Letters to the Editor.

Stop the Green-Baiting

I just read your editorial regarding Ralph Nader's contributions to the 2000 Presidential campaign ("Lessons of the Election," December issue). I couldn't have said it better.

In this strange period between election and inauguration, I'm dismayed at the venom that many of our fellow liberals spew at Nader and the Greens while ignoring the damage done by the same Democrats they demanded that I vote for.

In the past, we endured red-baiting. I hope that the future isn't clouded by "green-baiting." There are many more urgent issues for liberals to address than the existence of the Green Party.

Joe Schmitz San Francisco, California

Runoff Voting Is Vital

It was with pleasure that I read both electronic and paper copies of the November Progressive and saw prominent mention of the need for electoral reforms such as instant runoff voting and proportional representation to invigorate democracy and enhance progressive political aspirations (Comment, "The Uninvited").

Just wanted to let you know that electoral reforms were happening at both the local and state levels before the recent election fiasco, and interest in the reforms has exploded as a result of it.

On Election Day, voters in Oakland, California, adopted a city charter amendment that specifies the use of instant runoff voting for special elections to fill vacancies on the city council. In neighboring San Leandro, voters adopted two-round runoff elections for city council with the option of using instant runoff voting instead.

These are the third and fourth U.S. jurisdictions to pass such legislation in the past two years. Santa Clara County, California] and Vancouver, Washington, were the first two.

At the state level, a coalition in Alaska has turned in almost 35,000 signatures to place instant runoff voting on the ballot in November 2002 unless the legislature adopts it first. Legislation in both New Mexico and Vermont has a good chance of passing, and several other states, cities, and counties are considering it.

Numerous nongovernment organizations now use instant runoff voting and forms of proportional representation to elect officers and make endorsements, and more and more student groups are getting interested.

Stay tuned--this may be the most promising political reform movement of the decade.

Caleb Kleppner Majority Rule Project The Center for Voting and Democracy San Francisco, California Only One Political Class

I agree wholeheartedly with Howard Zinn's...