Pubdate: Tue, 26 Sep 2000
Source: Press Democrat, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Press Democrat
Contact:  Letters Editor, P. O. Box 569, Santa Rosa CA 95402
Fax: (707) 521-5305
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Author: Phil Donahue
Note: Former talk-show host Phil Donahue is a member of the Committee
to Elect Ralph Nader President.

NADER DESERVES TO BE HEARD

If Ralph Nader is excluded from the presidential debates, many issues 
important to millions of Americans will get little or no attention during 
the corporate sponsored face-offs between the two major party candidates. 
For example: The United States has 2 million people in jail, the result of 
a drug policy that endangers cops and innocent bystanders in a Wild-West 
strategy of knocking down doors and screaming, "Police! Freeze!" Even 
conservatives have called for some form of drug decriminalization. If Nader 
isn't there, the two major party nominees are not likely to touch this 
"third rail" issue.

In a country where mentally retarded teen-agers have been executed, a 
journalism class at Northwestern University conclusively proved the 
innocence of death row prisoners, leading to the inmates' freedom. The 
Republican governor of Illinois was moved to declare a moratorium on the 
death penalty. Al Gore and George W. Bush appear to have a consensus: 
"Let's make really, really sure that they're guilty before we kill them." 
Without Nader present, don't look for much disagreement on this important 
matter during the debates.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military isn't working.

More gay military personnel have been discharged since the inception of 
this policy than before its adoption. Nader believes in equal rights for 
gays in every way these protections are extended to all other Americans -- 
including civil unions. This important position will get no airing during 
the debates between the two major party candidates if Nader isn't there.

For those who oppose the World Trade Organization, the China trade deal and 
striker replacement laws, the debates will be a sterile rehash of the 
doctrine that holds all trade to be good and "don't sweat the sweatshops." 
If Nader's not there, a robust airing of the other side of trade issues 
(worker safety, child labor abuse, factory pollution in Third World 
countries) won't be heard.

This year's debates will be thin fare without a discussion of single-payer 
national health insurance. No matter that 44 million Americans now live 
with the anxiety of being wiped out by a major illness. Single-payer health 
insurance is unlikely to come up in the debates at all if Nader isn't there.

The major party candidates have raised 80 percent more money in this 
election cycle than during the same period four years ago. Nader wants 
campaigns publicly funded, an idea that would remove the big private and 
corporate checkbooks from electoral politics and free candidates to 
advocate positions rather than waste time dialing for dollars. Good idea? 
Don't look for a vigorous examination of public financing if Nader isn't there.

A review of Nader's positions makes clear the long road he and his Green 
Party supporters must travel. Nader's lifelong assault on corporate power 
is all the debate sponsors need to know. He is not welcome to share the 
stage in a show paid for by Anheuser-Busch, US Airways and AT&T.

A vigorous progressive voice is being silenced with what appears to be the 
quiet approval of the TV networks and most of the media. No stranger to Big 
Business, major media seem bent on marginalizing the only man in the race 
who wants more teeth in regulatory agencies, more enforcement of antitrust 
laws, total unqualified guarantees of all constitutional rights for gays, 
illegal immigrants and other minorities, more respect for privacy 
protections and due process, an end to the commercialization of children, 
fewer nonviolent offenders in jail and trade policies that protect 
powerless people here and around the world.

Instead of giving the American people a chance to hear this principled 
voice, some in the media attempt to redirect our gaze by waving Nader's 
stock portfolio. "Aha! Nader made a profit!" A liberal with plumbing is a 
hypocrite.

No one took Jesse Ventura seriously until he appeared in gubernatorial 
debates in Minnesota. Those of us who support Nader for president don't 
want him to become the latest worthy man to be victimized by the adage, 
"You can't get on Broadway unless you've been on Broadway." A Zogby Poll 
released last week found 61 percent of those polled want Nader on the de 
bate stage. Unlike the major party candidates, Ralph Nader is doing what 
the people say they want all our candidates to do: forswear soft money and 
obey the rules that limit campaign contributions to $2,000 per person.

Because he is not a billionaire, because he obeys the law, the nation's 
most powerful private voice for justice, the man who revolutionized auto 
safety design, opened up government secrets by forcing the establishment of 
the Freedom of Information Act, blew whistles on faulty products 35 years 
before the current Bridgestone/Firestone tragedy, the man who inspired 
millions of young people to become active citizens is being shut out of the 
Great White Way of presidential politics.

Proud Americans of all political stripes should bang their spoons to ensure 
that Nader gets on the Broadway of this campaign -- the three debates 
sponsored by the debate commission. It could make a big difference. Ask 
Jesse Ventura.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart