By Adam De Lucia
Ralph Nader, former independent party presidential candidate, delivered a mock State of the Union address to the University on Nov. 17, similar to the speech President George W. Bush will deliver to the American people in January.
“[The union improves] with people who have high expectations of what society should be like and who are willing to expend time and energy to achieve those expectations,”Nader said. “This is a society that does not have an organized expectation level because there is too much power and too much wealth in too few hands.”
To encourage higher expectations and improved civic skills, Nader spoke about a politically active 5th grade class in the Cabrini Greens projects of Chicago, IL that petitioned for a new school because of poor conditions.
“We need a higher expectation level,” Nader said. “There is no society so wealthy and capable that treats its children so miserably. We are going backwards into the future.”
Nader supported his claim by pointing to fewer workers involved in union bargaining, growing trade deficits and increasing famine despite surplus agriculture.
“The new farmer peonage of subsidized farms bought out by vertically integrated agro-business” indicates backward movement, Nader said. “Add your own list.”
Nader criticized corporations for “premeditated and deliberate marketing strategies that separate child from parent, undermining parental authority.”
A student questioned Nader about an exclusive contract to sell Coca-Cola at the University. Nader called such contracts “anti-competitive.”
“I felt that [Nader] made some interesting comments about the way the University operates and how we are teaching children to be more in tuned to capitalism and corporatism,” Heather Gibbons, president of the Student Government Association, said.
Nader encouraged citizens to “take over government” in the form of elected office, “to return government into accounts receivable [and] to hold corporations accountable.”
Nader is recognized for numerous actions, including steps toward pension rights, congressional accountability and clean water.
“Nader has been called one of America’s most effective critics,” Arnold A. Saltzman, sponsor of the second annual State of the Union address, said. “Nader started a consumer movement that could effectively counter the power of business in the marketplace.”
When Nader ran as a Green party candidate against Republican, Bush and Democrat, Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, “25 percent of [Nader’s] votes came from Republicans, 38 percent from Democrats and the remainder from people who would not have voted,” according to exit polls conducted by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg.
Stephen J. Russell, dean of Honors College, said the address symbolized “a step toward the goal of an open and expansive evaluation of the State of the Union.”
Nader encouraged students to become more active in politics and life.
“Do not waste the most productive decade of your life,” he said. “Learn from [retired] citizens who are free from the boss and free from pensions.”
Ralph Nader spoke to University students on becoming more active in politics and government. (Harry Tanilyan)