Crashing the Party, by Ralph Nader: on Government Reform

Ralph Nader: Denying D.C. vote is colonial mentality by congress

The hallway outside the arena were filled with activists [who] advanced D.C. statehood, living wage, healthcare, eliminating child poverty, an end to the death penalty, revoking the cruel life-destroying sanctions on the innocent Iraqi people, protecting the global environment, free Tibet, and sustainable self-sufficient economies. The turnout, estimated at 10,000, was gratifying.

Ralph Nader: Clean money means clean elections

It's way past time for a shift of power today from big business to the people. Power is the central contention of politics.

Just think about it: you go down to vote, you expect it to count, and the votes are cut off at the pass by fundraising dinners where fat cats pay off politicians for present and future favors and the politicians shake down the fat cats in a kind of combined symbiosis of legalized bribery and legalized extortion.

Ralph Nader: Government obstacles to voting make our elections oppressive

The test of any democracy is whether after a national trauma significant reform follows. From obstacles to registration to incomplete or erroneous voting lists (note the miscues regarding ex-felons in Florida), to machine errors, to confusing ballot designs, to poorly publicized changes of precinct locations, and on and on, millions of voters are not having their votes counted or counted accurately.

Jesse Ventura: Credits win to public financing & same-day registration

Joseph Lieberman: Tort law is an out-of-control lottery

In 2000, ATLA received more bad news. Al Gore chose their nemesis, Senator Joseph Lieberman, as his vice presidential running mate over Senator John Edwards, who was a successful trial lawyer from North Carolina. In addition, Gore surrounded himself with an inner circle of longtime advisers and speechwriters right out of a tort "deform" nightmare.

Ralph Nader: Lack of election opponents let corrupt pols stay in office

Like most congressional districts, DeLay’s is one-party dominated, and he wins by large majorities with only nominal opposition. This is typical. In about 90 percent of the 435 congressional districts, there is one-party rule. So choice is effectively denied to a vast majority of voters.

Ralph Nader: Non-violent demonstrations are ignored by the press

Consequently, demonstrators began to figure that nonviolent civil disobedience or, in some frustrated instances, controlled violence against property, would mesh with the television media’s mantra, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Studious, well-prepared news conferences, absent these demonstrations, don’t make the grade with the eyes and ears of the press. The reaction of course is for the police to organize massive counterforce against what is perceived as a giant safety problem

Ralph Nader: National Youth Convention bypasses electoral fluff and bluff

Our interaction was one of the most stimulating exchanges in the campaign. I was pleased to hear young people in their teens and early twenties articulating a political agenda separate from the tactics, fund-raisers and fluff and bluff surrounding the major-party candidates.

These Youth convocations were intricately planned and promoted. They were supported by major foundations, such as the Pew Charitable Trusts, and major nonprofits, including the League of Women Voters and the YMCA and YWCA. These conventions give young men and women a voice and involvement, when so often they are alienated from presidential campaigns that ignore their existence, except for the occasional scripted photo op.

Ralph Nader: Dems & GOP say they want campaign reform, but do nothing

There are two lessons to learn from these [Democratic and Republican] political conventions. One is that our nation’s political leaders are chosen by one big entertainment extravaganza. Voters are left with only limp imagery, hackneyed slogans, and the omnipresent thirty-second propaganda advertisement. Dr. Pavlov soon becomes the patron saint of the political horse race.

Ralph Nader: Citizens should shape elections, not just spectate and vote

It did not work. Voters were expected to be polled, to be spectators and to vote. Their participation in the whole election process as an active civic force shaping the substance and tone of the campaign--why, that wasn't the way it was done.

During the 80s, it became ever more clear that the Democrats were losing the will to fight. Business money pouring into party coffers melded into the retreat from progressive roots and then into an electoral tactic that argued for defeating Republicans by taking away their issues and becoming more like them.

Ralph Nader: Binding "None Of The Above" disqualifies election if it wins

Ralph Nader: FEC regulations prevent 3rd-party campaigns

Can someone voluntarily drive the candidate to and from events without converting it into a dollar contribution for gasoline and mileage expenses? Do we have to put "Paid for by the Nader 2000 election committee" on our buttons? Answer: No, there is a de minimus rule for items that are too small.

If you are finding the above listing tedious, try studying the guidelines and then transferring them into operation among the headquarters staff, field people, and everyone else they have to guide. Full public financing of public elections would remove the vast number of regulations. The FEC thicket has become another barrier to entry by small parties that simply cannot afford the cost of clearing a path toward fund-raising.

Ralph Nader: Ballot access restrictions set up as barriers to 3rd parties

Paid signature gatherers can become very expensive, as Pat Buchanan found out: more than $200,000 just to get him on the NC ballot. In WV & GA, the filing fee is $4,000. PA stipulates that signature forms have to be on special colored paper. Officials would provide only 400 forms when our volunteers needed more than 2,000. Downloading the forms from the Internet was prohibited.

I wrote my first article on ballot access barriers in 1959. And matters have in many states only gotten more burdensome. For decades, third parties have had to spend time and money confronting ballot barriers. We did not get on the ballot in 7 states.