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do you know ralph nader's a presidential candidate?
by janine Bandcroft
a lot of people don't. in this, the 'greatest democracy on earth,' there's a complete media blackout against the man .... with tiny exceptions.
yesterday, on a corporate news channel, there were soundless images of him speaking, with the news announcer announcing ralph's arrival in austin and promising more from ralph to follow. i'm not sure how much they followed up, but more of nothing is never enough.
why are the american people being denied an opportunity to know about a
presidential platform? probably because ralph nader and his running
mate, matt gonzales, are trying to connect with, as ralph puts it, the
1% of americans who are actually doing the day to day work of
democracy.
who are those folks? they're the ones attending municipal council
meetings, organizing rallies for peace and an end to economic violence,
writing petitions, and lobbying their representatives. 1% of the
populace, claims ralph, are working to protect the democracy america
holds up as a shining example to the world it bombs. he cited an
ancient greek philosopher who said that 'to know, and not to do, is not
to know.' not only does the corporate world not want us to know, but
they especially don't want us to do - and their media reflects that
philosophy of lethargy.
ralph's interested in promoting democracy, and not in an imperialist way. in the last election the democrats promised to talk impeachment, and to begin to end the invasion of iraq. in fact, over 50 billion addiitonal dollars have been designated towards that effort, with approval from many otherwise elected democrats, and especially turncoat nancy pelosi. ralph and matt are offering a real alternative.
they're talking about electoral reform, so that votes are counted in a way that actually represents the will of the electorate. as a canadian i know (and mentioned) that, while multiple candidates makes for a thriving democracy, it can result in a tyranny of the minority unless the votes are counted in some sort of proportionally representative manner. (i also let the folks know that, in a previous decade, the majority of canadians voted for the parties who said they weren't going to implement nafta, but we got it anyways because brian mulroney was elected with 30 something percent of the vote. we need electoral reform. we don't want to provide america with their energy needs even before we meet our own needs - it's not that we don't love y'all, i said, but it's cold in canada!).
one reason my friends and i went to hear ralph nader speak is because they're so disappointed with barack obama's turn to the right. it seems there are increasing numbers of people who feel that same way. last night we learned that obama's getting more money from corporate lawyers than the other candidate in the 2 party duopoly. we also learned of a website - corporatecrimereporter.org.
ralph spoke about personal vs. civic power - americans have lots of personal power, he suggested, able to travel (though not to cuba and yes, he agrees the embargo is stupid and should be lifted) and earn money and buy things .... but americans don't have so much civic power, especially when it comes to democracy. they're political slaves, he says, encouraged to vote for the least worst candidate and led to actually think of any other candidates, aside from the two, as harmful to democracy. 18,000 people die every year in the united states because they have no health care. ralph wants americans to raise their expectations. there's talk of a google sponsored three way debate in california, that'd be a start.
ralph is saddened by the numbers of otherwise reasonable and progressive people who tell him he should drop out of the race. there's actually a poll, he said, that shows al gore got more votes against bush in a previous election because ralph was running. if the ancestors had been afraid to 'throw their vote away,' as ralph supporters are accused of doing, women would still be unable to vote and there would still be slavery. (not that slavery has been eliminated, of course ... ask any migrant worker)
ralph took questions from the audience - he agrees there needs to be reform of the central banking system, he doesn't like the security and prosperity partnership, he's concerned about poverty and medicare and would implement a canadian style health care system - with improvements. he thinks there should be one federal set of procedures for getting a presidential candidate on the ballot rather than different rules state by state. one of the volunteers decided they ought to make posters - how to add ralph nader to your ballot - at every polling station. a man who wrote the software for the diebold voting machines said he knows it's faulty, he knows those machines don't work.
in closing ralph talked about eugene debs who was asked if he had any regrets. eugene said his only regret is that americans, who have so many opportunities, don't seem to want much of anything that's really important. to know, and not to do, is not to know.
ralph's interested in promoting democracy, and not in an imperialist way. in the last election the democrats promised to talk impeachment, and to begin to end the invasion of iraq. in fact, over 50 billion addiitonal dollars have been designated towards that effort, with approval from many otherwise elected democrats, and especially turncoat nancy pelosi. ralph and matt are offering a real alternative.
they're talking about electoral reform, so that votes are counted in a way that actually represents the will of the electorate. as a canadian i know (and mentioned) that, while multiple candidates makes for a thriving democracy, it can result in a tyranny of the minority unless the votes are counted in some sort of proportionally representative manner. (i also let the folks know that, in a previous decade, the majority of canadians voted for the parties who said they weren't going to implement nafta, but we got it anyways because brian mulroney was elected with 30 something percent of the vote. we need electoral reform. we don't want to provide america with their energy needs even before we meet our own needs - it's not that we don't love y'all, i said, but it's cold in canada!).
one reason my friends and i went to hear ralph nader speak is because they're so disappointed with barack obama's turn to the right. it seems there are increasing numbers of people who feel that same way. last night we learned that obama's getting more money from corporate lawyers than the other candidate in the 2 party duopoly. we also learned of a website - corporatecrimereporter.org.
ralph spoke about personal vs. civic power - americans have lots of personal power, he suggested, able to travel (though not to cuba and yes, he agrees the embargo is stupid and should be lifted) and earn money and buy things .... but americans don't have so much civic power, especially when it comes to democracy. they're political slaves, he says, encouraged to vote for the least worst candidate and led to actually think of any other candidates, aside from the two, as harmful to democracy. 18,000 people die every year in the united states because they have no health care. ralph wants americans to raise their expectations. there's talk of a google sponsored three way debate in california, that'd be a start.
ralph is saddened by the numbers of otherwise reasonable and progressive people who tell him he should drop out of the race. there's actually a poll, he said, that shows al gore got more votes against bush in a previous election because ralph was running. if the ancestors had been afraid to 'throw their vote away,' as ralph supporters are accused of doing, women would still be unable to vote and there would still be slavery. (not that slavery has been eliminated, of course ... ask any migrant worker)
ralph took questions from the audience - he agrees there needs to be reform of the central banking system, he doesn't like the security and prosperity partnership, he's concerned about poverty and medicare and would implement a canadian style health care system - with improvements. he thinks there should be one federal set of procedures for getting a presidential candidate on the ballot rather than different rules state by state. one of the volunteers decided they ought to make posters - how to add ralph nader to your ballot - at every polling station. a man who wrote the software for the diebold voting machines said he knows it's faulty, he knows those machines don't work.
in closing ralph talked about eugene debs who was asked if he had any regrets. eugene said his only regret is that americans, who have so many opportunities, don't seem to want much of anything that's really important. to know, and not to do, is not to know.
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written by Ken, August 02, 2008
I know he is running and will be voting for Nader/Gonzalez.
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written by Jessica V. Cortez, August 02, 2008
This article, the likes of which is ultra-hard to come by here in the States, is jam-packed with many of the reasons I support Nader/Gonzalez.
It looks like we'll have to work, beginning internationally, from the outside, in, to get the word out since the media here in the U.S. are predominately corporate-controlled. Visit votenader.org for oodles of solutions to beautify the ugliness of U.S. national and foreign policy.
It looks like we'll have to work, beginning internationally, from the outside, in, to get the word out since the media here in the U.S. are predominately corporate-controlled. Visit votenader.org for oodles of solutions to beautify the ugliness of U.S. national and foreign policy.
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written by Tim Matthews, August 03, 2008
I can only hope that our divided, distracted, diverted populace does something other than electing one of the corporate shills running, we’ve had 200 years to have a representative government, and still have a corporate power structure that has run us into the ditch YET AGAIN! Lets do something different this time,
Vote Sanity, Vote Nader.
Vote Sanity, Vote Nader.
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written by Nolan, August 03, 2008
is Ralph Nader.
Think about it: Why are they so scared to debate him?
If Google's debate goes off, and they uphold their pledge to include Nader, then you will see Nader's numbers jump significantly.
And many people will start to wake up.
Corporations want us to buy Nikes and drink Pepsi for life. They want us to depend on oil for transportation. They want to send jobs overseas to maximize their profits (with corporate-sponsored bills like NAFTA.) They want to rig professional games in order to have a giant-revenue generating "Game 7." They want to saturuate athletic events with advertisements and commercials, replace the names of stadiums once reserved for local hereos and local culture. They want to tell our doctors how to practice so that profit, no health, is the bottom line. Ditto for the pharmaceutical industry.
Corporations like politicians like Clinton, and Obama. Notice how the Clintons are introducing Barack to all their corporate buddies at posh fundraising conventions?
People need to wake up...and in a hurry.
Nader just got the Peace and Freedom nomination here in California. This is a giant boost for us.
I tried to vote Nader in 2004, but had to write his name in. Because the Democrat Party filed many lawsuits and had his name taken off the ballot in many states.
Only to get whupped anyway. "Every vote must count" they said in 2000. Unless it's not for them, apparently. Now they say Ralph shouldn't run because it will hurt their candidate's chances of winning.
What gall.
And what a bunch of whiners.
You had your chance in 2004, and got spanked. Now sit down and shut up.
It's time for someone else to step up to the plate.
A real candidate who refuses to take corporate money.
A man of courage, knowledge, experience, and integrity.
A man by the name of Ralph Nader.
Think about it: Why are they so scared to debate him?
If Google's debate goes off, and they uphold their pledge to include Nader, then you will see Nader's numbers jump significantly.
And many people will start to wake up.
Corporations want us to buy Nikes and drink Pepsi for life. They want us to depend on oil for transportation. They want to send jobs overseas to maximize their profits (with corporate-sponsored bills like NAFTA.) They want to rig professional games in order to have a giant-revenue generating "Game 7." They want to saturuate athletic events with advertisements and commercials, replace the names of stadiums once reserved for local hereos and local culture. They want to tell our doctors how to practice so that profit, no health, is the bottom line. Ditto for the pharmaceutical industry.
Corporations like politicians like Clinton, and Obama. Notice how the Clintons are introducing Barack to all their corporate buddies at posh fundraising conventions?
People need to wake up...and in a hurry.
Nader just got the Peace and Freedom nomination here in California. This is a giant boost for us.
I tried to vote Nader in 2004, but had to write his name in. Because the Democrat Party filed many lawsuits and had his name taken off the ballot in many states.
Only to get whupped anyway. "Every vote must count" they said in 2000. Unless it's not for them, apparently. Now they say Ralph shouldn't run because it will hurt their candidate's chances of winning.
What gall.
And what a bunch of whiners.
You had your chance in 2004, and got spanked. Now sit down and shut up.
It's time for someone else to step up to the plate.
A real candidate who refuses to take corporate money.
A man of courage, knowledge, experience, and integrity.
A man by the name of Ralph Nader.
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written by EK, August 03, 2008
How sad that I can't find more articles like this written in the U.S. Ralph Nader is the only one who has never waivered from his message to try to get votes. And how sad that Americans are willing to contribute to Ralph Nader's blackout by the media by refusing to sign a petition to get him on the ballot. It's all done out of fear, a true sign that we really don't have many rights here. I'm starting to wonder what differences there are between the American voting system and corrupt voting systems in other countries. The difference is our rights our controlled not by dictators but by large corporations.
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