more nader press

["mike chamness" <m_chamness@hotmail.com>]

In addition to the following article in the Grand Junction Sentinel, there 
has been excellent coverage about Nader's Montrose event in this week's 
issues of the Glenwood Post, the Glenwood Independent, and the Western Slope 
Sunday, and one heckuva pro-Nader column by Aspen Times columnist Hal 
Clifford. The WCC speech and the Nader rally later that night were, in a 
word, badass. Not very often you see a corporate hotel chain change it's 
name to the "Nader Inn" for a night. Many congrats and kudos of the highest 
order to Anne, Alice, and the Western Slope groups for making a great event 
better by organizing a rally that pulled 100+! I still can't believe what I 
saw. Kumbia!

Mike

Nader says Americans need to reclaim power
RACHEL SAUER
MONTROSE — Citizens need to be engaged in democracy to put an end to 
unchecked corporate globalization, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph 
Nader told the annual meeting of the Western Colorado Congress Saturday.

Quoting financier George Soros, Nader said global corporations are the 
United States’ greatest threat to democracy because they "concentrate power 
in the hands of fewer and fewer people."

Nader, a longtime consumer advocate, said corporations such as 
pharmaceuticals, oil, gas and coal, insurance, banking, motor vehicles and 
biotechnology split ownership and control — taking money from shareholders 
but giving them no control and no information about how the corporation is 
run.

He said citizens need to become involved in regaining control of America, 
which he said corporations currently hold.

"The power of the people is far more powerful than the power of those 
corporations, when combined," Nader said. "The way to deal with organized 
money is organized people."

Nader decried what he sees as corporate rather than civic education for U.S. 
citizens: "We don't grow up knowing and being taught what we own with other 
Americans," he said, citing lack of citizen control of the airwaves. "We 
don't grow up civic, we grow up corporate."

In a speech that drew frequent applause from the more than 200 in 
attendance, Nader addressed international trade agreements, the demise of 
trade and labor unions and a need for procedural democracy, which he 
explained as legislation requiring all state agencies to meet standards of 
open appeal and full-disclosure.

He particularly addressed international trade agreements like NAFTA and WTO. 
He said these agreements allow for decisions to be made in secret and they 
penalize the restriction of trade rather than the destruction of the 
environment or violation of human rights. The trade agreements' call for 
"harmonization of standards" means if any country sees standards as 
restrictive of trade, they can be appealed, he said, adding, "It's 
harmonization downward."

His remarks, which he delivered with missionary zeal, pointed toward placing 
power in the hands of citizens. Quoting Roman philosopher Cicero, he said, “ 
‘Freedom is participation in power.’ Without it we cannot pursue justice.”

Unchecked corporate growth and lenience in not making government accountable 
to the citizens has led to environmental catastrophe, economic stagnation or 
decline for a large part of the population despite a booming economy and a 
citizenry that doesn't know how to combat the problems, he said.

"Taxpayers are forced to ante up for stadiums and arenas while schools and 
clinics crumble," he said. "The real issue is civic motivation. We go 
through school and we don't learn civic skills, how to practice democracy, 
how to take our rights and translate them into good policy. We should be 
learning how to use the Freedom of Information (Act), how to explore city 
hall, how to do a voting profile on our legislators, how to do a news 
conference ... how to be resilient because you're not going to go through 
life on your knees."

Political analysts, and Nader himself, agree that Nader has no chance of 
winning the presidency, but in the Sept. 14 issue of Rolling Stone, Nader 
told a reporter, "We're going to show that citizen power can overcome 
business dollars in election campaigns."

{M4 Rachel Sauer can be reached via e-mail at rsauer@gjds.com.







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