Nader Reduced Auto Deaths By Over 50,000

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been serving people in the U.S. for many years. As Money Talks: Corporate PACs And Political Influence by Dan Clawson, Alan Neustadt and Denise Scott recalled in 1992:

“In the early ‘60s auto safety was presented as depending entirely on safe drivers. Ralph Nader raised the heretical idea that perhaps cars were also a cause of accidents—and had the data to prove it…

“Did Ralph Nader’s campaign totally transform U.S. society and the power of business? No. Did it have any real effect on people’s lives? Absolutely. In 1965, for every 100 million miles driven, 5.3 people died in automobile accidents. If that rate had still applied in 1988, an additional 50,000 people would have died in auto accidents.”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/10/96)

Nader In 1974: `Review Corporate Tax Privileges Annually’

As long ago as 1974, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was fighting to cut government corporate welfare grants to transnational corporations. As Power Inc. by Morton Mintz and Jerry Cohen observed:

“…Commenting in late 1974 on the failure of tax bonanzas for the wealthy and private corporations to produce benefits for society as a whole, Nader said:

“`Given this unrequited subsidy, which directly burdens the small taxpayers why is there not an annual evaluation by the congress or the treasury of such special corporate tax privileges? The small taxpayers should be informed about what they are not receiving in return for their subsidizing of these companies through the tax system…Corporate executives are once again telling the White House that they need even more `tax incentives,’ as they call them, or `welfare payments’ as they should be described…’

“Nader…has touched on something that the newspapers, magazines, and radio and television networks seldom make truly clear to the broad public: tax `subsidies,’ `incentives,’ and tax breaks for corporations are giveaways and handouts on a lavish scale…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/31/96)

Prez Candidate Nader vs. Union Carbide Historically

For many years, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader fought against the abuse of power by transnational corporations like Union Carbide. As the 1980 edition of Everybody’s Business: An Almanac recalled:

“In the late 1960s and early 1970s Union Carbide was virtually Environmental Enemy No. 1. Environmentalists called their Alloy, West Virginia, iron-alloy plant `the smokiest factory in the world.’…When Carbide threatened to lay off 625 workers in Ohio to offset the cost of pollution control, Ralph Nader called it `environmental blackmail.’”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 7/24/96)

Nader Warned Of `Downward Trend’ In Air Safety

In the 1994 book which he co-authored with Wesley Smith, Collision Course: The Truth About Airline Safety, [2008] independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader observed:

“Despite the official denials of the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] and the airline industry…aviation safety is threatened on many fronts…Collectively, they pose a clear and present danger to existing safety levels. These issues include:

“…Pressure from the airline industry to increase capacity, which has caused the FAA to approve compromises in safety procedures…The aging of our domestic aircraft fleet…The growth of commuter airlines that fly smaller planes with less safety equipment…The need to…upgrade the crash survivability of…transport jets…Problems with…management…that adversely affect safety…The need to improve ground control technology to prevent accidents…while planes are on the ground…The underfunding of the FAA that has…rendered it unable to…perform its legal mandate.”

Nader also asserted that “consumers are going to have to exert their power as citizens and customers to reverse the downward trend in safety levels” and proposed “the creation of a broad-based consumer organization dedicated solely to advocating for airline safety,” the Coalition of Airline Passengers.

As long ago as 1973, Nader “asked federal district court in Washington to prohibit the FAA’s use of X-ray security checks at airports” because the FAA had failed to consider the environmental impact of such an operation, had failed to set minimum standards for X-ray machines, and had failed to allow an adequate period for public comment,” according to Consumer Protection 1976.

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/21/96)

Nader Launched Non-Smokers' Rights Movement

Big Tobacco corporation executives have apparently contributed $30,000 to help fund the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama--who, until recently, was apparently a chain-smoker. And the 2008 Obama presidential campaign has spent over $190 million of the campaign contributions it has received from the U.S. corporate rich on purchasing campaign ad space from the U.S. corporate media conglomerates--to try to persuade non-smoking U.S. voters that the inexperienced Obama is more qualified than Nader to move into the White House oval office on January 21, 2009.

But 2008 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is also the person who launched the Non-Smokers’ Rights Movement. As Ashes To Ashes by Richard Kluger recalled in 1996:

“Ralph Nader launched what would become the non-smokers’ rights movement at the end of 1969 by petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ban the use of cigarettes, cigars, and pipes on all passenger flights, arguing that the smoke annoyed non-smokers, distracted the flight crew, and posed a danger to health and a fire hazard for all aboard…

“…The Civil Aeronautics Board…in September 1972 responded positively to a Nader petition to require separate passenger sections…

“A few weeks after his initial petition to the FAA, Nader called on the Interstate Commission to establish non-smoking rules for buses.”

Nader Called For `Semi-Regulation’ Of Airlines

Ralph Nader has also long believed that the interests and safety of airline passengers can be protected only if the airlines are `semi-regulated.’ As Rapid Descent: Deregulation and The Shakeout in The Airliines by Barbara Sturken Peterson and James Glab noted:

“A multitude of…critics…claim that only a new era of federal regulation could save…the flying public from further deterioration in airline service.

“…Ralph Nader in late 1993 outlined a detailed plan for what he termed semi-regulation of the airlines. In his book Collision Course: The Truth About Airline Safety, Nader advocated limited price regulation, using state regulation of the insurance industry as a model, to prevent price gouging and predatory pricing.”

The same book also recalled:

“Ralph Nader…the patron saint of aggrieved passengers…went after the airlines when he was bumped from an Allegheny Airlines flight on April 18, 1972…Nader’s lawsuit laid the groundwork for the eventual regulation of the airlines’ overbooking practices. But Nader saw this as just one piece of a broader pattern of industry abuses…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 8/14/96)

As long ago as 1972, Ralph Nader was offered the vice-presidential nomination by the Democratic presidential candidate, George McGovern. As Nader And The Power Of Everyman by Hays Gorey noted:

“When George McGovern of South Dakota did win the Democratic nomination and then had to force his original choice for running mate off the ticket he…suggested Nader run with him. But Nader said no…because he believes that `the more successful you become in politics the less effective you are, because you have to compromise yourself, you have to serve the interests that have helped make you successful...’”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 6/12/96)

Nader's Anti-Nuke Movement Connection

Five years before the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident, 1996 [and 2008] presidential candidate Ralph Nader helped launch the movement which resists the use of nuclear power in the United States. As The Anti-Nuclear Movement by Jerome Price observed:

“…Ralph Nader organized the first anti-nuclear conference, Critical Mass ’74, in Washington D.C…The prime mover for environmental opposition to nuclear power was Ralph Nader…Nader sponsored the convention of nuclear power critics…to coordinate antinuclear activities throughout the nation…Nader called for increasing citizen intervention and joint activities among divergent groups, including those fighting utility rate structures…

“Nader’s organization established the Critical Mass newsletter, representing the Citizen Movement to Stop Nuclear Power…Powerful coalitions of financial and industrial interests, manipulation of the press, and biased government activity were exposed…”

As long ago as 1978, Nader argued that U.S. politics could be characterized in the following way:

“Liberal versus conservative is no longer the real dividing line in politics; the actual distinction is between the `corporatists,’ those who support and expand the power of corporations, and `consumerists,’ those who are working to expand the power of the people. The abuse of power by large corporations is the number one issue in our society…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 5/22/96)

Historically, the media images of major party presidential candidates [like the Big Media’s 2008 presidential ticket of Obama-McCain] have apparently been fabricated. As Myth of Democracy by Ferdinand Lundberg observed:

“It has come about that the entire `image’ of the President that is presented to the public is a gross fabrication by a team of election specialists. These specialists include speech writers (for few candidates write their own speeches), authors, elocutionists, strategists who know what words will affect different voting groups, make-up men, tailors, hairdressers, stage designers from Hollywood, lighting experts and many more arcane experts.

“The task of all these people, composing the election team, is to develop a fictitious character to take part in the election charade. The election campaign is a charade because it has nothing to do with the way the government will be run…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 5/15/96)

Yet long before he became a 1996 [and 2008] presidential candidate, Ralph Nader provided financial support to an organization that lobbied for women’s rights. In 1972, Nader’s Public Citizen group helped set up the “Center for Women’s Policy Studies” to “advocate women’s rights in employment, education and other areas” with “a $10,000 grant” [in 1970s money], according to Ralph Nader: A Man And A Movement by Jay Acton and Alan LeMond. The same book also noted that, although Nader helped set up and fund the Center for Women’s Policy Studies, this feminist center operated “independently of Nader.”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 6/5/96)

Nader's Legislative Record In 1960s

In the 1960s, 1996 [and 2008] presidential candidate Ralph Nader was able to push through Congress more legislation in the public interest than Bill Clinton [or John McCain or Barack Obama] has been able to push through Congress. As Nader: The People’s Lawyer by Robert Buckhorn recalled in 1972:

“…If Nader contributes little in the way of consumption of goods himself, he has almost single-handedly done more for the consumer…than any clutch of presidents, politicians, or corporation chiefs. Since 1965, he has been responsible…for the passage of…the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (1966), Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act (1968), Wholesale Meat Act (1967), Radiation Control Act (1968), Wholesale Poultry Products Act (1967), Coal Mine Health and Safety Act (1969), and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (1970).

“…It was Nader who prodded the Food and Drug Administration to force the railroads to stop what Nader termed `their repulsive corporate practice’ of dumping two hundred million pounds of human excrement along railroad tracks every year. It was Nader who gave public exposure to the threats of poisoning from mercury in fish, cadmium in water, and asbestos in ventilation systems.

“It was Nader who charged that non-tobacco elements like glass fibers and rock wool were finding their way into cigars and cigarillos…And it was Nader who warned that the Volkswagen bus was `so unsafe’ it should be permanently barred from the road.”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 5/1/96)

Before becoming well-known as a consumer advocate, Nader lived in New Jersey as a Princeton University undergraduate. According to Nader: The People’s Lawyer by Robert Buckhorn:

“…At Princeton, in the era before Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Nader was alarmed over the use of pesticides. When he found that DDT was killing the campus bird population, he was outraged. But his fellow students couldn’t get all that upset over a few dead birds, and Nader found the editor of the campus newspaper wouldn’t even print his letters of protest…

“It was at Princeton that Nader developed his penchant for staying up half the night, something he still does regularly…Nader spends his nights preparing congressional testimony or plowing through trade magazines, letters, and technical reports…His major was Oriental studies and he mastered Chinese, Russian, and Spanish…On summer vacations, he visited Indian reservations in New Mexico, Arizona, and California to collect information for a…paper on the exploitation of the Indian.”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 5/15/96)

Nader In 1972: `Punish Corporate Crime!'

One of the Independent Majority’s presidential candidates in 1996 [and in 2008], Ralph Nader, has been urging the federal government to punish U.S. corporate criminals and reduce U.S. corporate power for many years. In the 1972 book Nader: The People’s Lawyer by Robert Buckhorn, for example, Nader observed:

“I don’t know of any horde of hippies or yippies who have managed to smog New York City or contaminate the Gulf of Mexico. But I know companies that have done that. Consolidated Edison smogged New York. Chevron Oil dumped hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico with impunity until the law finally came down on it, then only with a $1 million fine—the equivalent of about one hour’s gross revenues of Chevron’s parent company, Standard Oil…

“…Corporate crime should be punished, but it isn’t, because we have not been conditioned to think in terms of curbing corporate power or punishing it for excesses. There is a corporate crime wave in this country of unprecedented proportions, but if you look at the FBI crime statistics, what do you see? Have you ever seen a company on the `Ten Most Wanted’ list? Do you ever see statistics as to how much corporations stole from consumers?

“My job is to try to bring these issues out in the open where they cannot be ignored. The only real defeat is giving up, just as the only real aging is the erosion of one’s ideals.”

The same book also noted:

“The New Party, formed in the aftermath of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago to provide an alternative for those who were no longer willing to compromise their views or vote for the `lesser of evils’ candidates, was the first political entity to reach out for Nader…The party consisted…of…young political activists. Its platform included plans endorsing everything from the Gay Liberation movement to a call for `a 30-hour week at 40-hour pay,’ and abolition of the CIA…

“As the average voter-in-the-street about Nader as presidential candidate, and you get a puzzled look followed by an expression that seems to say, `Why not?’…”

In 1975, Nader And The Power Of Everyman by Hays Gorey recalled:

“At the height of the Watergate scandals, Nicholas Von Hoffman had written in the Washington Post that `there is one man in public life who is clean enough, who has stature enough to restore respect for politics and public office, and that’s Ralph Nader, our national ombudsman…’ His distance from both major parties was a distinct asset, Von Hoffman had written, `in a period when parties are generally regarded as packs of marauding thieves and housebreakers.’

“Besides, `who knows more about how the federal government works on every level? Who could attract more talent to government? Who would more quickly shed the monarchical trappings the Presidency has acquired over the years?’”

One reason the New York Times/Boston Globe/Boston Metro media conglomerate was not eager to report on Ralph Nader’s 1996 [and 2008] presidential campaign is that, as early as 1972, Nader suggested that a consumer-oriented study of the New York Times media conglomerate should be made. In Nader: The People’s Lawyer by Robert Buckhorn, Nader made the following recommendation:

“There should be a study of The New York Times. Why the Times covers what it does? What are the priorities? Why doesn’t it have more investigative reporters? Why is it so poor on coverage of the way big banks manipulate the economy? What about the likes and dislikes of its editors? How high up are the decisions on editorials made? The Times is a world of its own and a study would be worth doing…”

(Downtown/Aquarian Weekly 4/10/96)

Third Parties & The Big Media Historically

The Corporate Male's Big Media has a history of attempting to rig U.S. presidential elections by denying news coverage to anti-establishment independent or third party presidential candidates like Nader [and McKinney]. As The Other Candidates: Third Parties In Presidential Elections by Frank Smallwood concluded in 1983:

"The final major complaint of the third-party candidate involved the issue of the exposure--or more accurately, the lack of exposure--in the national media...Most were unable to obtain any significant coverage from the large television networks or national newspapers. According to the Rosenstone study, `in 1980 Reagan and Carter received about 10 times more coverage in leading newspapers and weekly magazines than did all the eleven third party...candidates combined. This disparity existed in network television news coverage as well.'...

"A review of the ballot access, the campaign finance, and the media issue reveals that the third-party...candidates face...institutional and procedural obstacles. During recent years these obstacles have increased in severity with...the erosion of equal-time access to broadcast media.

"Despite the homage that is paid in American politics to the concepts of free enterprise and free competition, the two major parties are intent on doing everything possible to kill off their third-party rivals..."

(Downtown 3/20/96)

Nader & McKinney's Independent Vote In Battleground States

The U.S. Establishment's Big Media and the Democratic Party's Obama campaign undemocratically excluded 2008 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney from the 2008 televised presidential debates. One reason was because both the Big Media gatekeepers and the Obama campaign's media consultant realized that Nader and McKinney, if allowed to debate Barack Obama on U.S. television, would likely obtain the votes of many independent antiwar U.S. voters in closely-contested "battleground states."

In 2000, for example, over 117,000 voters in Ohio, over 103,000 voters in Pennsylvania, over 90,000 voters in Colorado, over 29,000 voters in Iowa, over 84,000 voters in Michigan, over 126,000 voters in Minnesota, over 38,000 voters in Missouri, over 22,000 voters in New Hampshire, over 21,000 voters in New Mexico, over 59,000 voters in Virginia, over 10,000 voters in West Virginia, over 94,000 voters in Wisconsin and over 97,000 voters in Florida voted for Ralph Nader--even though Nader was also excluded from the 2000 televised presidential debates.

In 1992, when an independent presidential candidate named Ross Perot was allowed to participate in the 1992 televised presidential debates, Perot ended up receiving:

over 1 million votes in Ohio;
over 900,000 votes in Pennsylvania;
over 360,000 votes in Colorado;
over 253,000 votes in Iowa;
over 824,000 votes in Michigan;
over 562,000 votes in Minnesota;
over 518,000 votes in Missouri;
over 121,000 votes in New Hampshire;
over 91,000 votes in New Mexico;
over 348,000 votes in Virginia;
over 108,000 votes in West Virginia;
over 544,000 votes in Wisconsin; and
over 1 million votes in Florida.