During the 2000 presidential campaign, I knew many people who were saying that there was no real difference between George Bush and Al Gore, so they were casting their vote for Nader.  They knew full well it was only a symbolic gesture, as Nader had no chance of winning or even showing up well enough to worry anyone.

Four years later, I could not find anyone who still thought it wouldn’t have made any difference if Gore had been elected.

We need to keep that in mind as election day dawns this year.  Yes, the economy is still in bad shape; yes, there is a war in Afghanistan that many think we should not be pursuing.  However, let us never for a moment imagine that it couldn’t be any worse.  It could be worse.  Far worse.  I, for one, am quite sure it would be worse if we had continued in the same direction in 2008.

For anyone who voted for Obama and his platform of “change” in 2008, to vote the other way now is to turn around and head back into the swamp.  The ship of state was going in the wrong direction in 2008.  Well, it takes some time to turn a battleship around, and we haven’t finished yet.  Let’s not steer the other way again.

And let us never throw in the towel, saying “there is no difference, so it doesn’t matter”.  Remember 2000.