Ralph Nader Quotes (107 Quotes)

of increasing the number of presidential debates and including more voices in those debates.

Obviously, the answer to oil spills is to paper-train the tankers.

We're going to do what the majority of people really like even if they aren't going to vote for a third party, which is to establish a viable third party to keep those two parties (Democrats and Republicans) honest in the future. It is that watchdog function that is so critical.

Every time I see something terrible, it's like I see it at age 19. I keep a freshness that way.

Bush and Gore talk incessantly about caring for children, but they're not following through with action.

This policy represents a massive injustice against Iraqi civilians, ... and it must be ended -- not after Mr. Clinton leaves office, but now.

Let me assure MasterCard's executives that the last thing I want consumers to think is that my campaign is in the business of selling credit cards,

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

Why are these two men afraid They should overcome their fear of facing new ideas and alternative voices, and open the process for the American people,

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Once you don't vote your ideals... that has serious undermining affects. It erodes the moral basis of our democracy.

Not a single candidate who I am aware of ever looks at the American people and says to them, 'Do you want to be more powerful against the rich and powerful That's why this campaign is so different.

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

suffering from election-year delusion if he thinks his record on the environment is anything to be proud of.

We grow up corporate, not civic. For example, we were led to believe that most crime comes from the street.

We don't have a democracy. An election is supposed to involve choice. We don't have a choice.

Let's not just look at it as taking votes away from Gore. Our support comes from a lot of people.

O'Neill is in the minority. They take it as a deduction. If it isn't compensation, then what is it

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

Washington is corporate-occupied territory, ... We need more political and civic energies inside the campaign to challenge this two-party duopoly that's trending toward one-party districts all over the country.

Over the next four and one half months, this campaign must challenge the campaigns of the Bush and Gore duopoly in every locality by running with the people,

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.

Greens all over the globe will need to develop the facilities of democracy for voters, workers, consumers, small taxpayers and the environment so that all people may participate in power to advance justice, peace and the pursuit of happiness.

You can have a lot more leverage in this country in another way, and that is by determining the margin of victory between Democrats and Republicans. It's not a spoiler role, it's a leverage role.

was to discuss issues of interest to the daily lives of the American public -- to put the focus on the human race, not the presidential horse race.

On CBS's Face the Nation, ... instead of a debate between the drab and the dreary.

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 dis-elect them.

The citizen activists have no idea what they can discover just by thumbing through it.

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

A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.

Enrich argued and won the 6th Circuit case, which he says casts a dark cloud over incentives all across the country. ... blow to corporate welfare ... and the extortionate demands by large companies for subsidies from cowering cities and states.

As the clear and active Republican front runner for 2008, McCain is not just a conservative. Otherwise why would he be so controversial among the party's base

The bill is anti-consumer and anti-community, ... It will mean higher prices and fewer choices for low-, moderate- and middle-income families across the nation.

I think people should vote their conscience. We have a chance to build a major third party, we have a chance to build a progressive political party.

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

We can't simply stand by idly and watch democracy and our government be turned over to the commercial interests of the giant corporations who have forgotten where they came from, which is the U.S.A..

Your best teacher is your last mistake.

This country is run by a war criminal and his vice president, an even bigger war criminal.

National security is the fig leaf against freedom of information.

People want positive politics demonstrating changes and reforms instead of the politics of personality and personal acrimony enveloped in sterile media forays about the tactics of the day.

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.

All these candidates talk about children. George W. Bush has pictures with minority kids all the time while he lets them rot in Texas. When are we going to decide that enough is enough

I would say to Democratic voters the following If you think that a third party candidacy is going to take away votes and cost the Democrats the election, you've got the power entirely within your own franchise when you go to the voting booth and vote for the Democrats,

This commission is a political organization designed to support the two major parties and shut out third party and independent candidates, ... We need to reinvigorate our democracy by having real debates -- not joint press conferences designed to limit th

There's a tremendous bias in state laws against third parties and independent candidates, bred by the two major parties, who passed these laws. They don't like competition. So it's like climbing a cliff with a slippery rope, ... Meet the Press.

a giant corporation in the White House masquerading as a human being.

I think there's a great need for a progressive candidate for the presidency, ... The two parties are very much dialing for the same commercial dollars. The two parties are ignoring issues like a living wage.

There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship.

Unpatriotic corporations abandon our country and shift industries abroad, along with what is left of their allegiance to our country and our community,

send a message across the country.