Michael Westfall
http://michaelwestfall.tripod.com/index.html2-28-2008
Ralph Nader is one of the few people ever born in America who deserves
to wear the badge of “Great
American”.
His courageous life as a political activist, humanitarian,
environmentalist and America’s
consumer rights advocate is legendary.
Ralph has run for President of the United States four times and
announced
on NBC’s /Meet The Press/ Sunday, February 24 that he was
running as a third party presidential candidate in 2008.
He cited that
because of the protracted Iraq War, the wobbly economy, taxes, powerful
lobbyists and other key
issues that Americans are disenchanted with
both
the Republican and Democratic parties and need another voice. Who
can
deny that we are over taxed, and that there are special parasitical
interests on both sides of the political isle
that have been
influencing
our government in negative ways for much too long?
Instantaneously, when Ralph declared
his candidacy, the liberal magpie
talking heads came out of the woodwork calling him demeaning names such
as a
buffoon and a crackpot. Democratic sympathizers especially detest
Ralph. They call him an election spoiler and claim that
his entry into
the 2000 presidential election cost Al Gore the election by taking
votes
in the close Florida race.
What they are really saying is that they
want
to control the American elections, only want their chosen candidates
to
run, want to limit voters’ choices and they blame their party failures
on Nader. They call themselves
Democrats, but this is not democracy. It
is sour grapes.
Nader is profoundly different from the other candidates
because he is
not a career politician. Nader’s calling has been special in that
rather
than merely spending
a political career jawboning for votes, he has
actually spent a lifetime of selflessly working on hundreds of causes
by
identifying critical issues, rallying the people around those serious
issues to find solutions and actually doing
what was necessary to
correct the problems.
Ralph’s politically biased critics are expert at using the eager
sensationalist press as their alter ego to broadcast their false,
exaggerated and twisted remarks to slander him through
personal
attacks.
They have never put the cause above themselves or reached out to the
public for any reason other
then for politically prostituting
themselves
by character assassinating one of the most respected people in the
world.
Unlike Nader, they have never held a demonstration, never
conducted a community rally, never spoken to Congress and never
taken
on
big business because of big businesses’ inhumane or anti-American
practices. What similar contributions
have Nader’s critics made to
America? None! They have zero credentials.
Unlike his detractors, Ralph donates
nearly all of his income, other
than a modest $25,000 per year, to approximately 50 non-profit vibrant
organizations
that he has founded which are totally dedicated to
helping
the American public.
Many of us are old enough to
remember when safety was secondary, and
cars had a multitude of safety problems. Ralph’s work has resulted in
the
creation of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act,
which
created the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
in 1966.
This
led to a series of auto safety features beginning with safer
windshields, seat belts, air bags,
etc. Because of Ralph Nader, our
families are much safer.
Ralph spearheaded the investigation of government corruption
in 1971.
Public Citizen, which he founded, has over 140,000 members and does
investigations on Congressional, health,
environmental, economic and
other issues. Ralph has been the people’s watchdog as he led countless
fights against
corporate greed and Pentagon waste. His vital work has
covered issues including dangerous chemicals, and it has also covered
excessive tax rebates for big corporations that have devastated our
communities.
He has been the supreme, unequaled
voice bringing safety to the
American
products that we all use. His dedication and tenacity on health and
safety
issues has unquestionably saved the lives of thousands of
Americans, possibly even the lives of the family members of
his most
vocal and unappreciative critics.
Thirty years ago, I was a Flint GM blue-collar, auto activist leader.
In
the 1980’s, we saw that we were losing America’s good paying
manufacturing jobs for a host of reasons
ranging from automation to
global sourcing. In Michigan, General Motors was demanding property tax
assessment
reductions of millions of dollars from twenty different
hurting communities. Sixty-six cents of every dollar would have
had to
come back from our schools. I was part of a broad based community
member’s movement consisting of workers,
educators, churches and
universities challenging GM. We invited Ralph to Flint to help us,
which
he immediately
did.
Ralph graciously used his resources to assist us. He wrote about our
fight, he came to Flint for rallies,
he and I did press conferences and
radio shows together. He also sent Jim Musselman, one of his most
capable staff
attorneys, to assist us in Flint for several months on
the
GM property tax assessment reduction fight. No one else
in this nation
was willing to do this, but Ralph Nader did.
It is worth noting that the most critical issue facing
workers during
those times was job loss. The workers’ cries fell upon deaf ears in
both
the Republican Party
and the Democratic Party as they sold out workers
and manufacturing communities with their NAFTA pact. NAFTA has been
used
as the grease for American manufacturing job loss. NAFTA has made it
impossible for local governments to protect
the best interests of their
citizens and workers.
Former Republican President George H.W. Bush negotiated the
NAFTA pact,
and Democratic President Bill Clinton and his Vice President Al Gore,
in
this unholy political
alliance, initiated and led the signing of it on
September14, 1993. NAFTA has single handedly done more to devastate and
destroy America’s once proud premier auto industry and manufacturing
base than any other program in the history
of labor, thanks to both the
Democrats and the Republicans.
Nafta was designed as a power shift that was totally
lopsided in favor
of multi-national investors at worker expense. When workers suffer
their
families, communities
and states suffer with them. Washington’s NAFTA
has allowed American based multi-national corporations, which have
no
loyalty to any one nation, the right to pit one nation against another
nation and reduce everyone to the lowest
common denominator. It has
suppressed wages, weakened unions and reduced benefits as it has moved
production from
the United States to Canada and Mexico. Since NAFTA was
signed, America has lost over a million middle income manufacturing
jobs
devastating states like Michigan.
NAFTA has done more harm to America’s manufacturing sector than any
other program in the history of labor. It is a sterling example of why
Washington politicians are not friends of working
Americans.
Ironically, it hasn’t helped Mexico or it’s Maquiladora factories south
of the American
border. Mexican’s have seen poverty increase and their
real wages reduced. They have, also, seen their towns turned
into
environmental nightmares.
Before NAFTA, Ralph Nader proved himself an ally of the working class
and was
participating in radio shows with me in Flint addressing the
dilemma facing America’s middle income manufacturing
workers. Now the
same Democratic Party who, jointly with the Republican Party, brought
us
NAFTA is calling Nader
names because he dares run against them. Ralph
was an unwavering challenger of NAFTA. He stated that NAFTA was written
in such a manner that it could emasculate and undercut the laws of the
participating nations which were designed to
guard consumers and the
environment. That is exactly what has happened and with horrifying
consequences.
In
conclusion, I am a fundamentalist Christian Conservative. Ralph
Nader
and I are not on the same side of the table
on all of the issues. That
said, I have a deep respect for Ralph and his life’s work. He has the
qualifications,
intelligence and honesty that some of the others lack.
Ralph has as much right to run for election as any of the other
career
politician candidates.
He has authentic credentials. Anyone who has been privileged enough to
know or
has ever worked with him has admired not only the good work he
has done for our society, but his integrity, dedication
and concern for
his fellow man. He is a positive role model and a sincere champion for
the American people because
of his great passion for the important
issues. Ralph Nader is America’s premier consumer advocate. Whatever
your
political persuasion, America can never repay him for his
contributions to our nation. For Americans to not consider his
ideas,
reject his opinions, discount his reputation, rebuff his work and call
him names is sheer stupidity. The ridiculous
people who suggest that we
do such things have a twisted definition of democracy.
So no, Ralph Nader is no
crackpot nor is he a loose cannon, and he
doesn’t lick the boots of corporate or political America like his
befuddled,
sharp shooting, dimwitted critics.
M.W.
