Michael Sauers

September 8, 2026

Ralph Nader had every right to enter presidential politics as an Independent and Green Party candidate. Anyone who says otherwise is a political bigot. Nader, who leaned D more so than R, was fed up with the duopoly that was/is the Democrat and Republican Parties with their predatory dispositions towards third parties and even dissenters within their ranks. They challenged petition signatures and threatened potential donors. They took challengers to court and blocked those challengers from debates.

So, let’s clear the biggest fallacy about the 2000 presidential election. Nader spoiled it for Al Gore. Nonsense! Gore, who could not even win his home state of Tennessee, lost Florida by 537 votes out of 963,110 cast. There were eight political parties in that Florida election. Each one got more than the 537 needed for Gore to win. The Socialist Workers got 5,265. The Socialist Party got 622. The Constitution Party got 1,371. The Greens got 97,488. The Reform Party got 17,484. The Libertarian Party got 16,415. The Natural Law Party got 2,281. The Worker’s World Party got 1,804. Any one of those parties or a combination of all those parties could have tallied 537. The long knives came out for Nader along with their shills in the press. All Nonsense!

Fast forward to 2026. The Progressives are on the move. They’re calling out the dogs in Congress like Jeffries and Schumer. They’re calling out the outlandish influence, some might say criminal influence, of money in politics, especially AIPAC. They’re calling out the unaudited, bloated military spending. They’re not afraid to say genocide. They’re not afraid to push for Epstien files release (all of them). They want universal healthcare. They want a living wage. They want more funds for elder care and childcare. You get the picture.

There have been/are many leaders who have tried to move the donor class, corporate Ds out of their obstructionist positions most especially Bernie Sanders. However, they traveled on the coattails of Nader even when they joined into the condecention aimed at him. This was /is not a good look.

Nader is now 92 and sharp as a tac. He continues to call out the Ds and Rs along with millions of others. He is a national treasure and a legend.