Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)
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The year is 1960.
Now, what kind of car are we looking for today?
You've got an urge to hit the open road, to touch the black asphalt of the nation's new interstate highways that are being built all around the country.
I think you're going to love this.
Now, all you need is the perfect car.
They just released this model.
Compact, sleek, a thing of beauty. Have a safe drive. You turn on your car radio and that iconic summer place song starts playing. When you hit the highway, you roll your window down, letting the wind rush through your hair. This is the American dream, riding in an American car on an American road, boundless and free. When you come up across a slight turn, you keep your foot on the gas, cruising along. For a moment, you feel the wheels slip, the car no longer in your control. But then it comes back again. You think it's fine. It's a brand new car right off the dealership block. You come up on another turn, this time a wider one. You stay the course when... All of a sudden, your wheels lose traction with the road. The paramedics will later tell you you're a lucky one. As you crawl out of the driver's window, you think to yourself, what happened? How could driving a brand new car end up with me lying on the road?
This is my point. Either it's sheer callousness or indifference, or they don't bother to find out how their cars behave.
That's a young Ralph Nader talking about car safety.
Ralph Nader has announced he will run for president as a third-party candidate again.
Yes, that Ralph Nader. He's made four runs for the presidency as a third-party candidate, most infamously in the year 2000, when some people felt that his run led to Democratic candidate Al Gore losing to Republican candidate George W. Bush.
So if you're feeling skeptical, we get it. But bear with us, because before Ralph Nader was infamous, he was famous.
I was better known by more people in the United States than Taylor Swift is today.
OK, so that's definitely an exaggeration. But he's right that for a long time, he was one of the most trusted people in America. Some people even called him St. Ralph. He's the reason any new car that gets sold today has to comply with a set of federal safety standards.
This is a bill for the vast number of millions of unrepresented American consumers who need representation before federal regulatory agencies.
And car safety was only the beginning. Because Nader felt that in a country increasingly dominated by corporations controlling our access to basic goods, the people who use those goods, the consumers, had rights. He fought to guarantee them. And in many cases, he won.
the right to clean drinking water, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, whistleblower protections, the Freedom of Information Act, and more. Nader was instrumental in all of them. His activism and efforts spurred the modern consumer movement, a movement fueled by the idea that public citizens, consumers, people like you and me, can and should hold governments and corporations accountable to our needs.
Several brands of ground cinnamon containing elevated levels of lead. It now recommends recalls of ground cinnamon from six distributors. Toyota recalling one million vehicles worldwide over a potential airbag issue. FDA is reporting another baby formula recall. Health officials say an infant has died from a listeria outbreak that's tied to ready-to-eat meat.
And today, when product recalls are at the highest level since before the pandemic, when our own expectations of safety and government trust are eroding, we're going to revisit a time where a generation of people felt activated and empowered to take matters into their own hands, to demand the government back them up so they could stand up to corporations and say, enough is enough.
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Speakers
28 identified
Ramtin Arablouei 11 min
Randa Abdel-Fattah 8 min
Ralph Nader 7 min
Sponsor Message 5 min
Joan Claybrook 3 min
Paul Sabin 3 min
News Reporter 2 min
Advertisement voice 2 min
Book Excerpt Reader 1 min
Narrator 1 min
Ronald Reagan (Ad Narrator) 1 min
Listener from Harrisburg
Jimmy Carter
Radio Announcer
Voiceover
Law Student
Democratic Critic
Talk Show Host
Senator (unknown)
Car Salesperson
Legislative Speaker
Car Enthusiast
FDA Critic
Listener from Indianapolis
Senator Ribicoff
GM President
Health Official
Disgruntled Citizen