Ralph Nader

General Motors decided this was a great threat. They had been unleashing private detectives month after month, following me everywhere.

They used ex-FBI agents often for their so-called investigation of critics. They tried to seduce me with young ladies. They followed him into the Safeway.

Another time, a young lady came up and she said, you look like a studious fellow. We're forming a study group to study foreign affairs. How would you like to join us? And he said, no, thank you.

And I was invited to testify.

Just think of how fast Congress acted compared to the sluggish, indentured corporate gridlock of today. Within six months from March 1966, And in September, I was invited to the signing ceremony at the White House, among others, where he handed out the signature pens. Six months.

This is my point. Either it's sheer callousness or indifference, or they don't bother to find out how their cars behave.

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Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader.

Democracy means, in a word, self-government. And anytime we delegate our responsibilities, it's for convenience to government agencies and other institutions. And I don't think we can afford that convenience.

And my parents said to me in their own folksy way, said, well, Ralph, now you're very famous, so let's see how you endure it.

I didn't want to be a lone ranger. So where do I go for help? Well, law students.

It was a perfect opportunity to get some students, interns during the summer, put them on projects investigating the Food and Drug Administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission and on. And they would have press conferences and they would get great press coverage. And that would get the attention again of members of Congress. You have that virtuous circle.

I was better known by more people in the United States than Taylor Swift is today.

We got lead out of gasoline and paint.

It's a law for the people.

This little agency that could take other regulatory agencies to court and make them change their behavior, make them go from inaction to action, or make them strengthen weak standards into stronger standards— And it would be the voice and the muscle of the consumer movement.

But unfortunately, the crown jewel of the consumer movement never made it into law.

Looking back on it, that was a high watermark.

Scapegoating by the two parties is a form of political bigotry that says to reform-minded third-party candidates, no, we're not going to let you appeal to the voters. We want the voters to The two parties have got to earn their votes. They don't own the votes. They have to earn them.

Anybody who thinks that our democracy has not deteriorated in so many ways over the last 50 years ought to study how things got through Congress and state legislators in the 1960s, 1970s. It was because a fraction of the citizenry decided to be active

decided to organize communities, decided to buttonhole their members of Congress, decided to march, to demonstrate, to file lawsuits, to lobby, to get the Environmental Protection Agency created, the Occupational Safety Health Administration created, to get the critical air and water pollution laws through, the drinking water safety law. This was done by less than 1% of the public.

You just mentioned the word cynicism, didn't you? That's a cop-out. That's an indulgence of quitters that makes them feel good. Because when you're cynical, you're obviously smart, aren't you? You think you're smart. No, you're not smart. You're playing into the hands of the corporate supremacists.

You're playing into the hands of the few who want to control the many, who could easily outvote the few and make the corporations our servants, not our masters.

Nothing can surprise us. the impact of organized citizenry. Year after year, the young generation forgets on how there was a time when Congress worked for us to some degree. There was a time when citizen action was worthwhile and produced results. So as we get, a younger generation doesn't have the historical context. The preamble of the Constitution starts with we the people.

It doesn't start with we the corporation. It doesn't start with we the Congress. It starts with we the people.

It was certainly freedom of the road. When you were in the car driving, you were the queen or king of the car.

And what you did in the back seat was no one else's business. And listen... Outside a rambler.

It was all revolting to me.

Well, my parents were immigrants from Lebanon, and they sailed past the Statue of Liberty. They took it seriously, which means that it isn't just freedom they were after. They wanted freedom to make a difference.

One time I came home from school, my dad said, what'd you learn today? Did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?

I lost a lot of friends in car crashes. They were killed or they were permanently disabled. It's far, far worse then than it is today.

I kept thinking of people who could be living productive lives today and who were killed in totally survivable crashes. You know, I began looking at the cars and how they were crushed in.

It punctured the advertising fantasy of these auto companies.

The Corvair was a unique design because it had its engine in the rear. Someone once said you were the bumper on the Corvair.

It would veer out of control and roll over and kill people.

I knew it was a book that had dynamite potential.

Ralph Nader.