212 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
212 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 7 Num. 53
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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RALPH NADER -- 03/24/96
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=======================
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Ralph Nader appeared on Meet The Press (a.k.a. "Meet The
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Depressed") on March 24, 1996, and was interviewed by Tim
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Russert.
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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[...continued...]
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TIM RUSSERT:
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One of the things I've read that you are most concerned and
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upset, about President Clinton, is that he signed a bill to raise
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the speed limit from 55 mph. Why?
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RALPH NADER:
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Because his own Department of Transportation told him, months
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earlier, that that would kill 6500 Americans, seriously injure
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20,000 more Americans, every year, $20 billion of health care
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costs, all kinds of wage loss, and higher auto insurance rates.
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*And* *yet*, Secretary Pena and Dr. Martinez of the Auto Safety
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Agency did not stand up. They actually supported their own
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demolition of the most successful trauma prevention program in
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American history, on the highways. (And I'm sorry that your
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former employer, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was very strong on
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auto safety, didn't take a strong stand against that presidential
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deal in the U.S. Senate.)
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TIM RUSSERT:
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*Why* do you think President Clinton signed that bill?
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RALPH NADER:
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I think first of all he wanted the highway construction part of
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it. But that would've bounced right back to him from the
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Congress, had he vetoed the bill. And I think second, he just is
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indifferent to the consequences! But what happens when speeds go
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up to 65 (and in reality, 75 miles per hour), with the Mexican
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trucks coming in? With our big trucks not having adequate brakes?
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He just was indifferent to it! I couldn't even get 5 minutes to
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*convey* this to him! (And I don't usually ask to see him or meet
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him!) But this was a real case of life and death in America. And
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to actually *dismantle* a program that's been effective for 20
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years, was a calamity.
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TIM RUSSERT:
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I was reading the platform of the Green Party. And it is *very*
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liberal, I would say. (Or "progressive" -- whatever term you want
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to use.) Will you support, and run on, that platform?
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RALPH NADER:
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I'm not running on that platform. And they know it. I'm running
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on *my* platform, of building democracy. And some of my platform
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and theirs overlaps: sustainable economic growth; labor rights;
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consumer protection; civil rights; civil liberties. But I'm not a
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Green Party member! But I think the Green Party has the greatest
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opportunity, whether in Maine, Colorado, New Mexico, New York,
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Pennsylvania, California, Alaska -- all over -- to be the
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emerging "progressive" alternative; to push the other parties
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into recognizing that the function (as Thomas Jefferson once put
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it) of representative government is to "counteract the excesses
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of the monied interests." And you know, when the wealth of 1
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percent of the American people -- the top 1 percent -- is equal
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to the 90 percent at the bottom; when there's *so* much wealth
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and power in so few hands; the country gets in trouble! The
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country gets in *serious* trouble, historically. We need a
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correction movement here.
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We have, you know, all these Cable TV channels. Why isn't there
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one for Labor? Why isn't there one for citizen activity, so we
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can learn from one another? Instead of this *morbid* plastering
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of depravity and sickness and violations and criminal behavior
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that you see only on TV?
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TIM RUSSERT:
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So when the Green Party says they would not allow animals to be
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used at racetracks or rodeos or circuses, that's not the kind of
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issue you're gonna get involved with.
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RALPH NADER:
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Precisely. I think politicians are expected to take a position on
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everything under the sun, whether they know anything about it or
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not. I'm taking two positions: on the areas of consumer, auto
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safety, environment, that I've *worked* on and know something
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about; and on building democracy -- that's gonna be made
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extremely concrete, in terms of the facilities that make it easy
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for people to band together, whether as consumers, workers, tax-
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payers, shareholders, or voter-citizens.
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TIM RUSSERT:
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When Green Party pushes the issue of same sex marriages, is that
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an issue you're gonna care about?
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RALPH NADER:
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That's not an issue I'm gonna *speak* about. That's... If that's
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their issue, they're free to advocate it.
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The key thing is, we're rising to a more Constitutional level of
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re-building our democracy.
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TIM RUSSERT:
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How about a balanced budget? Is Ralph Nader in favor of a
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balanced budget?
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RALPH NADER:
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I'm very frugal. But I wouldn't balance it the way John Kasich
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did. You notice *he* "wants to cut corporate welfare" -- but he
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kept quiet about it earlier in the program! [laughs]
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TIM RUSSERT:
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How would Ralph Nader balance the budget?
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RALPH NADER:
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I would, first of all, bring the boys back from Europe and East
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Asia and let these countries (in alliance, perhaps, with the
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United States) defend themselves. That's a hundred billion
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dollars right there, in direct and indirect backup expenses. I'd
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eliminate over $150 billion of corporate welfare. I'd make the
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government more assiduous in collecting its debts and its
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royalties from *free* research and development in the drug area,
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that they give away to the drug companies, (that the tax-payers
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pay for), and the resources out of federal lands. And we'd have a
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surplus! A surplus. That's just for beginners.
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Trouble is that "cutting the budget" is aimed at poor people!
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It's aimed at defenseless people! It's aimed at people who can't
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fight back. It's not aimed at the fat cat corporate welfare --
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"Aid to Dependent Corporations", so to speak -- who are *raking*
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off the middle class tax dollars here in Washington in the tens
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of billions of dollars! Subsidies, bail-outs, give-aways. The S&L
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bailout was $500 billion dollars, in interest and principal, over
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the next 20 years! Can you imagine what that would buy, in terms
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of public works and job creation!?
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TIM RUSSERT:
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Does Ralph Nader sound like Pat Buchanan on some issues?
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RALPH NADER:
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Well on some issues, like NAFTA and GATT, Pat Buchanan sounds
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like a global trade coalition of unions, elderly, church groups,
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consumer groups, who thought that NAFTA and GATT were mainly
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about governance -- not so much free trade. (There's a lot of
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monopolization of the intellectual property in NAFTA and GATT.)
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They're about the supremacy of trade over the health and safety
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standards of our country, and giving our country only *one*
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*vote* (along with Saint Kitts) in the World Trade Organization
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-- with no veto -- and having secret tribunals and "harmonization
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mandates" that will prevent us from being *first*, as we were
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with air bags and other health and safety features. *Very*, very
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autocratic systems of government in NAFTA and GATT. Particularly
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GATT.
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TIM RUSSERT:
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Final question, Mr. Nader: So when it comes to consumers, you
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don't see any difference between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.
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RALPH NADER:
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There is a difference, but it's not sufficient for a two-party
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duopoly to offer America. The choices are far too narrow, and
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they're moving into the laps of the major corporations more and
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more. We've gotta have more competition and a broader democracy
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agenda that enlists the energies of the American people -- not
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just as bystanders, trotting themselves out to the election, but
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as deeply involved, committed people, from the grass roots up to
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Washington.
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See also: http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn.html
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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