Dear friends,
Well, the mail has been pouring in since my last letter. It's been running
about
5 to 1 in support of my view that Bush's "reversals" of Clinton's last-minute
orders were not only made possible by Clinton's 8-year postponement of
them,
but were not even reversals -- as Bush is only continuing the same regulations
that have been in effect during the entire Clinton/Gore administration.
Obviously, thousands of you have been feeling the same way. But a number
of
you have written to me making some very passionate points and asking me
some very pointed questions. I feel you deserve some answers. But this
is going
to be my last letter on Clinton/Gore until I -- and you -- get busy and
focus on
the present and the difficult work ahead of us: trying to stop the damage
George
W. Bush intends to wreak upon the planet earth.
What follows are the concerns some of you have raised and my responses
to
them:
1. "Why do you keep bashing Clinton and Gore? Don't you know they were
under
attack for 8 years by a rabid right wing? Aren't you just playing into
the
Republicans' hands with these criticisms?"
A: I voted for Clinton in 1992. I did so with much hope, as I felt here
was
someone from the working class who I believed, in his heart, wanted to
do the
right thing. But the promise that was held out to us was never realized.
His
pushing NAFTA through into law -- something Poppy Bush and Reagan had been
unable to do -- helped to drive the final nail in the coffin of my hometown,
Flint,
Michigan. More GM jobs were lost in Flint under Clinton/Gore than during
the
entire 12 years of Reagan/Bush. Clinton's decision to help companies like
GM
destroy the lives of my friends and neighbors was so personal to me that
-- and
I hope you forgive me for this -- I will never be able to vote for anyone
who
made this law possible. Perhaps I should be looking at all the good things
Clinton did do. But this hit so close to home that, sadly, I can't.
I do not hate Clinton. I actually like him as a person. And I like Al Gore.
These
are not bad men like the ones who now illegally occupy 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue. I love Hillary, and worked to get her elected in November -- even
though I do not agree with her on many issues. I am not opposed to
compromise and do not expect any candidate to stand for everything I do.
I
thoroughly resented the abuse she and her husband suffered at the hands
of
the right wingnuts and aggressively fought against his impeachment.
I believe that at one time Bill and Al wanted to do good, but chose the
path of
expedience and excessive compromise. I wish they hadn't.
2. "How can you say that there is NO difference between Gore and Bush?"
A: This seems to be a popular mantra. I do not understand the motives of
those
who want to misrepresent or take out of context what I and others had to
say
about the "choice" in last November's election. It was NEVER stated in
such
simplistic, unsubstantiated language. From the first letter on the election
that I
sent out last July, I was VERY clear about where I stood: "The one outstanding
difference between Bush and Gore is that one is evil and the other isn't."
Of course there's a difference between the two. There's a big difference
between
me and Ralph Nader. There's a "difference" between any two of anything!
Of course one of them is worse. One of any two choices is always "worse."
Temptation Island is worse than Survivor. Hitler was worse than Mussolini.
So
what? Arguing over degrees of worseness is a waste of time. I'm worse than
my
wife. Big deal.
We can make lists all day about how Gore would have been better on any
of a
number of issues. Of course he would have! He's not the evil one!
But it was also Al Gore who, in the second debate, agreed with Bush's position
on
32 major issues! Did I say 32? YES, THIRTY-TWO TIMES, GORE OR BUSH SAID,
"I AGREE [WITH YOUR POSITION]!"
From moving American jobs to foreign sweatshops, to keeping the minimum
wage low, to his unabashed support of the death penalty, to continuing
the
bombing and embargo of Iraq, to INCREASING the Pentagon budget (with Gore
wanting a larger increase than Bush!), all the way down to both of them
opposing
the return of little Elian Gonzales to his father in Cuba, Gore and Bush
did
everything but ask each other out on a date. At one point, Gore moved so
close
to Bush, I thought he was going to lay a big Tipper wet one on him.
3. "But Bush is going to build the Star Wars missile shield! Gore wouldn't have!"
A: I get the feeling no one reads the paper any more. CLINTON/GORE tried
to
build the same damn missile shield! Billions were spent by their administration
on this nonsense -- billions that could have gone to fix every school in
America.
The tests failed so many times that they suspended the thing -- but REFUSED
to
kill it, thus leaving the door open for the Cheney Junta to keep the program
going. Am I the only one who knows this? I mean, I'm not that smart, so
somebody else must have noticed that Clinton not only promoted Star Wars,
he
reneged on three key provisions of the Kyoto agreement last October, effectively
scuttling it, and did a lot of the things people now believe W. is instituting
for the
first time.
4. "So, it sounds like you hate Clinton and Gore more than Bush."
A: Quite the contrary. I and all other good Americans consider George W.
Bush
our mortal enemy. We're just disappointed in Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
I and
others fought for 37 days after November 7th to stop Bush's theft of the
election. Gore IS the president. He got the most votes in the country and
he got
the most votes in Florida. He won. Some Nader supporters thought I shouldn't
have been so vocal in my support of Gore's effort to assume the seat that
was
rightfully his. I told them that our drive to see that this country is
run by the true
will of the people has no integrity if we do not speak out loudly about
the will of
the people being subverted by Bush, his brother, his cousin at Fox News,
and the
Supreme Court. I wish more Nader supporters -- and Ralph himself -- had
been
more aggressive in fighting for what was right in November and December.
5. "So why on earth did you support Ralph Nader? There was no way he was
going to win. He has a huge ego, he purposefully tried to hurt Gore more
than
Bush, and I heard he owns stock in the very companies he attacks!"
A: I believe one should always vote their conscience. The voting booth
is not a
negotiating table. It is the one place where every American needs to be
completely honest so that whoever is elected is a true representation of
what
people want to see their government do. I do not believe in the lesser
of two
evils theory, even though I employ it in every other aspect of my daily
life
("Let's see, I think the A train will not be as bad as the D train at rush
hour" or
"Drinking Coke will give me heart disease, drinking Diet Coke will give
me MS
and cancer. Hmmm. I'll take my chances with the heart attack."). In the
voting
booth, if you always end up settling for less, you will keep getting less
and less
with each election -- because lowering your expectations only creates lower
and
lower candidates of any worth or integrity. With the lesser of two evils,
either way,
you still end up with evil.
Ralph Nader, of all the candidates, most closely represented how I felt
on the
issues. I believe every American should have health care, every college
student
should go to college for free, the minimum wage should be at least $8/hour,
anti-abortion terrorists should be vigorously hunted down and prosecuted,
and
on and on. Why shouldn't I support the candidate who supports me?
Ralph Nader has many faults, as do all of us. But I've know him for a long
time
-- and, trust me, having an inflated ego is NOT one of them. If anything,
this
guy needs more ego. I set up an interview with him and a Nightline crew.
But he
didn't want to do the interview. He preferred to sit in a room and rework
his
speech. Who would pass up a chance to be on Nightline? A guy who would
rather
make sure he gives a good speech to 10,000 than to talk in sound bytes
to 10
million.
Ralph owns stock. I don't. Never have. To some people, I guess that makes
me
nuts, considering the boom of the past decade. But I do not judge others
on
things like this. I mean, I'm on AOL! What's important are your real actions
and
what you do with the money you may be blessed with. Ralph has put nearly
every dime of what he makes into his projects. And he attacks those very
companies he owns stock in, which, in turn, may prevent his stock from
making
any money. I'm not defending it, I just say to each his own.
Many signed on to the Nader campaign at the suggestion of Molly Ivins who
wrote that, if you live in a state where Bush or Gore is already going
to win by a
big margin, then vote for Nader and make a statement with your vote. But
if you
live in a swing state, then it is your duty to stop George W. Bush.
Sometime in early October, the Nader campaign reversed itself and disavowed
the "Ivins Rule," perhaps because it was becoming clear that they were
not going
to make the 5% threshold. Thus, they began an aggressive second campaign
tour in the swing states of Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington State, and Florida.
I
declined to join that tour as I thought there was no reason to anger the
very
people we would have to work with after November.
In fact, I went down to Tallahassee on my own two weeks BEFORE the election
and held a press conference. I also spoke at a gathering of thousands at
Florida
State. I said that it was easy for me to vote for Nader because I lived
in a state
where Gore was going to win by a huge margin. But you here in Florida have
a
different job to do. Your job is to stop George W. Bush. In the next two
weeks,
Ralph's poll numbers in Florida went from 6% to 1.7% on Election Day.
In the interests of full disclosure, I must admit that, in large part,
it is for very
personal reasons that I put in countless hours helping Ralph Nader. Yes,
I
supported his platform, but real life is not about platforms and policy
statements. It's about people and what they mean to you on a personal level.
In 1986, when I was broke and unemployed, Ralph Nader called and offered
me
a job. It didn't pay much but it got me through a tough time. He then made
it
possible for me to shoot "Roger & Me" while working out of his office
over a
two-year period. Without his support and the help of the people in his
office, I
don't know if that film would have ever been made.
I owed him so much, yet when the film came out and received this incredible
response, Ralph felt slighted and ignored for the contribution he had made
(suddenly he had some ego!) and attacked me in the New York Times. I was
stunned. For a long time I just attributed it to his pettiness and eccentricity.
But
as time went on, I wanted to heal this wound, because the world wasn't
getting
any better, and it sure didn't help that Ralph Nader and I weren't talking
to each
other.
So, I invited him to the premier of "The Big One" and he came. I stood
at the
back and watched him laugh all the way through the film. Afterwards, I
went up
and apologized to him for any pain I may have caused him. I offered to
give
some of the proceeds from my film to his Center. He didn't know what to
say,
but his look said it all. Reconciliation is never a bad thing.
When he called last summer to ask for my help with his campaign, I felt
it was a
debt I needed to repay. It also didn't hurt that I agreed with every damn
thing
he had to say! But I had met Al Gore, and immediately liked him. So I wrote
him
a private letter asking him to explain why I should vote for him instead
of Nader.
He sent me back a four-page response. I decided I had to help Ralph.
6. "So, thanks to you and that little pity-party story you just told, you
and Ralph
put George W. Bush in the White House! Bastards!"
A: I have decided to come clean on this one. I've wasted a lot of time
since
November explaining how Ralph actually did quite poorly around the country
(except among young people and people who earn under $15,000 a year, his
two largest voting blocks that surpassed the 5% mark), and that he didn't
hurt Al
Gore because, in Florida, Al Gore won the election. Why aren't you angry
at the
Supreme Court and the political machine that rigged the whole damn thing?
How
odd you would go after someone who is your ally on so many issues when
it was
Al Gore, not Ralph Nader, who voted to put Antonin Scalia on the Supreme
Court.
And blah, blah, blah.
I told Ralph that, from now on, when he is accused of costing Gore the
election,
he should say, "You bet I did! It was all me!! I alone, the mighty Thor
Nader,
hold enough votes to deny him or any Democrat the White House or control
of
Congress should they not straighten up and fly right. If the Democrats
don't stop
acting like Republicans, we will deny them all power. If they start behaving
like
the true opposition party that fights for working people, women, minorities,
the
environment, and an equitable distribution of the wealth, then we shall
allow
them to enter the Promised Land!"
Of course, that would take too much ego -- but I sure would like to hear
Ralph
deliver those words in the mighty voice of Thor!
7. "OK, enough of this! Baby Bush is destroying the country! What do we
do to
stop him?"
A: Well, I guess, seeing how we are responsible for this mess … I guess
we
better clean it up. In my next letter, I will propose a plan for what I
think we
need to do to stage our countercoup.
In the meantime, my good Democratic friends, lets stop the blame game and
join forces for the common good. Blaming is the tool of the coward who
is afraid
to confront his or her own culpability. Don't blame Nader, blame yourself.
I
blame myself for not being able to persuade enough people to see that there
was a better way to go. Al Gore needs to accept responsibility for blowing
his own
campaign and all three debates. How you could not defeat the dumbest man
in
America when you've been given a high IQ and three chances to do so is
beyond
me. Al, after you screwed up, I had to get my ass down to Florida to try
and save
yours. And I don't even believe in half of what you stand for! I just couldn't
have
it on my conscience that a Shrub would be running the country. My trip
there, and
all the notice it received around the state, cost Ralph, my friend, perhaps
thousands of votes, most of which went to you!
But at least 537 didn't make the switch. So, I'll devote the next four
years to
being the biggest pain in the ass ol' George has had since that cop made
him
take a Breathalyzer. To the Gorestopo out there who still won't let up
with their
bellyaching and fingerpointing after this letter, let me remind you of
one final
thing. Those greens and activists you keep attacking for voting for Nader?
Lay
off 'em, 'cause they're your only hope.
THEY are the ones who will lead the marches, hold the sit-ins, organize
door-to-door until they drop to protect our environment, fight for women's
rights,
and stand up against racism and war. You don't think the party hacks down
at
the local Democratic headquarters are going to risk going to jail or mobilize
millions to stop the Bush tax cut or save the Alaskan wilderness, do you?
You
had better stop trashing the very people who are going to be doing all
the work
for you in the next four years. Disagree with their electoral choices,
fine. But give
'em a bit of gratitude for always being the ones who fight the fights that
need to
be fought.
Enough. On to our mission.....
Yours,
Michael Moore
[email protected]
Michael Moore Home
PS. Thirty-one years ago today, four students were murdered at Kent State.
Take a moment today to remember them and what they died for. Thanks.