Nader speaks to Utah students
Students must get involved in helping the United States function as a true democracy.
That was the message Ralph Nader, former presidential candidate, conveyed Wednesday night at Kingsbury Hall. Nader delivered his lecture to about 2,500 University of Utah students as part of the university’s “Rock the Vote” campaign.
Nader encouraged students to get involved as much as possible with politics.
“If you don’t turn on the politics, then politics is going to turn on you in a very disagreeable way,” he said.
The Green Party representative said everyone is capable of identifying himself as an athlete, musician or artist, but few identify themselves as participating Americans.
Nader said, “At what part will you say you’re a citizen?”
He called for universities around Utah to introduce citizen skills courses into their curriculums.
“If someone says, ‘write a thousand-word essay on your citizen skills,’ you’re probably going to say, ‘what are they?'” he said.
It should be required for college students to learn skills to function as active participants in the political arena by writing letters to representatives and holding them accountable for their actions, Nader said.
Alysse Kenton, a Utah junior, said she would be interested in such a course.
“It would be a great experience to actually be taught how to make a difference in politics,” she said, “It’s too easy to just sit around and do nothing. We need to take more action as a people.”
Nader criticized the current state of American politics, chastising President George W. Bush in particular for not paying enough attention to America’s internal affairs.
“This is the first time in history that drums are being beat by chicken-hawk draft evaders like Bush,” he said, “It’s time for the president to pay attention to America.”
Nader singled out the corporate crime wave as an aspect of current American life that must be controlled.
“There are certain zones in the democratic system that can never be for sale if we want to advance civic values over corporate values,” he said.
He sympathizes with the millions of Americans who are victims of corporate scandals and are out of work, Nader said. He issued a twelve-step plan to reform the government’s policies regarding corporate crime and challenged everyone to have his representative sign a pledge to crack down on such crimes.
This was a challenge that Shandon Harrison, a Utah freshman, happily accepted.
“If 1,000 people ask each representative to take this pledge, then these guys are going to get the hint that something needs to change in the government,” Harrison said.
Nader said he believes a corporate crime database listing the top ten corporate criminals should exist.
“I think we should know who these guys are,” he said.
Nader said many aspects of American society, like justice, have been corrupted by corporations.
“We like to say in a democratic society that arguments win on their merits, not on their money,” he said. “Our very imagination is crippled because we grew up corporate.”
Nader called for America to become more of a true democracy – a movement that must start with the youth, he said.
“Democracy is like the Mississippi river, a mighty river that starts with a few drops of water,” Nader said, “Eventually the drops will turn into a great ocean.”
He emphasized the current state of American health care as an area that must improve.
“We’re spending twice as much as Switzerland spends per capita for health care, and Switzerland is covering everybody,” he said.
Nader reiterated that more involvement in politics allows changes to occur.
“We all need to have a level of self-respect with government, where if we don’t do our part, it makes us feel like we didn’t pick up a baby who just fell out of a windowsill,” he said.
Nader received multiple rounds of applause and standing ovations throughout his lecture.
His continuous calls for students to get involved were echoed by Associated Students of the University of Utah President Billy Edwards.
“There are over 130,000 students in higher education in the state of Utah. If we collectively pull together, we can be a force that needs to be reckoned with,” he said. “Research the candidates, register to vote, take part in the campaign – rock the vote.”
Ralph Nader, Green Party 2000 presidential candidate, prepares moments before entering the stage at Kingsbury Hall. (Photo by Zak Larsen)
University of Utah students wait outside of Kingsbury Hall for tickets to hear Ralph Nader speak for their “Rock the Vote” campaign. (Photo by Zak Larsen)