Green Party of New Jersey
Updated
May 09, 2008
Nader
urges voters to push wheels of justice
Home News Tribune 10/16/00 Page 1
By Beth Rosenberg, Staff Writer
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY -- Politicians need to end their indebtedness to corporations and enact policies that provide for real opportunities for all Americans, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader told supporters at a university rally yesterday afternoon.
But in the current political system, where both Democrats and Republicans are beholden to corporate donors, only a third-party candidate, who does not take corporate money, will truly act on behalf of all the men and women of this country, he said.
"We cannot allow our elections to be sold to the highest bidder," Nader said. "It's your turn to put the wheel of justice in motion ... and this time you have a political party on your side."
About 500 people, mostly students, came out to hear Nader at the Busch Campus Center in Piscataway.
Nader spoke of his conviction that all Americans should earn a living wage and everyone should have access to health care. "People don't have money to buy health insurance. There are millions of families who can't afford decent housing," he said.
Nader, who has been a consumer advocate since his fight in the 1960s for safer automobiles, has been crossing the country trying to build momentum for his candidacy and party. Late last week about 15,000 people gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York City to hear him speak, and college students are turning out to hear his message.
Yesterday's crowd cheered and clapped throughout Nader's 90-minute speech. Shouts of "Let Ralph Debate" also filled the air -- references to the Debate Commission's refusal to let Nader participate in any of the presidential debates this fall that have featured Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.
Nader even had a ticket to the first debate in Boston, but was kept from attending the event by security guards. Yesterday, he announced his plans to file a lawsuit against the commission today in federal court and said after the November election he plans to establish a people's debate commission.
Nader, who was joined at yesterday's event by many of New Jersey's Green Party congressional candidates and its Senate candidate Bruce Afran, told supporters that there were virtually no differences between Bush and Gore. Also, he said, the theory that voting for the Democrats is voting for the "lesser of two evils" is no way to choose a president.
Nader said he hoped his Green Party would be the start of a "new progressive political movement" in this country, one that would work for the people, not large corporations.
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