Ralph Nader '55 took the stage in McCosh 50 Thursday night to speak to an overflowing crowd of students, community members and supporters of his presidential bid.
Nader first addressed the current students of his alma mater, urging them to develop a public philosophy and then launched an attack on the Democratic and Republican parties, which he said inadequately address a number of issues like poverty, trade and government spending.
Nader is running as an independent candidate, though he ran as the Green Party candidate in 2000. After many Democrats reacted negatively to his role in the last election, some students came to his speech seeking justification for his choice to run again.
Before Nader addressed the crowd, Karis Gong '06, president of event-host Whig-Clio, introduced Carl Meyer '72, a local lawyer and Green Party member.
Meyer called Nader the living American who has done the most to work for and achieve concrete solutions to pressing social and economic problems for American society and someone who honors the University's tradition of public service.
And Nader's legend has grown since leaving the University. Meyer said Nader took eight classes while other students took four and received a personal key to the Wilson School library.
In retrospect, Nader warned students not to rely on the intelligence of professors.
"You can have all the brains and all the knowledge but if you don't have a normative impulse, if you say it's not your field, or you don't want to get into a controversy, [then] it doesn't matter that you have these kinds of professors," Nader explained.
Nader criticized corporate influence on national politics, the prevalence of political bigotry and the lack of pressure put on national leaders to make tough choices.
Nader also said supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate have not challenged Sen. John Kerry to speak on neglected issues to counter Bush's stances with more progressive positions.
"We've been working on over 30 issues — internationally and nationally — and all of them have been shut out with the most modest exceptions by both parties," Nader explained.
The closeness of the election is a result of Kerry being pulled into the corporate matrix, he said.
Nader spoke with urgency, especially when explaining national policies of which he says the public is unaware.
"The Pentagon budget is unauditable," Nader said. "Half of the government's expenditures are unauditable."
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