Nader Quotes & Sayings

The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That's the only difference. — Ralph Nader

A citizenship of wholesale delegation and abdication to public and private power systems, such as prevails now, makes such periodic checks as elections little more than rituals. — Ralph Nader

The shortcomings of America's political leaders do not stop at our borders. — Ralph Nader

I told Mr. Nader today that a vote for Ralph Nader is really a vote for George Bush. — Barbara Lee

Power has to be insecure to be responsive. — Ralph Nader

There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American. Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards. — Ralph Nader

Competition, free enterprise, and an open market were never meant to be symbolic fig leaves for corporate socialism and monopolistic capitalism. — Ralph Nader

The various Social Security privatization schemes, full and partial, would cost both the 'social' - that is the public, cooperative, societal - element of the program and 'security' - the rock-solid income guarantee afforded by the system. It should be rejected. — Ralph Nader

The financial wealth of the top 1 percent of households in the U.S. exceeds the combined wealth of the bottom 95 percent. — Ralph Nader

A wasteful defense is a weak defense. — Ralph Nader

We should tax things we don't like. We should tax pollution ... And we should lighten the taxes on things we do like, like honest labor, like food. — Ralph Nader

I don't like too much by-standing, on-looking, and spectator-behavior in people's lives. — Ralph Nader

I have been in the witness protection program for the last three weeks. I campaigned for Ralph Nader. I'm now living as a woman in Mississippi. — Phil Donahue

Arbitration is private. It doesn't have the tools to dig into the corporate files. It's usually controlled by arbitrators who want repeat business from corporations not from the injured person. — Ralph Nader

The flow from knowledge to action draws upon the complete person with his or her catalyst and synergistic potential. — Ralph Nader

The food industry, its trade associations, and research foundations, is well financed and highly organized to pressure the FDA. — Ralph Nader

President Reagan was elected on the promise of getting government off the backs of the people and now he demands that government wrap itself around the waists of the people. — Ralph Nader

No presidential candidate should visit Las Vegas without condemning organized gambling. — Ralph Nader

Today the large organization is lord and master, and most of its employees have been desensitized much as were the medieval peasants who never knew they were serfs. — Ralph Nader

The networks are not some chicken-coop manufacturing lobby whose calls nobody returns. — Ralph Nader

If you choose the lesser of two evils, you are still choosing evil. — Ralph Nader

Ours is a system of corporate socialism, where companies capitalize their profits and socialize their losses ... in effect, they tax you for their accidents, bungling, boondoggles, and mismanagement, just like a government. We should be able to deselect them. — Ralph Nader

This (George W. Bush's) administration is not sympathetic to corporations, it is indentured to corporations — Ralph Nader

Democrats have become very good at electing very bad Republicans — Ralph Nader

People are stunned to hear that one company has data files on 185 million Americans. — Ralph Nader

You should not allow yourself the luxuries of discouragement of despair. Bounce back immediately, and welcome the adversity because it produces harder thinking and harder drive to get to the objective. — Ralph Nader

The central challenge for any company, regardless of its size, is to keep doing a better job for its customers. — Ralph Nader

This welfare for wealthy companies wastes taxpayer dollars, harms the environment, and makes a mockery of the recent reductions in federal social spending programs. — Ralph Nader

Ronald Reagan is the most ignorant president since Warren Harding. — Ralph Nader

I enjoy my work so much that I have to be pulled away from my work into leisure. — Ralph Nader

The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights ... have pressured retailers on campus and off to publicly disclose the factory names and addresses. — Ralph Nader

I don't know whether I see it as slipping inside the villains, but part of what makes Ralph Nader and Michael Moore such effective speakers and communicators is that they know how corporate culture works, how our lawmaking bodies really work, and where the bones are buried. — Jello Biafra

I believe that voices like Ross Perot (search), Pat Buchanan, Ralph Nader should be heard. They don't have to be president. Give 'em a chance. — Kinky Friedman

Oh. I get it now. God had Nader beat my ass and my mom leave my dad just so Jodi could learn how to chop onions and use a propane grill. Great. Awesome. — A.S. King

The corporations don't like open courts of law, trials by jury. They want to privatize by pushing people into compulsory arbitration where they win most of the time and the whole process is pretty secret. — Ralph Nader

So-called generation gaps are especially common among immigrant families; these gaps can produce anxious and unpleasant tensions, and sometimes lead to nasty ruptures or chronic conflicts. — Ralph Nader

Information is the currency of democracy. It's denial must always be suspect. — Ralph Nader

Gates's net wealth is greater than the combined net worth of the poorest 40% of Americans (112,000,000 people). — Ralph Nader

LOST: 60 SECONDS
DON'T BOTHER LOOKING FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE GONE FOREVER — Ralph Nader

John Kerry met with Ralph Nader last week. Both sides of every issue were discussed. And then, Nader spoke. — Jay Leno

If the people are the landlords of the public airwaves and the television and radio stations are the tenants, why don't the tenants pay rent? — Ralph Nader

We're not going anywhere with you," Gabriel said. "But I am a police officer-" "Yes, sir. I know," Gabriel said with put-on politeness. "But I happen to be scared shitless of the police. — Elisa Nader

The resource of generational history is accorded little attention our society, which seems ever more obsessed with making "new" and "better" synonymous. From my family I became aware of the importance of passing along wisdom from one generation to the next. Yet despite the increasing proliferation of digital recording and other communication technologies, we're passing on less knowledge today than our parents did through the oral tradition alone. We're drowning in photographs and videos, capturing every mundane moment of our birthdays, holidays, and vacations. Yet these can be no more than pleasant distraction, only scratching the surface of our real relationships. — Ralph Nader

The 60th seed at Wimbledon gets a chance at Center Court. The 60th seed in the NCAA gets a chance to go to the Final Four. But the third seed [in presidential politics] is shut out. — Ralph Nader

National security is the fig leaf against freedom of information. — Ralph Nader

This country has been strip-mined by rich and powerful interests. If you dont like what they're doing, don't just sit there. Vote them out. — Ralph Nader

A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done. — Ralph Nader

Up against the corporate government, voters find themselves asked to choose between look-alike candidates from two parties vying to see who takes the marching orders from their campaign paymasters and their future employers. The money of vested interest nullifies genuine voter choice and trust. — Ralph Nader

Whatever your issue is, whether it's racism or homophobia or policy issues or taxes or urban decay or health care, you're not going to go anywhere with it if we don't focus on the concentration of power. — Ralph Nader

Now how do we know you're really from Edenton?" he said.
"And the point of lying would be?" Gabriel asked. "So we could have a complete stranger chauffeur us to another complete stranger's house for proper English tea at," he looked at a clock on the bookshelf, "two in the morning? Mia, he's discovered our nefarious plan."
Edgar rubbed his black shorn hair and squinted at Gabriel "Smartass teenagers. My favorite. — Elisa Nader

If you know what's going on and know how society can be improved and happiness advanced, you tend to focus on how to get things done that will help health, safety, opportunity, justice, accountability of powerful institutions to the people they are supposed to serve. — Ralph Nader

[As a child] I was very interested in books that detailed injustice and how people who are underdogs were mistreated throughout history. — Ralph Nader

The civil justice system is a backup system when the criminal justice system fails. — Ralph Nader

When people ask, 'Why should the rich pay a larger percent of their income than middle-income people?' My answer is not an answer most people get: It's because their power developed from laws that enriched them. — Ralph Nader

Ninety-seven percent of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 are white men, and what they do radiates all the way down into poor areas and cities around our country. Like predatory lending and misallocation of municipal services. These guys get municipal service, poor areas don't. So they run the economy into the ground, and who suffers the most? The poor pay more and they die earlier. — Ralph Nader

Young wives are the leading asset of corporate power. They want the suburbs, a house, a settled life, and respectability. They want society to see that they have exchanged themselves for something of value. — Ralph Nader

I am very optimistic, and I wish that God almighty grants me success to get a qualifying time. Only then can I go to the Olympics. If this happens I will be the first Palestinian athlete to gain a qualifying time. This will be a big achievement. — Nader Al-Masri

Is there a number or mark planned for the hand or forehead in a new cashless society? YES, and I have seen the machines that are now ready to put it into operation. — Ralph Nader

Washington DC is corporate-occupied territory. — Ralph Nader

The corporate lobby in Washington is basically designed to stifle all legislative activity on behalf of consumers. — Ralph Nader

Things have gotten so bad in this country, you look back at Richard Nixon with nostalgia. — Ralph Nader

If it is unpatriotic to tear down the flag, which is a symbol of the country, why isn't it more unpatriotic to desecrate the country itself-to pollute, despoil and ravage the air, land and sea. — Ralph Nader

I feel genuinely sorry for those who are so blinded by narrow partisanship that they cannot appreciate Limbaugh's energy, intelligence and satiric skill. They live in a box with bags over their heads. Though he and I hardly agree on politics (I voted for Ralph Nader last year and may go Green again in 2004), I respect Limbaugh as a political analyst and deft rhetorician who is a master of the microphone and who knows how to engage and challenge a vast audience. — Camille Paglia

It is fascinating to watch legislators turn away from their usual corporate grips when they hear the growing thunder of the people. — Ralph Nader

Our founders did not oust George III in order for us to crown Richard I. — Ralph Nader

Companies like Enron have learned that small investments in endowing chairs, sponsoring research programs or hiring moonlighting professors can return big payoffs in generating books, reports, articles, testimony and other materials to push for and rationalize public policy positions that damage the public interest but benefit corporate bottomlines. — Ralph Nader

Let it not be said by a future, forlorn generation that we wasted and lost our great potential because our despair was so deep we didn't even try, or because each of us thought someone else was worrying about our problems. — Ralph Nader

When strangers start acting like neighbors ... communities are reinvigorated. — Ralph Nader

Perhaps the single most effective antagonist of American business is Ralph Nader, who - thanks largely to the media - has become a legend in his own time and an idol of millions of Americans. — Lewis F. Powell Jr.

The progress of history is to take the impossible and turn it into the possible. — Ralph Nader

I don't have proper places to run. — Nader Al-Masri

I sit on my bed and think about Nader McMillan and wonder what I'm going to do. Ignore him. Stand up to him. Avoid him. Be "tough." I think of the stuff Dad has said over the years. How he finally gave up suggesting things. Why are you asking me this? I never figured out what to do about my own bullies. How am I supposed to know what to do with yours? — A.S. King

We don't measure whether an economy is developing. We just measure whether companies are selling more, whether inventories are up or down, not whether the health, safety and economic well-being of people are being advanced. — Ralph Nader

I think George W. Bush's personality was overwhelmingly shaped in negative ways by his upbringing. — Ralph Nader

The essence of globalization is a subordination of human rights, of labor rights, consumer, environmental rights, democracy rights, to the imperatives of global trade and investment. — Ralph Nader

I'm voting for Gore because the other is unthinkable. Which most of us will probably do. I hope all of us. I've always liked Ralph Nader and would like to see a real third party, but the thought of George Bush as president is unthinkable. — Richard Gere

Family values stand up to injustice and power outside the household. — Ralph Nader

On Election Day, Ralph Nader will appear on the presidential ballot in only 45 states. Yeah, Nader said, this is really disappointing, I wanted to embarrass myself in all 50 states. That was the plan. — Conan O'Brien

Ralph Nader choose the man with whom to share the responsibility of running a distant third, California activist Peter Camejo. You may remember that Camejo ran for president in 1976 on the Socialist Workers Party ticket. Actually, you might only remember that if you run a lesbian, vegetarian, bookstore. — Jon Stewart

The corporations are worried about their reputational damage and a lot of the social media inflicts that, but it's hard to measure it. — Ralph Nader

Capitalism will always survive, because socialism will be there to save it. — Ralph Nader

The more you talk, the less you'll have to say.
The more you listen, the more sensible will be what you say. — Ralph Nader

Product Owners should communicate effectively with the customer (the inevitable success factor in every project), and use the information to keep the Product Backlog updated with all the changes. They also measure the performance of the project, forecast the completion date, and make this information transparent to all stakeholders. — Nader K. Rad

You just can't get anything done. You can't get hearings, you can't get legislation, you can't get responses by the regulatory agencies - you can't get anything done. I'm a realist. I don't work harder and harder to get less and less. — Ralph Nader

Justice needs money; it always has ... whether for abolition of slavery and early women's rights movements or the civil rights and environmental drives of our generation. — Ralph Nader

George W. Bush is very vulnerable but not if you campaign the way the major candidates - except for Dean and Kucinich - are campaigning. — Ralph Nader

Ford Motor Company's sluggish and piecemeal approach to its automotive responsibilities betrays motorists' safety. — Ralph Nader

I know what I wish Ralph Nader would investigate next. Marriage. It's not safe, it's not safe at all. — Jean Kerr

I don't think meals have any business being deductible. I'm for separation of calories and corporations. — Ralph Nader

By the time you rise through the ranks, the culture of homogenization has bred the spirit and imagination out of you. — Ralph Nader

Once, Princess Leigh-Cheri used a papal candlestick for the purpose of self-gratification. She had hoped that at the appropriate moment she might be visited by either the Lamb or the Beast, be, as usual, only Ralph Nader attended her. — Tom Robbins

She was the light of our lives, our anchor, compass and vision. — Ralph Nader

What is the matter with you?"
"You want an alphabetical list? — Elisa Nader

A society with more justice needs less charity. — Ralph Nader

Since I was a law student, I have been against the death penalty. It does not deter. It is severely discriminatory against minorities, especially since they're given no competent legal counsel defense in many cases. It's a system that has to be perfect. You cannot execute one innocent person. No system is perfect. And to top it off, for those of you who are interested in the economics it, it costs more to pursue a capital case toward execution than it does to have full life imprisonment without parole — Ralph Nader

Addiction should never be treated as a crime. It has to be treated as a health problem. We do not send alcoholics to jail in this country. Over 500,000 people are in our jails who are nonviolent drug users. — Ralph Nader

I have a coach but there's nobody at my level in Gaza. I have to do most of my training sessions on my own. — Nader Al-Masri

For almost seventy years the life insurance industry has been a smug sacred cow feeding the public a steady line of sacred bull. — Ralph Nader

The accountability of government has gone to the point where the very use of the law is the instrument of illegality. — Ralph Nader

If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we'd be one of the healthiest, least oil-dependent, and most environmentally-sound constituents in the Nazi empire today. — Ralph Nader