Nader Page

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Ralph Nader, Green Party, (analysis of Nader below links )
Click-on web links about Nader

http://www.votenader.com/
http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JA00/nader.html
http://www.nader2000.org/
http://www.nader.org/
http://www.issues2000.org/Ralph_Nader.htm
Nader Debate with the Sierra Club about Gore and the Environment
Nader-Gore Vote swap sites:
http://www.nadertrader.org/
http://www.voteswap2000.com/
http://www.votexchange2000.com/
http://Winchell.com/NaderTrader/
http://www.winwincampaign.org/

Late breaking news 11-1-00:
California Secretary of State, Republican Bill Jones has forced two of the above Nader-Gore websites to shut down their election-related activities. Some of the sites were only facilitating email correspondence between like-minded people in numerous states. Mr. Jones claims that the sites violate California election law.

We feel that Jones has violated the First Amendment of the Constitution for some of the websites listed. It should be remembered that Bill Jones is a Republican and Bush supporter.

Nader and the Issues
10 is best and 1 is worst; scores are relative to other candidates

It is hard to find many negatives on the issues with Ralph Nader because as one life long Republican Navy Captain said, "I do not agree with everything Nader says but he is politically honest and not owned by special interest."

This does not mean that he is perfect on the issues covered by this site

Campaign Finance and Election Reform. 10

Nader and groups associated with him (Public Citizen) have been active in attempting to have the strongest versions of campaign finance law reforms.

Nader is often accused by his critics of being idealistic and unpragmatic in his approach to politics. He has shown some pragmatism when faced with a corrupt congress and been willing to accept bills like the McCain-Feingold bill, which was a very diluted version of reform but had some possibility of passing as an interim step in reform. He also would like to see proportional representation and "none of the above" on the ballots which are elements of election reform.

Judicial Reform:
Civil: 5
From this site's point of view, this may be Nader's weakest area. In all of the Nader reference material, there are no statements indicating that he acknowledges the epidemic number of lawsuits in America; a number of which are mainly extortion schemes for a quick settlement from deep pockets but he has opposed some minor improvements. The extorters almost never suffer any malicious litigation repercussions because of their frivolous lawsuits and this has become a feeding-trough for lawyers and judges.

On the other hand, Nader does recognize more than the other candidates large litigation issues where there is serious conspiracy and cover-up and the need for reasonable costs and speedy access to the courts by all citizens, groups and small companies.

Criminal 8
Better than Bush and somewhat better than Gore, Nader better understands that pre-emptive social measures are more important at lowering crime statistics that courts and jails. Nader would address these issues in real and substantive ways. He would not waste as much valuable jail space on non-violent offenders but would ensure that they were exposed to programs that would have a high probability of improving their social functioning.

Nader's statements indicate that he may be a little naive in a typically liberal way in his opinions about the effectiveness of rehab for violent criminals and the proper proportion of public resources which should be allocated for this type of program.

Media Reform 9

Nader's speeches and writings indicate clearly that he fully understands how it is nearly impossible to have any reasonable representative form of democracy with media consolidation in the hands of a few powerful people. It appears he would use anti-trust laws and licensing laws and requirements to address these problems.

Environmental 8 and Animal Protection 6

The environment and animal protection do not appear to be heartfelt issues for Nader; but Nader is well read from diverse sources of information and on the few occasions when he speaks at any length on these issues it is obvious he is light-years ahead of Bush and Gore in relevant knowledge on the issue of environment.

Even though these are not natural issues for him, he has become comparatively well informed with real information and is the best of the presidential candidates on these issues with the exception of Dr. Hagelin (Reform- Natural Party).

His statements and proposed policies show a understanding of the problems of green house gases and energy use, deforestation, genetic engineering problems and factory farm issues related to water and air pollution. It appears animal protection issues are a non-issue to him, but his environmental and factory farm policies would be such an improvement that animal life would indirectly benefit.

Basic Human Rights 8

Nader speeches and writings exhibit that he fully understands the importance of first amendment rights of free speech. He and his groups have never been very active in issues of false imprisonment and torture, but he does seem to understand the misuse of our military in supporting corrupt dictatorships.

Nader falls down completely on an area many consider a basic human right probably due to his academic naivete about how most hospitals and some doctors still work. He opposes Oregon's Right To Die law because he believes that the HMO's would coerce patients into choosing to die against their wishes - to save the hospital money.

The reality is just the opposite, there are more hospitals still billing someone (the patient or patients family, the insurance carrier, or the government) and many of us with more real life education than Nader have seen hospitals and doctors keep mature, sane patients with terminal illnesses alive way beyond their express wishes and written directives, so that they can continue to build a bill.

Sustainable Economics 7

Nader seems to actually understands the term! Nader acknowledges that natural resources are finite unless used wisely. His score would have been higher except that he does not appear to understand that large government institutions, even without the overt corruption that now exists in our government, have the same inherent problems as large corporations.

A very good empirical case can be made that all large institutions become largely self-serving and relatively speaking and do not deliver systems for the citizens they are intended to serve. Nader seems to understand this about corporations but never speaks in the same terms about large government institutions, except when he sees them as an extension of large corporations.

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