Ralph Nader
speaker
37 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2025
last heard Jan 2025
Ralph Nader’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
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.
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.
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