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Ralph Nader Quotes

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney, noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the United States, Nader was educated at Princeton and Harvard and first came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of the bestselling book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers that became known as one of the most important journalistic pieces of the 20th century. Following the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, Nader led a group of volunteer law students — dubbed "Nader's Raiders" — in a groundbreaking investigation of the Federal Trade Commission, leading directly to that agency's overhaul and reform. In the 1970s, Nader leveraged his growing popularity to establish a number of advocacy and watchdog groups including the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Auto Safety, and Public Citizen.

Nader's activism has been directly credited with the passage of several landmark pieces of American consumer protection legislation including the Clean Water Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and he has been repeatedly named to lists of the "100 Most Influential Americans", including those published by Life Magazine, Time Magazine, and The Atlantic, among others. He has run for President of the United States on several occasions as an independent and third party candidate, using the campaigns to highlight under-reported issues and a perceived need for electoral reform.

A two-time Nieman Fellow, Nader is the author or co-author of more than two dozen books, and was the subject of a documentary film on his life and work, An Unreasonable Man, which debuted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

✵ 27. February 1934
Ralph Nader photo
Ralph Nader: 36 quotes6 likes

Famous Ralph Nader Quotes

“…the Democratic and Republican parties, two apparently distinct political entities feeding at the same corporate trough.”

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000)

“The "democracy gap" in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the “least worst” every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the “least worst” gets worse.”

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000)

“…the Democrats know that no matter how many GATTs, NAFTAs, empty OSHAs, and other betrayals…they heap on those labor leaders, they can be had because, once again, the Republicans are deemed worse.”

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000), Crashing the Party (2002)

“The tired whine of 'But the Republicans are worse' will fall flat as more young Americans take charge of their future and move, with their reenergized elders, toward the Green Party and parallel civic and political movements.”

Ralph Nader

Crashing the Party (2002)

Ralph Nader Quotes

“This administration is not sympathetic to corporations, it is indentured to corporations.”

Ralph Nader

Quoted in a news conference (3 October 1972), speaking on the Nixon Administration; reported in The Washington Post (4 October 1972), p. A2.

“People are being pushed around, disrespected, defrauded, injured, and given the runaround by arrogant corporate bureaucrats using nameless, robotic, and tyrannical "fine print" contract barricades.”

Ralph Nader

To the Ramparts (2018)

“Unlike members of Congress, Big Business knew what the WTO agreements contained. That's because corporate lobbyists helped draft them.”

Ralph Nader

The Good Fight (2004)

“The 1963 Corvair, which has some remarkable characteristics. It's one of the few cars I know that can do the bossa nova on dry pavement and the watusi on wet.”

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader, An Unreasonable Man (2006) Documentary film

“Like knowing hostages, the AFL-CIO and its unions march in tandem to endorse the Democratic presidential nominees early in the primary season. They have given up their capacity for negotiation, so frightened are they of the Republicans. Meanwhile, the rank-and-file workers suffer their dwindling status in silence.”

Ralph Nader

Crashing the Party (2002)

“The shortcomings of America's political leaders do not stop at our borders.”

Ralph Nader

The Good Fight (2004)

“Politics does not bother corporate power. Whoever wins, they win. Both parties represent Wall Street over Main Street. Wall Street is embedded in the federal government.”

Ralph Nader

As interviewed by Chris Hedges in "Welcome to 1984," May 14, 2016 http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/welcome_to_1984_20160514

“This could be the most serious event in American political history. Because you're no longer dealing with a rural government where most of the the workers were postmen, like in the nineteenth century. You're dealing with an unstable personality who takes everything personally in terms of a bruised ego, has stated again and again that he'll lash back even if he has to get up at 3 A. M. and twitter about an overweight former Miss Universe … and he's got his finger on the nuclear trigger, or on drones, or on, you know, aircraft carriers.”

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader, "This Could Be the Most Serious Event in History", The Big Picture RT (7:02 of 12:57), Nov. 9, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRkqYuv3_8

“… the only difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door.”

Ralph Nader

quoted in American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good (2015)

Source: [Woodard, Colin, American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good, 1980, Simon and Schuster, 0698181719]

“…organized labor…rushes to support the party without demanding a turn away from corporatism toward workers’ needs. This is the logic of the lesser of two evils. It tethers labor to a relentless slide deeper into the corporate power pits year after year.”

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000), Crashing the Party (2002)

“Up against the corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers. The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust.”

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000)

“Half of democracy is about just showing up.”

Ralph Nader

The Good Fight (2004)

“We must strive to become good ancestors.”

Ralph Nader

The Good Fight (2004)

“[E]stablish a public national complaint-handling system using the Internet to help consumers, taxpayers, and workers... It will also be a good way for policy makers to detect patterns. Patterns lead to deterrence...”

Ralph Nader

To the Ramparts (2018)

“My hope is that... I will open Democrats' and other progressives' eyes to the many values shared by the Left and Right... like the desire to end corporate welfare and convert to a renewable energy (solar) economy. ...the way to defeat Trump... is to embrace (not marginalize) issues such as raising the minimum wage. ...It is a question of do or just further fade away.”

Ralph Nader

To the Ramparts (2018)

“Congress... has become a secret tyrannical bastion of Wall Street, and that outrages people...”

Ralph Nader

"How The Rats Reformed The Congress" (2018)

“Democracy requires work. ...The more they feel they've got the members Congress on the run, the more energized they become.”

Ralph Nader

"How The Rats Reformed The Congress" (2018)

“[I]n this book... the rallies... are different... they build from day to day... and... it's led by people who are full-time... and they open offices in Washington. ...Three enlightened billionaires come to town and they say... "Hey, let's fund this"... and a brain trust.”

Ralph Nader

"How The Rats Reformed The Congress" (2018)

“American politicians over the past 25 years have learned to quietly dismiss big rallies, demonstrations, and even temporary occupations, because they have gone nowhere.”

Ralph Nader

A quote from the book
"How The Rats Reformed The Congress" (2018)

“[W]e have all these myths... about a Democratic society... [W]e have been disintegrating our Democratic institutions for over 40 years.”

Ralph Nader

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

“They say we have a free press, but we do not. We have a press that is indentured to advertising revenue, and they themselves are now conglomerate corporations... and five big ones control most of the circulation and viewership...”

Ralph Nader

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

“Democratic elections require that votes are supreme, not big-money. They require contested candidacies, not a two-party duopoly that increasingly reflects the same commercial interests.”

Ralph Nader

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

“Paradoxically, we are in a golden age of books, documentaries, and films that... expose the abuses, crimes and authoritarian essence of corporate commercialism. ...[N]ever ...have they had less impact for change.”

Ralph Nader

Breaking Through Power (2016)

“[P]ublic interest groups, consumer protection organizations, and... social networks have worked relentlessly to break through the battalions of lobbyists paid by corporate interests...”

Ralph Nader

Breaking Through Power (2016)

“[W]henever there have been periods when enough of the country organizes and resists, we see movements of people and communities breaking through power. Progress is made. Rights are won. Education and literacy increase. Oppression is diminished.”

Ralph Nader

Breaking Through Power (2016)

“It's Easier Than We Think.”

Ralph Nader

Breaking Through Power (2016)

“It first starts with an intrepid rat... that goes up to the toilet bowl of the Speaker, just as he's sitting down to do his business... Some readers who couldn't get past the first few pages... called it disgusting and upsetting, and I said, "Well, you're describing the behavior of Congress..."”

Ralph Nader

"How The Rats Reformed The Congress" (2018)

“[A] phony standard... from Medieval England... says that you are thrown out of court if you don't have a specific interest... that usually now means an economic interest... a corporation that might lose sales, for example.”

Ralph Nader

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

“America's Founding Fathers wrote a Constitution that never once uses the words "corporation," "company," or "political parties."”

Ralph Nader

Their use of language reflected their antipathy toward the domineering influence of empire and big business... If "We the People" are the sole subjects of the Constitution, why is it that we are ruled by large corporations and their largely indentured servants—the Republican and Democratic Parties... "We the People" have allowed these plutocratic forces to slowly siphon away our power.
Breaking Through Power (2016)

“The hardest thing in life is to face reality when you grow up being educated by myths.”

Ralph Nader

Policy Talks@Google (2008)

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