> Could someone explain what Ralph Nader's candidacy has to do with the > development of a socialist party in the U.S.? I could swear he was a > petit bourgeois who believed in the beauties of small business and > competition.
This seems to be more a kind of supercilious political racism on your part, showing little understanding of the meaning of "petty-bourgeois" or of competition. There are three kinds of radicals: those who take political responsibility, those who don't take political responsibility, and in-betweenies. Undoubtedly the personal ethical stance a person has must have something to do with class background - normally taking political responsibility requires respecting the rule of law. Nader was born in Winsted, Connecticut, on Feb. 27, 1934 to Lebanese immigrants, Mr Nathra and Mrs Rose Nader. Nathra operated a bakery and restaurant. As a child, Ralph played with David Halberstam, who's now a highly regarded journalist. Nader received an AB magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1955, and in 1958 he received a LLB with distinction from Harvard University. As a student at Harvard, Nader first researched the design of automobiles. His career began as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut in 1959 and from 1961-63 he lectured on history and government at the University of Hartford. In 1965-66 he received the Nieman Fellows award and was named one of ten Outstanding Young Men of Year by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1967. Between 1967-68 he returned to Princeton as a lecturer, and he continues to speak at colleges and universities across the United States. In an article titled "The Safe Car You Can't Buy," which appeared in the Nation in 1959, he concluded, "It is clear Detroit today is designing automobiles for style, cost, performance, and calculated obsolescence, but not-despite the 5,000,000 reported accidents, nearly 40,000 fatalities, 110,000 permanent disabilities, and 1,500,000 injuries yearly-for safety." After a stint working as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut, Nader headed for Washington, where he began his career as a consumer advocate. He worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the Department of Labor and volunteered as an adviser to a Senate subcommittee that was studying automobile safety. In 1965, he published "Unsafe at Any Speed", a best-selling indictment of the auto industry and its poor safety standards. This book indicted unsafe automobile design in general, and specifically General Motors' Corvair. When it became publicly known that General Motors had hired private detectives, in an attempt to dig up information that might discredit Nader, a Senate subcommittee that was looking into auto safety summoned the president of General Motors to explain his company's harassment, and personally apologize to Nader. The incident catapulted auto safety into the public spotlight, leading to a series of landmark laws that have prevented hundreds of thousands of motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries. Nader was henceforth typecast as the incorruptible advocate for the "little guy." Largely because of Nader's initiatives, Congress passed the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Nader was also influential in the passage of 1967's Wholesome Meat Act, which called for federal inspections of beef and poultry, and imposed standards on slaughterhouses, as well as the Clean Air Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Ralph Nader stated in a recent lecture at University of Alberta on September 13, 2002 "We have grown up corporate and have forgotten how to be active as citizens within a civic society." While the Stalinists, Trotskyists and Maoists were fighting with each other, Nader personally founded, or helped establish, the following organisations: American Antitrust Institute Appleseed Foundation Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest Aviation Consumer Action Project Capitol Hill News Service Center for Auto Safety Center for Insurance Research Center for Justice and Democracy Center for Science in the Public Interest Center for Study of Responsive Law Center for Women Policy Studies Citizen Advocacy Center Citizen Utility Boards Citizen Works Clean Water Action Project Congress Project Connecticut Citizen Action Group Corporate Accountability Research Group Democracy Rising Disability Rights Center Equal Justice Foundation Essential Information FANS (Fight to Advance the Nation's Sports) Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights Freedom of Information Clearinghouse Georgia Legal Watch Multinational Monitor National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest National Insurance Consumer Organization Ohio Public Interest Action Group Organization for Competitive Markets Pension Rights Center Princeton Project 55 PROD - truck safety Public Citizen Buyers Up Citizen Action Group Critical Mass Energy Project Congress Watch Global Trade Watch Health Research Group Litigation Group Tax Reform Research Group The Visitor's Center Retired Professionals Action Group Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest Student Public Interest Research Groups nationwide Telecommunications Research and Action Center Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Jurriaan
