Ralph Nader Speaks at Emory
Ralph Nader gave a fascinating talk at Emory tonight. He never mentioned his previous achievements, of which there are many, such as running for President four times (in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004) and writing the important book, Unsafe at Any Speed that led to a revolution in car safety. Instead, he dove right into talking about personal freedom and consumer rights.
Mr. Nader differentiated personal freedom from civic freedom. He explained that personal freedom included things like being able to freely marry, purchase goods, and other things on an individual level. These are liberties that exist in many dictatorships as well, not just democracies.
Civic freedom is different. How many individuals in America feel like they can change monetary policy, or change the course of the Iraq War? How many people have recently used the courtroom? The fact is that most people feel powerless when dealing with things at a higher than personal level.
He argued that while American universities offer classes in the arts and sciences, very few have a class on civics and how to be an effective citizen. He suggested that students petition their universities for a class in civics.
The other major topic of his speech was on corporate fraud. Even in law school, corporate fraud is rarely talked about, and only after major scandals such as Enron have people started to pay attention. Corporations like Exxon Mobil and Walmart make billions of dollars, while many of their employees can barely afford to raise their family. Mr. Nader talked about corporations as an artificial entity instead of targeting the actual people working for them.
He briefly touched on trade with China, arguing that it was not really “free trade.” Products imported from China have been found contaminated with all kinds of toxins and made headline news. This has put thousands of consumers at risk, including vulnerable ones like children.
There were a few memorable lines to remember. “If you get turned on by politics, politics will turn on you.” “If you know and don’t do, you don’t know.” These two phrases effectively summarized his plea for citizens to get active in civics and politics.
On current politics, he was critical of the Bush administration for removing personal liberties and expanding the power of the Executive Office. On party politics, he argued that the Democrats and Republicans are getting increasingly similar in that they now pick very few issues as contention points, such as abortion. However, people are interested and involved in many more issues that the two parties kind of ignore and do not differentiate between, such as the use of genetically modified crops, and the Federal Reserve.
When he was asked by a member of the audience about the 2000 election and his spoiler status, he became impassioned and argued that many other things could have led to a Gore victory and that he cannot be blamed. He ended by saying that while smaller parties may not be electable, they are key in helping guide the larger parties to the right path.