What’s Your Breaking Point?
We’ve Reached Ours…Share your story
One of the most rewarding aspects of my job as Communications Director for the Nader/Gonzalez campaign is hearing from individual people all over the country who have decided to break away from the corporate-controlled two-party options offered them by the media. It reminds me what we’re fighting for, through late nights, media blackouts, and ballot obstructions, when I hear the stories of citizens who have concluded that the lesser of two evils is not good enough, citizens who have abandoned the two party system because it has abandoned them, citizens who have reached their breaking point.
Every responsible citizen must know their breaking point or they are doomed to have their rights trampled and their power usurped. For some, when both major parties refuse to seriously invest in sustainable energy, they have reached their breaking point. For others, when single-payer healthcare for all is not even up for discussion, they have reached their breaking point. For many, when both parties collude to bailout Wall Street lenders while the homeowners they victimized are left to fend for themselves, they have reached their breaking point.
It is easy enough to simply pull the lever for a Democrat or Republican. It takes courage and effort to break through the media blockade and political bigotry to support an independent or third-party campaign. But all over America, citizens are growing tired of politics as usual and are reaching out for a candidate who truly represents their views. These voters have reached their breaking points, and are embracing the progressive voice of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign. If you haven’t reached your breaking point, visit www.breakingpoint08.com. Send me your story to share at loralynne@votenader.org, so the growing numbers of independent voters can join our voices, and together, we can change the system.
Loralynne Krobetzky
Communications Director
Nader for President 2008
Featured Profile:
Lance V. Mack – former Obama Iowa delegate
Marion, Iowa
Against an unpopular war, a worsening climate crisis, and a politics of fear and partisanship, CHANGE is a welcome word. As Senator Obama promises pragmatism and reform, many Americans see his candidacy as a reviving wind—as another chance to energize our democracy. Lance V. Mack, an Obama Delegate to the Iowa State Convention, was one such American. He thought that if America was to save itself, if our government was to deal with the dangers that face us, we would have to elect a Democrat - a principled, hopeful, progressive. But even after supporting the Senator, after believing in his vision and his promise, Mr. Mack reached his breaking point.
Senator Obama’s stances on national health care and the impeachment of Bush and Cheney are “progressive” only in name. For Mr. Mack, Obama’s position on these two issues has caused him to renounce his support. “I had hoped that Obama would see the light and move further to the left,” Mr. Mack said. “Bush and Cheney should be tried and convicted….and national health insurance should be affordable to everybody on American soil.” Instead, Mr. Mack believes that Obama has folded on the FISA bill, failed in his duty to protect the constitution, and has given in to insurance companies- to the detriment of the sick.
Like many Americans who feel shut out and forgotten, Mr. Mack wants change to come to Washington. But Senator Obama cannot take people like Mr. Mack for granted. The progressive vote must be earned. Mr. Mack’s demands and his hopes lie with Nader/Gonzalez – the ticket whose promise remains uncompromised.
“Senator Obama’s positions are politics as usual that make me feel like an invisible American. But Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez are right on every issue that matters to me” adds Mr. Mack. “Enough is enough, Barack. I have reached –and indeed passed- my breaking point. It is with a heavy, yet audacious and hope filled heart that I am withdrawing my support and enthusiasm for you and dedicating my energies to Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.”
