Lisa Simpson, the Most
Countercultural TV Hero Ever?
Your list of the top 10 countercultural television heroes ("The UR List," Sept./oct. 2002) left out one of my favorites: Lisa Simpson—vegetarian, tree-sitter, crime-stopper, and general gadfly (all before reaching the fourth grade)—who is the social conscience of what may be the most subversive show in history, The Simpsons.
Abe Fabrizio • SAN PEDRO, CA

Green and Proud of It
I am a registered Green Party member and proud of it. During the last presidential election, my friends started blaming Ralph Nader, saying he handed Bush the keys to the White House. So I read with keen interest your article about Greens endorsing a candidate to run against Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone ("Spoiling the Party?" Sept./oct. 2002).
The problem is certainly not that Greens are taking votes away from Democratic nominees. Wellstone and other Democratic legislators like him are needed. However, they need to step it up if they are threatened by Green Party candidates.
John Pfaehler • HEMET, CA

Greens Should Shed Their Purity
Refresh my memory. Didn’t you guys endorse Ralph Nader in an election that had wider implications and narrower margins than your upcoming Senate race in Minnesota? Maybe Al Gore wasn’t all the Greens could have hoped for, but he was the most environmentally savvy candidate to come down the pike—ever! The Greens in 2000 proved that "the perfect" is the enemy of "the good."
Steve Schindler • NEW YORK, NY

Jay Walljasper replies: Utne Reader endorsed no candidate in the 2000 election. on our Nov./Dec. 2000 cover, we did advocate that whoever won the election should name Ralph Nader as attorney general. In my editor’s note (which was largely about genetic engineering), I praised the efforts of third parties—Greens as well as the Working Families Party in New York, the Mountain Party in West Virginia, and Progressive Maryland—for bringing fresh energy into our political system. A photo of several Nader lawn signs on a block here in Minneapolis accompanied the column, which might have been misconstrued as an endorsement.