Green Party's Ralph Nader brings different message

Ralph Nader the consumer advocate is now Ralph Nader the Presidential candidate, and he's bringing his old advocacy tactics into presidential politics. The Green Party's nominee for the nation's top political office, Nader recently came to Yale to discuss his candidacy.

Nader spoke to several hundred students and New Haven residents on Tues., Oct. 29, at Battell Chapel about the environment and other issues around which the Green Party is rallying in this election year. Prior to his address, the candidate spoke to the press about his involvement in the party and his views on a variety of issues.

Nader said that he was running to repair "the closure of citizen participation in government" over the past 15 years.

The consumer advocate became involved with the Green Party last year when California environmentalists contacted him. Nader responded favorably to their letters, and support for his candidacy grew until he agreed to run for President.

Much of the Green Party's platform involves progressive reform. Nader supports the repeal of NAFTA and GATT, as well as cutting the military budget and corporate welfare. He also advocates the institution of single-payer national health insurance, which is used in Canada, claiming that it is a simpler and more economical alternative to the Clinton health plan.

With such a progressive and liberal stance on many issues, the Green Party may struggle in today's political climate. With the Republicans controlling Congress and Clinton moving to the center of the political spectrum, Nader's party runs contrary to this political trend.

However, Nader argued that recent actions of politicians have shown that the Green Party can receive support from a wide electoral base. "When you look at most of their positions that they win in the majority of the polls, I think they're majoritarian issues: environment, consumers, labor, justice, political reform," he said. "The country's not turning to the right; the power structure is twisting the formal political structure into a corporatist battle."

Nader continued, "Why do you think Clinton didn't want me in the debates? Do you think that if he really believed I was just appealing to just a sliver of the public, why did he want me off the debates?"

Nader harshly criticized the current political climate. While having no kind words for the Republicans, he also found fault with the "corporate Democrats," calling them hybrids of Democrats and Republicans whose political strategy "is to say that they are not as bad as Newt Gingrich."

Almost hinting that he does not expect to win the election, Nader chose instead to discuss the role of the third party in determining electoral issues and making a statement about the major party candidates.

He called choosing between this year's candidates "a choice of Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee." While Nader refused to endorse either of the two major candidates for president, he said, "Clinton deserves to lose, but not to Dole."

He added that people should not feel that they are wasting their vote if they vote for him. On the contrary, he said that people will waste their votes by "voting for the Clinton bandwagon" and that their votes will go into a "landslide pool."

With many Americans cynical about the federal government, political pundits have claimed that the country is ready for a third party. Nader and other Green Party members said that, beginning with this election, their party can emerge as an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans.

So far, the party has been moderately successful. According to Green Party member Mike DeRosa, Nader's support is at seven percent in Connecticut and between five and seven percent elsewhere in the country. DeRosa also added that the support for Nader is coming almost equally from Democrats, Republicans, and supporters of Ross Perot.

The party still has work to do, however, if it wants to become a major force in American politics. According to Nader, the Green Party is on the ballot in 21 states and the District of Columbia. He added that one of his goals is to have the party on the ballot in all 50 states in the next Presidential election.

Nader also spoke briefly about another third party candidate, Ross Perot. Nader criticized the Reform Party candidate, saying, "Perot is not broad enough in his critique of corporate power." However, he did credit Perot with breaking the myth that Americans would vote for only the two major parties.

Nader did not say what his plans are for after the election. He does not know whether he will consider running for the Green Party in 2000, saying that he wants to focus on this year's election for now. Whether he runs in 2000 or not, Green Party members feel that he as already gotten their party off to a strong start.