Opinion | Ralph Nader and Others Clash Over the Value of Third Parties

To the Editor:

Re “Repulsed by Biden vs. Trump? Robust,” by Gail Collins (column, Might 4):

Ms. Collins’s diatribe scapegoating me and the Inexperienced Celebration for the Democrats’ lack of the presidency in 2000 may need been tempered by consulting Al Gore. He has revered third-party candidates exercising their First Modification rights to supply extra voices and selections on the poll.

Democrats know the various sine qua nons that sabotaged Mr. Gore’s popular-vote victory. Three have been the anti-democratic Electoral School, the documented corrupt Republican election course of in Florida and the Supreme Court docket’s partisan judicial coup that stopped the continued statewide recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court docket and gave George W. Bush the White Home.

Third events have had a galvanizing reform affect on our nation from the antislavery Liberty Celebration in 1840 to the labor, farmer and populist events. The foremost events later adopted common third-party points to win extra assist.

Votes are to be earned, not owned.

Ralph Nader
Washington

To the Editor:

Gail Collins’s column jogged my memory of why my causes for voting have modified over time.

As a 19-year-old in 1972, I used to be thrilled to solid my first presidential vote for George McGovern. All of us knew that he would lose to the vile Richard Nixon, however ah, I used to be so idealistic!

Eight years later, and offended at Jimmy Carter for no matter causes, I voted for John Anderson, a well-spoken average Republican working as an impartial. Given the end result of that election, I made a decision by no means once more to vote for a third-party candidate. The end result isn’t what you need.

Third-party candidates are at all times doomed to failure from the start, regardless of the attract of “purists” who assume their noble methods of considering and talking are “it.”

They will win your coronary heart and tickle your mind, however our two-party system works fairly effectively, regardless of the tragedy of getting an Electoral School. However that’s the place the hazard begins. Voting entails technique, and that’s what so many citizens lack. My vote in 1980 was, in essence, a vote for Ronald Reagan.

In 2024, my poll will likely be solid to make sure that the forty fifth president doesn’t turn out to be the forty seventh.

Jon Hunt
Outdated Greenwich, Conn.

To the Editor:

About two-thirds of Individuals don’t desire a repeat of Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump, expressing displeasure with each candidates. No Labels, the group that’s contemplating a third-party candidate, is solely a response. If it strikes ahead, it might succeed solely with a candidate who’s supported by that giant portion of Individuals who’re sad with the seemingly nominees of the 2 main events.

Is there such a candidate? That’s the final hurdle for any third-party candidacy. Wouldn’t or not it’s good to have an choice to vote for somebody slightly than vote towards the more severe of two evils?

Jim Meyer
Jupiter, Fla.

To the Editor:

Gail Collins convincingly describes the recklessness of voting for third-party candidates merely to register dissatisfaction with the major-party selections. These protest votes can result in the election of a candidate who wouldn’t have received, apart from the third-party spoiler. It’s an unintended consequence of plurality elections, the place candidates with probably the most votes can win regardless of being disliked by a majority of voters.

There’s a easy answer: ranked selection voting, which permits voters to rank the candidates so as of desire. In a ranked selection election, voters can specific their true preferences with out worrying about “throwing their vote away” on a candidate with no probability of successful, which can assist elect the candidate they like least.

By design, in a ranked selection election, the winner is the candidate most popular by a majority of voters. Which is the way it ought to be in a consultant democracy.

Jonathan Perloe
Cos Cob, Conn.
The author is a co-founder of Voter Selection Connecticut, a volunteer group working to deliver ranked selection voting to Connecticut.

To the Editor:

“At present, and At present Solely, I Can Pronounce Thee Wed” (Vows, Sunday Types, April 30) and “I’m Not Positive if I Can Announce You Married” (The Story Behind the Story, April 30) report on a brand new regulation that enables a layperson in New York State to get a one-day license to officiate at a marriage.

The concept that till very not too long ago in some states — together with components of New York — the one authorized unions have been these carried out by ordained members of the clergy or sure authorities officers was a revelation to me. And the truth that many {couples} didn’t even notice that they’d not been legally married till they filed for divorce makes it much more surreal.

How this affected the Vows bulletins over time is actually intriguing, however the concept that in a rustic based on the separation of church and state this has been a observe for therefore lengthy is sort of unbelievable.

Thanks to the New York State legislators who’ve been so unrelenting in getting this corrected and thanks, Gov. Kathy Hochul, for signing the brand new laws.

Betsy Frank
Mattituck, N.Y.

To the Editor:

The Common Life Church nonetheless has ministers in New York State who’ve carried out weddings, and presumably they may proceed to take action. We’ve defended our ministers throughout the nation, and are dedicated to making sure that the rights of our New York ministers, and people of any {couples} whom they marry, are protected if that marriage is ever challenged, no matter any civil mechanisms that New York has developed to permit folks to officiate.

G. Martin Freeman
Seattle
The author is the presiding chaplain on the Common Life Church.

A Debt Deal Concept: Tie Spending Cuts to Gun Management

President Biden shouldn’t be afraid to barter, too, for one thing that he and lots of within the G.O.P. can agree on: commonsense firearms regulation. If the White Home and G.O.P. lawmakers in aggressive suburban seats can tie spending cuts to laws reducing gun violence, we are able to keep away from catastrophes on Wall Avenue and Principal Avenue.

Ted Grozier
Shelburne, Vt.

Serving to Sherpas in Nepal

To the Editor:

Re “‘I See No Future’: Sherpas Abandon Jobs They Made Well-known” (information article, Might 7):

It is extremely unlucky that passion climbers from wealthy international locations go on climbing journeys to Mount Everest with Sherpas dragging them to the summit, however these similar Sherpas have a really insufficient security internet and barely make sufficient to outlive.

Nepal ought to insist that every one international expeditions purchase sufficient life insurance coverage for the Sherpas for the sake of their households, given the chance of their occupation, and they need to additionally impose minimal pay necessities to make it a worthwhile occupation to pursue.

Ram Kelkar
Chicago