And yet… Democrats make no efforts to address and deal with the other (far bigger and more damaging) factors. They simply continue on the path this piece outlines: doggedly insisting that they had some divine right to whatever votes went to Nader. They didn’t, and they can cry about it until Doomsday, which they probably will. But the fact remains that just because I voted for Democrats once, I don’t have to again if I don’t want to. I’m not their property, and neither is anyone else on the Left.

It would be great to see an exit poll from that time which would establish the backup plan for those of us who voted Nader. I firmly believe at least some would have stayed home. Others might have done write-ins where it was permitted, or left the top ticket space unmarked. But I highly doubt that every last one of us would have given in and picked Gore: not after years of feeling increasingly insulted and alienated by his buddy Bill. A Democratic Party which wanted to see past its own nose would have been far more concerned with the mindset of the voter *at that moment in time*, instead of excoriating us based on whatever warm fuzzies we might have still felt for their party 4–8 years prior.