Posted on 10/31/2002 4:30:33 PM PST by GRRRRR
Ralph Nader Open Letter to Democratic Party U.S. Newswire 31 Oct 10:55 Open Letter to the Democratic Party from Ralph Nader To: National Desk Contact: Ralph Nader, 202-387-8030
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is the text of an open letter from Ralph Nader to the Democratic Party:
The Democrats should have an easy time winning control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in next week's election. Recession is deepening, unemployment is rising, and corporate corruption headlines are proliferating. Health care costs, drug prices and the number of Americans without health care coverage are all increasing. Median household incomes are falling. Corporate crime has heavily depleted 401Ks and other pension losses.
These should all help the Democrats win against the corporate-indentured Republicans marinated in corporate cash, soft on corporate and environmental crimes and demonstrably anti-labor.
Why then is the overall contest for Party control of Congress too close to call? Because Democrats are not clearly, relentlessly and aggressively emphasizing these fundamental issues to distinguish themselves from the Republicans. Why? Are they unaware, neglectful or torpid? No, their chronic ambiguity flows from being largely indentured to the same monied commercial interests as the Republicans.
So Governor Shaheen of New Hampshire, running for the U.S. Senate, refers to corporate crime as "corporate mismanagement" and other Democratic candidates are allowing the Republicans to blur key poll-tested issues like prescription drug benefits, tax cuts for the super wealthy, and corporate crime enforcement.
Voters want to know whose side candidates are on in their daily struggles as workers, consumers, patients, small taxpayers and savers on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the giant corporations that pay forcontrol of our government in order to get all the goodies that come out of the hides of working families. Fairness is the great issue in American politics, stupid!
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats won election after election by conveying one singularly clear impression - that the Republican Party was beholden to the wealthy and the Democratic Party represented the working people. Karl Rove, in the Bush White House, understands this history. That is why he is engaged in the "blur and spur" strategy of fuzzing the hot-button issues to portray the Republicans as fighters for ordinary Americans, instead of the big businesses which own them. This is also why the Republicans are using the spur of the drumbeats of war to distract the country away from pressing domestic necessities, injustices and hazards.
By a margin of nearly two to one the American people do not want a war against Iraq that involves an invasion, American casualties and essentially having the United States go it alone. Not when rigorous UN inspectors can go to Iraq first.
Even more Americans would join these citizens if the mass media relayed the facts about how boxed in the militarily-weakened dictator of Iraq is, surrounded by more powerful enemies (Iran, Turkey, Israel), two-thirds of his country out of his rigid control (no fly zones), deterred, contained and under 24-hour satellite surveillance.
More voters would be anti-war if there was greater media discussion about the likelihood of awful civilian casualties and sickness among the innocent children and adults of Iraq. Voters would also be anti-war if Americans were given the facts about the opposition to the touted conduct of this war from inside the Pentagon, among retired military officers and other experts who believe the risks of undermining the effort against terrorism, of generating a boomerang of domestic terrorism around theworld and an endemic civil war in Iraq (where the U.S. stays as expensive occupier) are not worth toppling the government of Iraq by a unilateral invasion.
When a group of Gulf War veterans had a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on October 24 to point out some of these consequences (which included conditions, leading to the sickness of 128,000 Gulf War veterans in 1991) the media did not show up. (For their statements, see http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org).
The "cakewalk" view of the planned war widely espoused by the circle of chickenhawks surrounding George W. Bush is obscuring serious public debate about another possible outcome -- diverse human and economic consequences adverse to U.S. and global security during and after the war is over.
The Democrats can still raise their voices for the people in the next few days before November 5, if they understand that waffling rarely wins campaigns. The people want it straight talk and real action.
http://www.usnewswire.com -0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 10/31 10:55
Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire
GRRRRRollin'
Recession is deepening
Nope, the GDP rose 3.1% last quarter and corporate spending is up for the first time in 2 years.
unemployment is rising
Nope, unemployment is hovering between 5 and 5.5%
corporate corruption headlines are proliferating
Yes, but only because they are being indicted and sent to jail.
Health care costs, drug prices and the number of Americans without health care coverage are all increasing.
Sure... if you count illegal immigrants as Americans. Even if you did not, your solution to this issue is government control reather than tort reform.
Median household incomes are falling.
A blatant lie!
Corporate crime has heavily depleted 401Ks and other pension losses.
Nope, the bubble bursting on a extremely overvalued stock market has depleted 401K investments, and since when is it government's role to protect stock investments?
Of all the democrat lies and obfuscations, this nonesense about corporate corruption is among the most reprehensible. Corporate corruption didn't start on Jan 20, 2001. All of the egregious cases began and flourished under Bill Clinton. They ran over into the Bush presidency, and the perpetrators are being indicted and convicted as soon as the courts will allow. It is total b.s. that the dems have blamed corporate malfeasance on Bush and the republicans. One might as well blame the sniper shootings on Moose.
"Federal prosecutors say that beginning in 1997, Fastow created a series of complex "special purpose entities" that kept poorly performing assets off Enron's balance sheets and falsely manufactured earnings, making the energy trading giant appear more financially sound than it truly was."
Who was president in 97, 98, 99, and 2000? And what, exactly, did he do about this? Bush is putting these guys in jail forever.
Ralphie is history.
Ralph is a Muslim and an Arab. That tends to color his views just a bit.
Jeez Ralph, got any more qualifiers to load on that? "If we ask the question just the right way, with the wind behind us and with enough booze in the subject, he'll agree to darn near anything!"
From Green Party Platform
I. Democracy,
D. Foreign Policy
8. INTERNATIONAL LAW and INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS are inseperable. We do not support a world-view that relies on accomodation of tyranny or repressive regimes.
10. We support peace in the MIDDLE EAST based on respect for cibil liberties and human rights.
...
All non-violently, of course. If we ask nicely... oops, that would be "accomodation", wouldn't it. Uhhh, we'll do it by... we'll just... uhhh...
<crickets chirping>
Well, duh, it is very simple: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NO LONGER REPRESENTS THE WORKING PEOPLE!
And it is not because the Democrats are not sufficiently Socialistic, as Ralph Nader would like. But the corruption of the Democratic party has something to do with it.
The Democrats are corrupted morally and economically. They defend the economic interests of trial lawyers, shakedown artists, and ethnic groups in the AA patronage club. But this is not representing the working man. Nor is actively supporting eco-extremists, many of whom are elitists whose ideas actually harm our standard of living. But the worst are the anti-moralists, folks like Norman Lear and other hollywood influencers, who have turned the Democrats into a party that wants to tear down traditional values, families and common sense in education, culture and society.
But Nader has no problem with THAT, he just wants to stick it to da corporate man. whatever, his economics are all WRONG.
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