Ralph Nader: Corporal

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

Ralph Nader

Green Party presidential candidacy speech (2000)

“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)

Business , Help

“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

“… 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]

“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.

“…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)

Support , Evil

“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)

Money , Future

“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)

People

“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)

Way , Hope , Question

“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)

“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)

Books , Age , Change

“[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)

“[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)