Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Ralph Nader Interview

Nader critiques political apathy, personal values
Nader discusses his childhood in new memoir in relevance to today's youth
by Scott Bolohan
Staff Writer

He is either one of the most heroic or villainous figures in America history, either loved or hated by Americans. But no matter how divisive, some feel Ralph Nader has made an impact.
Since his 1965 book, "Unsafe At Any Speed," that looked into the safety of the auto industry, Nader has dedicated his life to becoming a consumer advocate.

Lately however, Nader has been viewed in a less favorable light since his 2000 presidential bid that many believe cost Al Gore the presidency.

Either way, Nader’s importance cannot be denied. As a testament to this, he was named one of Atlantic Monthly’s "100 Most Influential Americans (Ever)," one of only three living people on the list.

Nader, 72, continues to be active with his new documentary, "An Unreasonable Man," premiering March 2 at the Music Box Theater. He has also released a new book, "The Seventeen Traditions," about the traditions and values that were instilled in him as a child. He will be appearing at the Borders on Michigan Avenue on February 21st to sign copies of his book.

For a man who made his career on investigative work, writing a memoir was a change, but he feels just as strongly about it.

"That is something I haven’t done before. I thought putting down the different ways that my mother and father raised their four children in a factory town in northwest Connecticut…would be of interest and helpful to a lot of parents today," Nader said. "A lot of the ways they raised us are very adaptable. It’s got a lot of relevance today," Nader said.

Nader decided to release the book because he is very concerned with the current state of American families, whom he feels are moving away from the very values that he cherishes.

"I think we need more self-consciousness from families around the country, so they preserve their generational experience and insight," Nader said. "This is not just sentimental, believe me. This is very important for nurturing children and giving them their own self-confidence and not letting external influences shatter the family the way they are at the present time."

Nader is also disturbed by the political apathy of many college students—people who were among his biggest supporters in his 2000 run for president.

"It’s more than just getting out the vote, it’s getting out smart votes, where students and young people do their homework and not just knee-jerk their way because their grandparents were Democrats or Republicans," Nader said.

Nader also feels that students should not only become more informed about politics but should be directly involved with the political process.

"I think it’s also important for students to think of running for election themselves in a few years at the local level. The political system is so corrupted by big money that it pushes out good candidates who don’t want to go through the dirty grind and compromise their soul," Nader said.

Nader, who has run as a third party candidate for the presidency in the last three elections feels that there is hope for third parties in America, in particular at the state and local level.
However, it may be a longer time before there is a third party president.

"If you’re asking about the national level, the system is terribly rigged against third parties right now with huge ballot access barriers and one or the other party can sue or harass and delay or get their own political judges to disqualify thousands of signatures on the petitions. Illinois has got a problem like that," Nader said.

Nader has been a vocal critic of President George Bush since his election, going as far as to suggest his impeachment. While he admits it does not appear that Bush will be leaving office before his term is over, he feels that American citizens should still take some steps to change the president’s political agenda.

Nader suggested supporting the organization, The World Can’t wait, which is demanding the resignation of Bush and Cheney.

"There are so many principles of impeachment that can be applied to him and have been written up by the Center for Constitutional Rights," Nader said.

He also suggested putting pressure on the presidency through the polls, demonstrations, student newspapers or student radio stations.

"The pressure is increasing and increasing, they are starting to feel it in Washington. Their polls are plummeting, and they know they are going to face a lot of subpoenas from the Democratic committee chairs in the next few weeks," Nader said.

In recent interviews, he criticized 2008 presidential candidate and current Democratic frontrunner, Hilliary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." When he was asked about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, he took a more apprehensive approach.

"Well we have to wait and see. He’s obviously got great capacity, and he knows what the score is and he knows where the powers that be are," Nader said. "But in the two years in the Senate, he’s been reluctant to take strong stands against corporate power and I think that is the key measure of a presidential candidate because corporations dominate our politics, our elections. So we’ll give it some time and see how he does."

Nader has been an opponent of the Iraq War since it began. He feels that immediate action is necessary to deal with the war.

"I think there should be a six-month withdrawal, and during those six months, it will knock the bottom out on the insurgency because their only rationale is our military occupation and commercial occupation over their oil in Iraq," Nader said. "Ten officials in the Bush administration, at least, have said our military presence is fueling and attracting more and more people to train in terrorist areas. So it’s quite clear that it’s only going to get worse if we stay there."

Although Nader appeared on "The Daily Show" earlier this month, he feels that the show is not a viable news source and displays unease with the younger generations in America who have gravitated toward "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" at the expense of more credible news programs.

"They are better than nothing, but certainly not serious enough—not detailed enough. You shouldn’t have to giggle to get news," Nader said. "It’s nice to watch them, it’s very clever. But I think we have to ask young people to get more serious. They’re spending too much time in a world of entertainment and music, iPods, gossiping on cell phones, watching screens."
Nader feels that the youth of America should look to the past for inspiration in how to live their lives.

"It’s their country, it’s their world, and they should allocate more time to serious pursuits and do what their forbearers did in the 1960s against the war and for civil rights and the environment and so many other things that students today forget about," Nader said.

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