As the Trump administration's repression increases by the day, Ralph Nader reminds us that we are not "nobodies," and that together, with collective power, we can invoke serious change.
Deep thanks to you Ralph and Chris for a clear-eyed, no nonsense illumination of our path forward during these pivotal times. Time is NOW and collective, prompt action is our mandate. Their aim is to diminish, dismiss, dispose and dispossess Us. For our Ancestors, our Founders, our Country; for our institutions, civil rights, laws, norms, and values; for each Other, our Children - WE, the citizen majority, are obligated and MUST NOT LET this stand!
Although drift implies passivity. This was deliberate; started in the late '70s when the neolibs took over the party. (Possibly related to the '71 Powell memo, precursor to Project 2025.) These elitist D fans of trickle up econ dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor. By pushing right, they helped enable the Rs to go full on fascist. In the early '80s there were still progressive Rs in office. Now even prog Ds are rare.
Yes. I saw it as setting on your hands while the canoe drifted to the Right. Clearly there were some using their paddles to stear the boat to the Right.
Ralph is right. Fascism is here. Before the military brass met at Quantico yesterday Ben Hodges, former General of the U.S. Army Europe, tweeted the following:
"July 1935 German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimar constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions."
I just finished participating in a webinar "Should Working Class Politics Move Beyond The Democratic Party?" Hosted by the Center for Working Class Politics and the Labor Institute. A report on in-depth polling for Rust Belt states PA, OH, MI, WI and testing unvarnished economic populist statements, which had far more support than milder versions. Proposed independent candidates actually did better with the same issues than if running as Dem--there's deep anger at the ineffective Ds. Well, since the party once ours abandoned us, how else would we feel?
A direct rebuke to "lesser of two evils" D party elite logic. And recognition that suffering, neglected people who quit voting or take the only other choice do matter. If moral reasons aren't enough for the Ds, then the fact they're losing should be. But it's very, very doubtful they'll challenge the neolib econopathy they're wedded to. The answer to the question is most likely yes.
As the young Bernie supporters tried to get across to the party elite, we're not your voters. We'll consider D candidates if given some worth voting for. Also answer to the blinkered D faithful who still insist Nader took votes from Gore. NO. Our votes aren't your property!!! Besides, compare what Ralph has done to the smarmy, corporate lite Ds who haven't cared about anything but their own re-election for decades.
"But the one thing he hasn’t done is answer the question, how are you going to pay for these programs like free childcare, free bus service, etc."---Ralph Nader
There are a lot of things that I like about Ralph Nader. Being logical is not one of them. Bus service and child care are time consuming and labor intensive services within society. It is not cost free. Ever. Why in the world Nader and Mandami think it should be-- boils down to blatant logical fallacies.
If you require this service, then you should pay for it. Nader believes the Holy Grail to paying for these types of services "will be paid primarily by very high frequency traders, so it’s a wonderful progressive sales tax for only 1/10 of 1%". This type of thinking is a logical fallacy for the following reasons:
1. Tax percentages are never fixed. Sure, its proposed at "only" (the propagandized use of the work "only" is telling-- as if it's virtually nothing) 1/10 of 1% now. Later, when they (the "Progressives" find it doesn't cover the costs (for many possible reasons- not the least of which a very real and potential drop in trading revenue due to new tax burden) it will go up to 1/5, then 1/2, then 1%.... It never ends. I see this logical fallacy perpetrated in my jurisdictional property taxes every year. The property tax burden (share of property taxes being paid into the total revenue pie) has grown 17% since 2001! Why? This is an apples to apples comparison of "costs". If my local budget was balanced (by statute) with the property tax revenue contributing 50.2% of the revenue pie in 2001 (fact), then why does the property tax share of the revenue comprise now comprise just over 67% of the pie (fact)? Outrageous! A clear example of societal tax rate mission creep.
2. Why should those least likely to use free bus service and free child care pay for it? Because their rich? That excuse, in itself, is a logical fallacy.
3. If you want society to subsidize services to society, then it should be paid for by all. That means an increase in taxes on all. Mandami doesn't want that--he just wants some else to pay for it. This amounts to the Orwellian false premise that "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". A slippery slope that Mandami and Nader are already sliding down.
I suggest, Chris, you take a “grab bag” with you to Australia on the assumption you won’t be returning; certainly you won’t WANT to go back once you get the reception you deserve over there. While there I would love it if you were to parse your contempt for magical thinking and conspiracies with a study of the early UFO cases such as the Westall 1966 mass school sighting in the suburbs of Melbourne; this event now has its own public monument. I was oblivious of that incident, as I was of its likely connection to and impact upon on me while at school 2 suburbs away from there in 1968, but the character Ripley’s line from Alien3 applies: “It’s like a lion, it likes to stay close to the zebras”. ..Since we think terms of the science fiction ideas we know, to all of which the science fiction authors, the sea of folklore in which they swim be damned, lay exclusive claim. The history of the 1973 disappearance of the young Frederick Valentich from a known position over the Bass Strait in a light aircraft while reporting another craft on top of his, the immediately initiated search finding no wreckage nor fuel slick, may assist in bringing an end to your frequent use of the term “magical thinking” in relation to conspiracy theories, no theory or thinking being required except to point out that whichever country manages to reproduce any feature of the ET technology in use would gain a field lead in military hardware, thus provoking all the secrecy. Yet this reproduction has already occurred through the post-Roswell “discovery” of the wafer transistor and the longer development period required to copy refraction in the fibre optic. An interview with the Aussie investigator and presenter Ross Coulthart would not go amiss. Perhaps you can explain the New Jersey magical thinking wave to him. I just feel that considering factors external to the immediate conjuncture is an area you have not turned to, perhaps not yet analysing its development in parallel with climate change.
‘Off to look up news on the approach of 3i/ATLAS meantime. Thanks for the possibly final farewell tour with Ralph Nader.
Truth needs to tested. Jesus told us that truth needs to refined like Gold.
It is not possible to oppose Donald Trump, with out embrasing truth. For instance, we do have serious environmental issues, but CO2 is not one of them. We have serious issues with food safety, and with chemicals / drugs in our food and enviroment. The left needs to get on board with Food Safety, and not oppose it because it is coming from Donald.
Organizations such as USAID are massively harmful to everyone on the planet, as they brought massive amount of money in to countries such as Georgia and completely over ran what was in Georgia's national interest. The Left should have celebrated the cutting of USAID
Unions are as corrupt as Corporations, and Joe Toolbox saw this, and voted for Donald Trump. Unless corruption on the Left is addressed you will get nowhere.
By simply opposing what Donald Trump does, because Donald Trump is doing it you are not helping your cause. You need to "Test the Spirits to see if they are of God". That means standing back, and evaluating what the best way forward actually is.
(For the record, I am Canadian and the Canadian Health system is in trouble due to systemactic corruption on the part of the civil servants running it)
I think Nader and Hedges have the blueprint for tearing down Trump and shifting the gears driving America. Any climate scientist will correct your views on how CO2 is affecting climate and creating conditions for more and more extreme weather events. Have you visited Georgia to ask the locals people what is corrupting their country?
You're right about working class Trump votes. We the majority have been ignored for decades by elitist Dem, Labour, and Liberal parties that enable trickle up multinational corporate econopathy. H. Clinton called us "a basket of deplorables." Nice. When Thatcher proclaimed "there is no alternative," who took our side?! The econ theories she and the enablers are for came from Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics. Friedman supported the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile because "democracy interferes with market efficiency."
Hearty thank you Chris Hedges for having Nader here. Am forwarding to friends.
Great interview
Fabulous interview, I love Ralph Nader. We need every person, politician, and hater of a fascist regime to be as vocal as Nader was in this interview.
Deep thanks to you Ralph and Chris for a clear-eyed, no nonsense illumination of our path forward during these pivotal times. Time is NOW and collective, prompt action is our mandate. Their aim is to diminish, dismiss, dispose and dispossess Us. For our Ancestors, our Founders, our Country; for our institutions, civil rights, laws, norms, and values; for each Other, our Children - WE, the citizen majority, are obligated and MUST NOT LET this stand!
Thank you. I like that word, "drift". I agree with you, as you say the Democrat Party has been "drifting" to the right for decades.
Although drift implies passivity. This was deliberate; started in the late '70s when the neolibs took over the party. (Possibly related to the '71 Powell memo, precursor to Project 2025.) These elitist D fans of trickle up econ dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor. By pushing right, they helped enable the Rs to go full on fascist. In the early '80s there were still progressive Rs in office. Now even prog Ds are rare.
Yes. I saw it as setting on your hands while the canoe drifted to the Right. Clearly there were some using their paddles to stear the boat to the Right.
Ralph is right. Fascism is here. Before the military brass met at Quantico yesterday Ben Hodges, former General of the U.S. Army Europe, tweeted the following:
"July 1935 German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimar constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions."
https://x.com/general_ben/status/1971508877394063576
Thank you Ralph Nader for all the work you have done to make our country a safer, fairer, more democratic place to live!
I just finished participating in a webinar "Should Working Class Politics Move Beyond The Democratic Party?" Hosted by the Center for Working Class Politics and the Labor Institute. A report on in-depth polling for Rust Belt states PA, OH, MI, WI and testing unvarnished economic populist statements, which had far more support than milder versions. Proposed independent candidates actually did better with the same issues than if running as Dem--there's deep anger at the ineffective Ds. Well, since the party once ours abandoned us, how else would we feel?
A direct rebuke to "lesser of two evils" D party elite logic. And recognition that suffering, neglected people who quit voting or take the only other choice do matter. If moral reasons aren't enough for the Ds, then the fact they're losing should be. But it's very, very doubtful they'll challenge the neolib econopathy they're wedded to. The answer to the question is most likely yes.
As the young Bernie supporters tried to get across to the party elite, we're not your voters. We'll consider D candidates if given some worth voting for. Also answer to the blinkered D faithful who still insist Nader took votes from Gore. NO. Our votes aren't your property!!! Besides, compare what Ralph has done to the smarmy, corporate lite Ds who haven't cared about anything but their own re-election for decades.
A great team. I wish you both had more people listening to you.
Great interview as always. Two of my most cherished voices
"But the one thing he hasn’t done is answer the question, how are you going to pay for these programs like free childcare, free bus service, etc."---Ralph Nader
There are a lot of things that I like about Ralph Nader. Being logical is not one of them. Bus service and child care are time consuming and labor intensive services within society. It is not cost free. Ever. Why in the world Nader and Mandami think it should be-- boils down to blatant logical fallacies.
If you require this service, then you should pay for it. Nader believes the Holy Grail to paying for these types of services "will be paid primarily by very high frequency traders, so it’s a wonderful progressive sales tax for only 1/10 of 1%". This type of thinking is a logical fallacy for the following reasons:
1. Tax percentages are never fixed. Sure, its proposed at "only" (the propagandized use of the work "only" is telling-- as if it's virtually nothing) 1/10 of 1% now. Later, when they (the "Progressives" find it doesn't cover the costs (for many possible reasons- not the least of which a very real and potential drop in trading revenue due to new tax burden) it will go up to 1/5, then 1/2, then 1%.... It never ends. I see this logical fallacy perpetrated in my jurisdictional property taxes every year. The property tax burden (share of property taxes being paid into the total revenue pie) has grown 17% since 2001! Why? This is an apples to apples comparison of "costs". If my local budget was balanced (by statute) with the property tax revenue contributing 50.2% of the revenue pie in 2001 (fact), then why does the property tax share of the revenue comprise now comprise just over 67% of the pie (fact)? Outrageous! A clear example of societal tax rate mission creep.
2. Why should those least likely to use free bus service and free child care pay for it? Because their rich? That excuse, in itself, is a logical fallacy.
3. If you want society to subsidize services to society, then it should be paid for by all. That means an increase in taxes on all. Mandami doesn't want that--he just wants some else to pay for it. This amounts to the Orwellian false premise that "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". A slippery slope that Mandami and Nader are already sliding down.
I suggest, Chris, you take a “grab bag” with you to Australia on the assumption you won’t be returning; certainly you won’t WANT to go back once you get the reception you deserve over there. While there I would love it if you were to parse your contempt for magical thinking and conspiracies with a study of the early UFO cases such as the Westall 1966 mass school sighting in the suburbs of Melbourne; this event now has its own public monument. I was oblivious of that incident, as I was of its likely connection to and impact upon on me while at school 2 suburbs away from there in 1968, but the character Ripley’s line from Alien3 applies: “It’s like a lion, it likes to stay close to the zebras”. ..Since we think terms of the science fiction ideas we know, to all of which the science fiction authors, the sea of folklore in which they swim be damned, lay exclusive claim. The history of the 1973 disappearance of the young Frederick Valentich from a known position over the Bass Strait in a light aircraft while reporting another craft on top of his, the immediately initiated search finding no wreckage nor fuel slick, may assist in bringing an end to your frequent use of the term “magical thinking” in relation to conspiracy theories, no theory or thinking being required except to point out that whichever country manages to reproduce any feature of the ET technology in use would gain a field lead in military hardware, thus provoking all the secrecy. Yet this reproduction has already occurred through the post-Roswell “discovery” of the wafer transistor and the longer development period required to copy refraction in the fibre optic. An interview with the Aussie investigator and presenter Ross Coulthart would not go amiss. Perhaps you can explain the New Jersey magical thinking wave to him. I just feel that considering factors external to the immediate conjuncture is an area you have not turned to, perhaps not yet analysing its development in parallel with climate change.
‘Off to look up news on the approach of 3i/ATLAS meantime. Thanks for the possibly final farewell tour with Ralph Nader.
As Billy Crystal would say “mavelous”!
Truth needs to tested. Jesus told us that truth needs to refined like Gold.
It is not possible to oppose Donald Trump, with out embrasing truth. For instance, we do have serious environmental issues, but CO2 is not one of them. We have serious issues with food safety, and with chemicals / drugs in our food and enviroment. The left needs to get on board with Food Safety, and not oppose it because it is coming from Donald.
Organizations such as USAID are massively harmful to everyone on the planet, as they brought massive amount of money in to countries such as Georgia and completely over ran what was in Georgia's national interest. The Left should have celebrated the cutting of USAID
Unions are as corrupt as Corporations, and Joe Toolbox saw this, and voted for Donald Trump. Unless corruption on the Left is addressed you will get nowhere.
By simply opposing what Donald Trump does, because Donald Trump is doing it you are not helping your cause. You need to "Test the Spirits to see if they are of God". That means standing back, and evaluating what the best way forward actually is.
(For the record, I am Canadian and the Canadian Health system is in trouble due to systemactic corruption on the part of the civil servants running it)
I think Nader and Hedges have the blueprint for tearing down Trump and shifting the gears driving America. Any climate scientist will correct your views on how CO2 is affecting climate and creating conditions for more and more extreme weather events. Have you visited Georgia to ask the locals people what is corrupting their country?
You're right about working class Trump votes. We the majority have been ignored for decades by elitist Dem, Labour, and Liberal parties that enable trickle up multinational corporate econopathy. H. Clinton called us "a basket of deplorables." Nice. When Thatcher proclaimed "there is no alternative," who took our side?! The econ theories she and the enablers are for came from Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics. Friedman supported the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile because "democracy interferes with market efficiency."