Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader [ ɹælf neɪdɚ ] ( born February 27, 1934 in Winsted, Litchfield County, Connecticut ) is a politically active consumer protection attorney in the United States.

Education and consumer protection

Nader was born the son of Lebanese immigrants, studied law at Princeton University, where he graduated in 1955 BA (Bachelor of Arts), and later at Harvard, where in 1958 he graduated with a LLB ( Bachelor of Laws ). Since 1959 he worked as a lawyer in Hartford. From 1961 to 1963 he lectured at the University of Hartford, 1967-1968, Princeton.

In 1965 he published his book Unsafe at Any Speed ​​, in which he argued that many American automobiles ( especially that of General Motors) had design weaknesses. In particular, Nader criticized the lack of protection of passengers in tumult of convertibles. The book had congressional hearings and a series of laws the consequence, which should help to improve the safety of motor vehicles. As a result of these laws American convertibles were no longer manufactured after 1976 for six years. Furthermore, already was in 1975 for newly registered cars compulsory that all vehicles had to touch the bumper at a certain height and were not allowed to deform in a collision to 5 mph. He also argued against the rear engine, which would have the VW Beetle hit hard, and the name Porsche with the Porsche 911, its largest market, the U.S. with 75 % share.

1971 Nader started his initiative, Public Citizen, an organization for the enforcement of consumer rights, mainly ( some say: unfairly ) based on the work of volunteers and low- Paid.

He is regarded as a symbol of the links alternatives in the United States. As a consumer advocate he fought in recent years, among other things, the software giant Microsoft.

Presidential candidacies

1996 election

1996 Nader was at a nominating convention in Los Angeles by several national regional associations of various green parties to "green", but voted formally independent presidential candidate for the election in the same year. In 22 states, he reached for the candidacy with the necessary quorum. For his campaign 's claims that he was, only $ 5000 from. Support in his few public appearances he received mainly through numerous local initiatives of environmental and consumer advocates. In the presidential elections on 5 November he won with 685 297 or 0.71% of the valid votes, a severed 4th place behind Ross Perot of the Reform Party.

2000 election

In 2000 he joined the first time as a presidential candidate of the American Green Party against George W. Bush and Al Gore from the Democratic Party and won 3 million votes (2.74 %). His candidacy was criticized by part of the Democratic Party, as it was feared that he would attract votes that otherwise would benefit Gore. Nader himself explained his candidacy among other things, pointing out that the differences between Bush and Gore were too low to justify its part to support Gore. He was also supported by Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Patti Smith and Michael Moore. The latter put his reasons in his book Stupid White Men dar.

In the election, Nader was as predicted for " tip the scales ". In the state of Florida alone, 600 of the 97 488 Nader votes would have been enough already for the Democratic candidate Gore to victory over Bush. In the event that Nader would not have begun, according to the electoral analysis 25 % of the electorate had voted Nader Bush, whereas 38% of his voters would have chosen Gore. The rest had accrued to the non-voters. One gives these figures faith, would have been elected President without Nader's candidacy in 2000 Al Gore. However, this consideration is at least as for candidates of other small parties hopeless.

Since such a close result had been predicted by the code predictions, tried some followers Gores to swap votes over state lines. In this case, the electoral system of the United States should ( a majority voting ), be tricked in which this state fall to the winner in a state of all votes at a relative majority a candidate, thereby forming a single vote counts in a federal state with a tight election ( " Swing State " ) more than in states with a clear election outcome. That is why some Democrats tried in states with a clear election to replace her voice almost with Nader supporters in swing states. Nader himself did not support such efforts and also competed in every state.

2004 election

On February 22, 2004, Nader announced his presidential candidacy again. On June 21, 2004, he named the prominent Green politician Peter Camejo as his vice - presidential candidate. However, the American Greens decided on 26 June 2004 due to the tight election result in 2000 refused to help again Nader and his vice - candidate as an independent candidate team, and decided instead to nominate David Cobb as its presidential candidate. The Democratic Party had feared that Nader could their own candidate John Kerry weaken again. Choice was decisive Nader's candidacy this time not because he received only 0.4 % of all votes, and in 2004 there was no State in which he could bring the Democrats to victory. The main reason for its decline was the dramatic voices so-called "Anything -but- Bush " attitude (all- just - not - Bush) many Nader voters in 2000 who voted for this reason for Kerry in 2004.

Nader made ​​during the election campaign, among others, statements regarding vortex in which he called President Bush and Members of Congress as " puppets of Israel." Some supporters of the Republican Party supported Nader's candidacy by they entered on his endorser lists that are necessary for the shows, in the individual federal states. They hoped thereby to weaken the Democratic challenger Kerry.

Election 2008

On 30 January 2008 Ralph Nader founded a committee to explore the chances of a renewed bid. As a motivation, he cited the proximity of the Democratic candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the political establishment as well as economic interest groups. His announcement was followed by the resignation of John Edwards out of the race for the nomination of the Democratic Party.

On February 24, 2008, Nader announced that he would stand as an independent candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He received 0.5 % of the vote and no choice man, but was thus still in third place behind Obama and McCain.

Works

• Crashing the Party - How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President. St. Martin 's Press, 2002, ISBN 0-312-28433-0.