[Update: Doh! Wrote this last night, posted this AM, before seeing: Nader to Jump in ... Memo to me: You know better. No betting on sanity returning to washed up do-gooders prone to kamikaze behaviour.]

Will Should Ralph Run?

Going out on a limb here: No. Still No.

Why? His tough-love object lesson of 2000 has not worked in exactly the way he thought. First, there's 9-11. Democrats have been dazed and supine, yes. But....

• $200 million-plus in fundraising
• not a single veto
• Secret Energy Plans
• Clean Skies
• Anti-science
• Invasions
• Occupations
• Intel manipulation and mishandling
• Patriot Acts
• Deficits of astronomic proportions, with the half-life of Plutonium

Bush's "yang" has far exceeded Nader's hypothetical "yin" and guess what Americans are saying: Dude, where's the Jobs? Or, "Shut up, I'm watching Joe Average." Short of tackling the American electorate and force feeding them spinach, what would Ralph's next prescriptive be? More object lessons that don't take? Abdication to a conservative mindset that only thrives in an environment with planes flying into buildings?

Maybe he will say, "Another Presidential run!" But here's the side effect of that medicine: George Bush will be a lame duck with a Republican Majority. A very peevish Republican Majority. That makes him an un-lame duck. You might say this confluence of attitude and rare circumstance makes him an avian predator at the top of the food chain. If Bush wins, Nader running or not, Bush takes that as affirmation of his self-perceived wisdom and leadership. Now, since the odds tell us another major terror attack is a case of when, not if, where does this comedy of errors called an administration take us if it occurs on their watch?

Republicans of late have tended to govern according to their character, not the national one, so I would say it takes us to Patriot Act III³: More centralization of control, or rather, the facsimile of control. The defacto nationalization of certain industries, if not, possibly in fact. This includes aggregation of communications data a la the system sweeps currently used by the National Security Agency's listening apparatus. Total Information Awareness becomes a necessary evil, demanded by "the urgency of the times." Transportation becomes the "weak link" in the nation's security. General Motors' "OnStar" Global Positioning technology becomes licensed and mandated for all vehicles certified for use in the US. Bundled with this technology will be transponders, similar to those used now in aviation. Resident in each vehicle, they will be "pingable" by law enforcement, perhaps just lamely sitting by the side of the road, transmitting the registration and background data of the owner and insured drivers, offering a gateway to accessing all information about the household to wwhich the vehicle belongs. Place of work, place of residence, patterns of travel cross-checked against a financial digital trail of spending wil create a behavior matrix against which your location will be checked. Out of position? Red flag. "What's your business here?"

Since, in times of war, environmental considerations can be easily portrayed as misplaced altruism, corporate regulations will be spun as antithetical to the greater "war effort". Restrictions will be supended if benefits to production can be proven. They can and will be proven, obviously.

Manpower takes on a new importance when battlements represent the face of your determination. Mandatory national service becomes the law. Deferments only on provable religious grounds will be allowed. Approved political and business employment becomes an acceptable means of alternate national service.

In the fight, religion becomes the aid and the enemy. Sanctioned definitions of good and evil are expanded to include "positive" and "negative" influences on national character and character building. These "Uninversal constants" are subject to periodic review and amendment. Religious education becomes paramount in schools because of the lack of "ethical standards" in teaching up to this point. As a virtuous tool, religion must also be refined so as to distill its most useful and beneficial elements and to ensure its quality delivery. To further assure efficiency and minimize misinterpretation, testing becomes the norm, both to teach, and to be a 'qualified" member of approved religious sub-groups.

Finally, in the War on Terror, content becomes key. Integrated communcation strategies, executed through all media channels become the accepted norm. Diversity of viewpoints are fine for select, internal policy and strategic debates, but cumbersome and counterproductive for mobilizing and energizing heterogenous groups of people. Simplicity is efficiency. Clarity is compelling. Repetition is affirmation. "Discontent" must be licensed and approved.

Needless to say, Ralph wouldn't like these things. But Ralph Nader's "Discontent license" application will be lost in the machine. So Ralph is screwed. As are we all. Why? Because Ralph wanted to make a point that imperfect is the same as inconsequential. In this, Ralph breaks bread with Grover Norquist in his petulance and egomania. In his anger at Mars, he destroys Venus. Only in Ralph's bathtub, Democracy and Democrats will have been euthenized. A uniquely American totalitarianism would be rosy-cheeked and entering puberty.

Ralph, just say No. I'm counting on you, Bud.