Nader: Attention Deficit Democracy

[Echo In Light]

A society not alert to signs of its own decay, because its ideology is a continuing myth of progress, separates itself from reality and envelops illusion. One yardstick by which to measure the decay in our country's political, economic, and cultural life, is the answer to this question: Do the forces of power, which have demonstrably failed, become stronger after their widely perceived damage is common knowledge?

Economic decay is all around. Poverty, unemployment, foreclosures, job export, consumer debt, pension attrition, and crumbling infrastructure are well documented. The self-destruction of the Wall Street financial giants, with their looting and draining of trillions of other people's money, have been headlines for two years. During and after their gigantic taxpayer bailouts from Washington, DC, the banks, et al, are still the most powerful force in determining the nature of proposed corrective legislation. "The banks own this place," says Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), evoking the opinion of many members of a supine Congress ready to pass weak consumer and investor protection legislation while leaving dominant fewer and larger banks.

Who hasn't felt the ripoffs and one-sided fine print of the credit card industry? A reform bill finally has passed after years of delay, again weak and incomplete. Shameless over their gouges, the companies have their attorneys already at work to design around the law's modest strictures.

The drug and health insurance industry, swarming with thousands of lobbyists, got pretty much what they wanted in the new health law. Insurers got millions of new customers subsidized by hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars with very little regulation. The drug companies got their dream -no reimportation of cheaper identical drugs, no authority for Uncle Sam to bargain for discount prices, and a very profitable extension of monopoly patent protection for biologic drugs against cheaper, generic drug competition. For all their gouges, for all their exclusions, their denial of claims and restrictions of benefits, for all their horrendous price increases, the two industries have come out stronger than ever politically and economically. Small wonder their stocks are rising even in a recession.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/29-11

(good 'comments' section below)

[Frances]

1. I'm sorry but I can't take Nader seriously

[Echo In Light]

2. No need to apologize.

[calico1]

7. Me either. Especially after he took money from

Republicans in his last attempt to throw the election to the GOP. I long ago stopped listening to anything he says.

[wroberts189]

13. Do you put your seat belt on when you drive? If so then you do. nt

[malaise]

24. +1,000 n/t

[cali]

3. Ralph has always struck me as someone remarkably out of touch

with, well, humans.

[depakid]

23. So out of touch that just about every result from "Democratic" policies that he predicted

over the past 20 year has proven true!

[ecstatic]

4. And when he runs for prez again, that will make him and his followers

the definition of Attention Deficit.

[Echo In Light]

5. Bump

[Echo In Light]

6. Bump

[tom_paine]

8. I don't like Nader for his role in 2000, either, but if we just read the article on it's own merits

it makes an awful lot of sense.

[berni_mccoy]

9. Two words: Fuck Nader.

[Echo In Light]

10. Bump

[leftstreet]

11. 'because its ideology is a continuing myth of progress'

That's the truly scary thing here

Since the Dems have had the majority it's been impossible not to see. With BushInc everyone could easily balk at terms like 'Healthy Forests Act,' or 'No Child Left Behind.'

But now, the Democrats (the DEMOCRATS) are embracing concepts like 'Health Care Reform,' which is essentially Wealth Care Reform.

Reform! Progress! Thank God it Passed !!!!1111111

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Excellent, as usual. Thanks for posting. K&R

[Itchinjim]

14. Shut up and go away Ralph.

n/t

[ProSense]

15. Fuck Ralph Nader

"A reform bill finally has passed after years of delay, again weak and incomplete."

He's like all the idiotic armchair quarterbacks making statement unsupported by facts.

[G_j]

16. good article, very smart guy

a lot smarter than those who won't bother reading the article, but jump at the chance to blurt a profanity on the internets!

[Fumesucker]

17. K&R

[Echo In Light]

18. Bump

[bahrbearian]

19. Nader doesn't lie.

[depakid]

20. Telling it like it undeniably is-

Always impressive to watch the Nader haters squeal when confronted with the sorry political state of their nation.

[ampad]

29. Really

You all hate the current president so much that you cannot see or understand why people would be turned off from asshole Nader. His own damn party turned against him once he took money from the repigs. Yet you people are all up in arms towards the "corporate Obama" No different than Hillary Clinton fans trying to pass off as being so very liberal after she lost the fight. She is just as corporate as they come. All of a sudden they seem to forget that little tidbit. Tell you what. Actually I could give a fuck what Nader has to say. Yea he has done some good in his life but so has the sitting president. Care to give him a break? Did not think so. When you help to give the election over to probably the worst president of our time. A president where thousands upon thousands of people have died (some here in our own country) then all I can say is fuck you. Yea he saved quite a people with those seat belts sure did. I wonder if he has a deficit of lives saved when you add up what Bush done during the last eight years. Cover your eyes and say it cannot be because after all it is Nader! The great green party cluster fuck! Whatever. Then you want to talk about the sorry political state of this country. Well Nader and his band of followers take a look in the mirror. I have a sneaky suspicion we would not be in this mess had we had a president Gore. So yea, screw him. I wonder if he stays up at night wondering about that election and what it cost this country. I don't think seat belts are gonna cut it. But hea! he is a real progressive and we lubbe him. He is not an Obama corporatist. He is so progressive that he went all the way around to the right and took their filthy money to try and win an election he knew good and damn well he had no chance of winning! That's progressive for ya! Again, screw him.

[depakid]

32. An excellent illustration of shallow, Manichean thinking and denialism

Nicely done!

[MJongo]

21. Seriously people?

I'm new here, but I'm not sure I want to stick around after reading all the ad-hominem attacks on Nader without any comments on the essay. Yes, he spoiled the 2000 election (which would not have happened if we had a truly democratic voting system like approval voting), but come on people, he has a point. I mean, I'm glad at least something passed in the right direction, but the way the bill is, we still have a whole lot farther to go.

[Echo In Light]

22. Welcome aboard. One thing, though; even Gore disavows the Nader mythology re the "election."

i.e. Bushco installation (PNAC admin)

[CrawlingChaos]

25. K&R - Nader is 100% right. Yet AGAIN.

The hatred directed toward him here, including the "spoiler" myth, is a direct result of his willingness to tell uncomfortable truths.

[MJongo]

26. Nader: Spoiler?

Two questions:

1. How do you figure Nader did not cost Gore the election? Would not Gore have won if Nader hadn't run? (Not that I have anything against Nader, he was my favorite.)
2. What does K&R mean?

[Echo In Light]

27. +1

[Boxcar Johnson]

28. Good piece

Nader gets unfairly vilified. He's usually right.

[Better Believe It]

30. A few diehards still love giving Nader the swiftboat like character assassination treatment.

[Echo In Light]

31. Funny how there's usually a direct correlation between these ...

The ones who continually abide the de-bunked Nader Mythology are often the same ones who vehemently, belligerently oppose other 'conspiracies.'

[AnArmyVeteran]

33. Wow, lot's of Nader Haters here. And people who have huge memory lapses...

Nader is an American hero. He has done a great deal for this country and I find it mystifying how he is attacked so savagely. I guess a lot of people believe Nader gave the 2000 election to Bush, but they are wrong. There were big voter drives to vote for Nader in red states where Gore could not have won. Nader didn't cause Gore to lose, Gore did. Hell, I could have debated the imbecile Bush better than Gore did. As I watched the debates I was amazed at how Gore let Bush off the hook so many times and basically conceded the race to him. Gore had the opportunity to put the nail in Bush's political coffin many times during the debates, but for some reason he didn't. The people I watched the debates with thought the same thing I did. It was like the fix was in and Gore didn't even want to win. He failed to stand up for the American people and that is why the election was so close it enabled the republicans to steal it.

And had Nader been allowed to debate with Gore and Bush it would have helped expose Bush even more as a corrupt, corporate buffoon. But the Commission for Presidential Debates, which consisted of one republican and one democrat, the corrupt Paul Kirk, kept Nader from debating. Had Paul Kirk and Al Gore had any balls or conviction they would have fought to have Nader in the debates, and I firmly believe with Nader included in the debates the election wouldn't have been as close as it was. With a Nader, Gore & Bush debate it would have made Bush look like the laughingstock that he is. Nader would have caused a lot more damage to Bush than to Gore because he would have had the balls to expose all of Bush's weaknesses and that he was nothing more than a corporate prostitute. As Nader so eloquently stated many times, "Bush is nothing but a corporation masquerading as a human being". Nader would have destroyed Bush in the debates and both Bush and his fake cowboy hat would have been sent back to Texas, sparing our country of war and economic ruin. But it seemed the 'powers that be' (American corporations) would have been happy to have either Bush or Gore. With Nader in the debates he would have given voice to the true progressives in this country, which Gore completely failed to do. (Do you remember the debate where Gore kept agreeing with Bush!!!!)

I attended a Nader event where he spoke for two hours without notes or handlers. Then he fielded questions for more than an hour answering each one eloquently. He was knowledgeable on every subject, and as I listened to him I tried to envision Bush giving a two hour speech without notes and then fielding unscripted questions. The thought was laughable.

Nader did not give the 2000 election to Bush. That election was stolen. Hell, Gore even received a half million more votes than Bush. And Gore made a huge mistake when he didn't demand a recount of the entire state of Florida. That gave the republicans the edge when they went to court.

You can attack Nader all you want, but he is one of the biggest advocates for social justice this country has ever been blessed to have. If you look at his accomplishments I'm sure you can find a way where Nader's tireless work has affected your lives in a positive way. You might even find an instance where he saved the life of one of your family members.

Ok, you can resume your Nader bashing now. Sorry to take your attack time away from you for a few moments.

[Echo In Light]

34. Great post! I too attended a Nader talk, late 90s in Ia City

He is quite passionate re social justice ... and as you pointed out, didn't rely on 'handlers' the way ANY mainstream "electable" candidate obviously does

[Echo In Light]

35. Bumping to piss off haters