[PAA-Discuss] Fw: [NCEP]"Nader deserves more respect than he gets"

[crkeene at juno.com]

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: dave at reststop.net (Dave Ewoldt)
To: NaturallyCreativeEarthPolitics at reststop.net,              PNCPoliticalActivists at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NCEP] (Fwd) "Nader deserves more respect than he gets"
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:57:32 -0700



------- Forwarded message follows -------

Nader deserves more respect than he gets

by Tony Norman
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
10/23/09

Ralph Nader has been the victim of more playa' hatin' than just
about any figure in contemporary American politics. Merely whispering
his name is enough to elicit hisses of derision across the political
spectrum.

The Right hates Mr. Nader because his decades of activism have
emboldened ordinary citizens to challenge the prerogative of big
business to profit at the expense of the American consumer.

Many on the Left resent him because they believe his perennial
presidential quests siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. Though
he's never received more than 2.74 percent of the popular vote,
liberals continue to blame him for making the Bush presidency possible
instead of blaming the U.S. Supreme Court for stopping the Florida
recount in 2000.

For the last decade, Mr. Nader has been portrayed as a pill by the
popular press -- a humorless, Quixotic figure doomed to eternal
political isolation thanks to his uncompromising devotion to principle.

Nation columnist Eric Alterman and filmmaker Michael Moore, a former
supporter, have slapped Mr. Nader around for repeatedly playing
"spoiler" and risking a repeat of 2000. Glancing over back columns, I'm
ashamed to say I did my share of Nader-bashing during the 2004
presidential election, too.

In an Oct. 15, 2004, column, I applauded a Commonwealth Court judge's decision
to knock Mr. Nader off the Pennsylvania ballot.

While conceding that Ralph Nader was the candidate who truly
reflected my values on the issues, the headline of my Feb. 24, 2004,
column lacked any sense of nuance: "Principled vote for Nader isn't
what this nation needs."

In retrospect, it was easier to scapegoat Mr. Nader than to question
the values of a so-called progressive political party that would
nominate candidates as beholden to corporate interests as the incumbent
we were desperately trying to unseat.

Mr. Nader says without equivocation what millions of people believe
in their hearts but are afraid to vote for when the polls open. Even
folks who don't like him acknowledge his honesty and concede the value
of his critique of our thoroughly corrupt political process. It is
easier to fault him for occasional lapses in decorum and political
correctness than his political positions, which are solid and
irrefutable.

It doesn't make any sense to get mad at those who exercise their
franchise by voting for the candidate they sincerely believe in -- like
Ralph Nader -- instead of settling for one of the major party
candidates who will say anything during a campaign, but disappoint us
at the first opportunity once elected to office. At least the Nader
voter can look in the mirror the day after the polls close without
feeling mad or embarrassed.

Earlier this week, Ralph Nader delivered a stirring call to civic
engagement to an overflow crowd at Point Park University. Nobody opens
a speech titled "The Mega Corporate Destruction of Capitalism and
Democracy" with a humorous anecdote. Instead of going for laughs, Mr.
Nader got down to the business of inspiring the next generation of
potential activists and troublemakers by highlighting his own
experience as a young law student, taking on the automobile industry
and spurring unprecedented reforms and design changes that have saved
thousands of lives.

"All social justice movements start with one or a few people without
power," he said surveying the crowd of mostly university students and
faculty. "The difference between us and [Rosa Parks, Mother Jones,
etc.] is that they didn't make excuses."

Mr. Nader credited his parents for cultivating the skepticism that
has made him the bane of corporate and political power. "My father used
to say: 'Ralph, what did you learn in school today? Did you learn how
to believe, or did you learn how to think?'"

After the speech, Mr. Nader dined with several faculty from the
School of Arts and Sciences and the Global Cultural Studies program in
the university's presidential suite.

An unusually robust 75-year-old, Mr. Nader is Lincoln tall, but not
particularly lanky. He has a big appetite and eats with his mouth full
like a real American. He also has a very dry sense of humor and laughs
easily and generously. He reminded me of the droll Arthur Dietrich
character played by Steve Landesberg on the sitcom "Barney Miller."

He playfully badgered Point Park University President Paul Hennigan
to follow through with plans to create a course or program devoted to
civic engagement. Though he shows no signs of slowing down, he knows
he's not immortal. Mr. Nader is eager to see another generation step to
the plate.

Asked if he had ruled out another run for president, Mr. Nader laughed. It was
too early to tell, even for him.


------- End of forwarded message -------

For the Earth...
_dave_(this entire message is composed of recycled electrons)
Natural Systems Solutions
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