Like many people, I tend to think Ralph Nader is a bit of a loon. However, his advice to presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry is not that far fetched. I mean any challenger to Bush could put this as an agenda for working class America in the way that TR worked for the common man a century ago.
Here are some of the highlights:
Support a living wage. Kerry should propose a living wage -- and act as though he means it. Huge numbers of Americans (10 million households) earn less than $10,000 a year. Those workers would be substantially better off if the minimum wage had simply been indexed for inflation -- "like congressional salaries" -- over the past 35 years.
• Go after corporate crime. "This would attract a lot of conservatives to his cause -- certainly as many as there are Reagan Democrats. I'm talking about people whose 401(k)s have been destroyed by what Enron and the others have done through corporate greed."
• Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The prospective yield turns out to be "almost exactly what the American Society of Civil Engineers said last year it would take to restore America's deteriorating infrastructure" -- roads and bridges, schools, libraries, water and sewer systems, public buildings. "Everybody could get behind this, from labor unions to the Rotary, from workers to the corporate suppliers. And the best part is that it would create thousands of good-paying jobs that can't be outsourced to China."
• Protect the poor. Low-income Americans have no legal protection for many of their ordinary transactions -- either because the appropriate legislation hasn't been enacted or because of "a congealed lawlessness that goes unprosecuted." Nader's list includes check-cashing businesses for people who don't have access to bank accounts, tax-refund loans at usurious rates, rent-to-own schemes, dumping of tainted meat and shoddy merchandise in inner-city outlets, bank red-lining, and all manner of predatory lending. "Democrats should flock to this issue, and the Republican blur machine couldn't do a thing about it. You know how they blur issues: passing an inadequate prescription bill and saying that takes care of the elderly, or passing No Child Left Behind and saying that takes care of education."
Would Kerry be painted as a liberal by the GOP? Yeah. But if pitched the right way, it could be an strategy that says that Kerry would be helping the little guy and not the fat cats. I also think it could be an agenda that people accross the political spectrum would love. Americans believe in fairness, and if they are reminded of that fact, many people could come on board.
My own belief is that if moderate Republicans use this as a yardstick on who to vote for on a wide range of offices in 2004, we might see changes not only in Washington, but in the GOP as well.
Posted by Dennis at May 10, 2004 10:47 PMWhy do you think Ralph Nader is a "bit of a loon"? Maybe if you would face your own prejudices that have been planted in your brain who knows where and just listen to what people like Ralph are saying you could get over that last bit of unintelligent bias displayed in your post. Otherwise, right on!
Posted by: Joe Niederberger at April 18, 2005 08:51 AMHow true this opinion is.
While I don't have the answers that would make it all better, I have educated myself these last few years and have been able to make as good of decisions as possible and I feel that I have enough knowledge (or perhaps its common sense)to give opinions that I believe are true.
I voted for Kerry!
Not because I thought he was going to be a great president, but because he isn't surrounded by corporate fat cats and backed by right-winged nut jobs or a political leader that invokes God when his pitiful lies become transparent in the hope that the vast majority of this great country would become distracted and/or forgets about an unjust war, tax breaks for the wealthy, politicians that are easily bribed are more puppet than elected official!!, minimal to no health care for the 98% or so of America, I don't even want to discuss No Child Left Behind (and as a teacher I will have to eventually), our very civil liberties being taking away because of the minute possibility of another 9/11, you'd think Joe McCarthy was alive and well. (Pause....)
I could go on....but there's a knock at my door and I think it's the Gesta....er I mean the Secret Service.
"Would Kerry be painted as a liberal by the GOP?" Dude, he's being painted as a liberal right now! If he starts pushing the platform Nader proposed it wouldn't change anything but Rush's eating habits during his frat party relaxation trips to Iraqi prisons.
But there is one thing that Kerry needs to do, and that's get more aggressive against Bush on Bush's economic weak spots: failure to improve jobs and wages, his cozying up to the energy and communication consortiums that have wrecked havoc with our economy and our investment portfolios, and the growing financial deficits that even fiscal conservatives are horrified to look at.