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)