re actually doing the opposite of what you think you’re doing when you vote for Kerry. That is, you think you’re fighting Bush, but you’re not. What you’re really doing is helping George Bush.

I think Kerry is handing it to Bush the way Gore did. It’s counterintuitive to understand that, because it appears like Kerry’s fighting Bush. But look: what Kerry does is he accepts the premises that Bush lays out. Like the war is so perfect — he accepts the premise that it’s right to be there, it was right to invade, he voted for it. You’ve got to remember, this was a man who gave Bush 18 standing ovations in January. The Patriot Act — "Okay, it’s not perfect." Leave No Child Behind, all the testing, all the mania — "I’m with you, but you didn’t fund it enough." In other words, he doesn’t challenge what Bush is doing; he challenges how Bush is doing it. But it’s what the Democratic Party is. It’s an organization that buffers, protects, and co-opts, and prevents an opposition to the Republicans. Without the Democrats, what Bush is doing would be impossible. A massive opposition would develop.

You know, I call this election one of the most peculiar elections ever in the history of the United States because the overwhelming majority of the people voting for Kerry do not agree with him. In fact, an amazing thing is happening. Normally, people don’t like politicians who lie. But Kerry supporters are all praying that he’s lying. They’re praying it’s not true. Like last week in Missouri, he said, "It’s terrific to buy a big SUV; that’s American." And when he says something like that, the supporters go, "He’s just saying that to get votes."

Q: What is your response to the spoiler charge?

A: We’re the only ones against spoilership in this election. The pro-spoilers are the Democrats who do not want — even though it would be advantageous for them against the Republicans — to allow runoffs. Because they know what would happen. Tens of millions of people would start voting for a Nader or a Green Party. If 10 million people voted for Nader, it would change America.

Q: What about accusations that Republicans are funding the campaign?

A: Democrats have decided that’s their theme now. That’s what they’re going to say about Nader. We have gotten four percent of our money from registered Republicans. What’s amazing about that is we expect our vote to be 25 percent — as it was in the year 2000 — from Republicans. You know why that’s so large? Because in the Muslim community, that’s a complete shift. They endorsed Bush last time. And now Bush is at two percent in the Muslim community. Nader’s at 26. So there’s going to be a mass of registered Republicans who no longer will vote for Bush, but will not vote for Kerry. And when these articles come out about Republicans sending us money, it’s almost always Arab names.

Q: What book are you reading right now?

A: Right now I’m reading The End of Oil. But I brought four books to read about the Liberty Party, the first abolitionist party. I wanted to find out from them how they handled the issue. We’re under such attack. The way they answered it was moralistic. They said, "You know, we just don’t vote for parties that support slavery." I think that’s part of what the American progressive community has to do. Say, "Look, we’re just not going to support parties that are run by money anymore, that are pro-war." Labor and the NGOs are prisoners of the Democratic Party. They do what they’re told. And we’re trying to organize a jailbreak.


Issue Date: September 24 - 30, 2004
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