General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRalph Nader's Announcement Speech
Today I wish to explain why, after working for years as a citizen advocate for consumers, workers, taxpayers, and the environment, I am seeking the Green Party's nomination for president. A crisis of democracy in our country convinces me to take this action. Over the past twenty years, big business has increasingly dominated our political economy. This control by the corporate government over our political government is creating a widening "democracy gap." Active citizens are left shouting their concerns over a deep chasm between them and their government. This state of affairs is a world away from the legislative milestones in civil rights, the environment, and health and safety of workers and consumers seen in the sixties and seventies. At that time, informed and dedicated citizens powered their concerns through the channels of government to produce laws that bettered the lives of millions of Americans.
Today we face grave and growing societal problems in health care, education, labor, energy, and the environment. These are problems for which active citizens have solutions, yet their voices are not carrying across the democracy gap. Citizen groups and individual thinkers have generated a tremendous capital of ideas, information, and solutions to the point of surplus, while our government has been drawn away from us by a corporate government. Our political leadership has been hijacked.
Citizen advocates have no other choice but to close the democracy gap by direct political means. Only effective national political leadership will restore the responsiveness of government to its citizenry. Truly progressive political movements do not just produce more good results, they enable a flowering of progressive citizen movements to effectively advance the quality of our neighborhoods and communities outside of politics.
I have a personal distaste for the trappings of modern politics, in which incumbents and candidates daily extol their own inflated virtues, paint complex issues with trivial brushstrokes, and propose plans quickly generated by campaign consultants. But I can no longer stomach the systemic political decay that has weakened our democracy. I can no longer watch people dedicate themselves to improving their country while their government leaders turn their backs, or worse, actively block fair treatment for citizens. It is necessary to launch a sustained effort to wrest control of our democracy from the corporate government and restore it to the political government under the control of citizens.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Nader/Nader2000_AnnounceSpeech.html
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)bunnies
(15,859 posts)Equating Sanders to Nader but too afraid to own it? Pathetic if so.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Autumn
(45,084 posts)Of course we do still have some of the same asshole supreme court justice's who awarded the 2000 election to Bush on the court. Oh wait...are you worried about Hillary losing to one of the other Democratic candidates in this race for the 2016 election?
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)I didn't read the whole thing, but I can't disagree with what's posted. Still relevant today.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I don't think it's a coincidence that the same people who say "Nader is all about Nader" are the same ones I compulsively want to pat on the head and say "well, bless your little heart-- aren't you an adorable little fella..."
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)but that's because Nader is a dishonest self-serving asshole.
WhiteTara
(29,715 posts)in that it means lowest point.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)JHB
(37,160 posts)...and general elections are two separate elections.
Well, there's over 8 months until the first primaries happen, so you'll have time to learn, we can only hope.
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)I voted for Nader in 2000 - love his policy positions.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)and I'm not sorry. Gore would never have won Alaska anyway, and it was refreshing to vote my conscience.
BootinUp
(47,146 posts)Fuck Nader! Yeah! Woo!
Response to SecularMotion (Original post)
Skidmore This message was self-deleted by its author.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Will Ralph Nader become Al Gore's worst nightmare?
Of more immediate interest, at least to Al Gore, are Nader's respectable poll numbers: 7 to 10 percent in California as of June, 6 percent nationally. If California tips Green enough, Bush could win the state and the whole damn election.
Which, Nader confided to Outside in June, wouldn't be so bad. When asked if someone put a gun to his head and told him to vote for either Gore or Bush, which he would choose, Nader answered without hesitation: "Bush."
http://www.outsideonline.com/1837851/ralph-nader-2000-campaign-interview
Nader flew back and forth between California and Florida, finally spending the most of the last few weeks in Florida, and fulfilling his goal of a Bush Presidency.