Pubdate: Sun, 14 May 2000 Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL) Copyright: 2000 Orlando Sentinel Contact: 633 N.Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801 Website: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/ Forum: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/interact/messageboards/ Author: Leigh Strope Associated Press/ Barry Flynn of The Sentinel Staff Editor's Note: Nader endorses hemp farming in South Carolina speech NADER CAMPAIGNS IN SC FOR GREEN PARTY NOMINATION COLUMBIA, S.C. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has taken his Green Party presidential bid to South Carolina, saying struggling tobacco farmers should grow hemp and that the Confederate flag represents a slave-based economy. Nader was in South Carolina Wednesday, seeking 10,000 signatures by Aug. 1 to be placed on the state's election ballot. His goal is to be on the ballots of at least 45 states. Nader said hemp farming should be legalized, which could replace tobacco as a cash crop for many farmers. Industrial hemp is the nonhallucinogenic cousin of marijuana that can be used in clothing and food. Tobacco historically has been South Carolina's most valuable cash crop, though prices and quotas have fallen in recent years, especially following the 1998 settlement of a lawsuit by 46 states against tobacco companies. Nader also said the Confederate flag atop South Carolina's Statehouse dome should be removed because it has no legal status to fly. It was raised to rebuke civil rights and "represents a slave-based economy," he said. "It's time to deglamorize the Civil War," he said, adding that "I am, after all, a Connecticut Yankee." Nader, a lawyer who first gained prominence taking on the auto industry in the 1960s, got less than 1 percent of the vote in his 1996 presidential bid. During a brief campaign in 1992, Nader collected about 6,300 write-in votes in the New Hampshire primary. Nader said if he gets included in the presidential debates with Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, he stands a chance. "Small political starts have regenerated politics, and they can do it again," he said. He doesn't think much of the major party candidates and had kinder words for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, who he said is "willing to discuss and is not a tightlipped reactionary." Big business has corrupted the political system, and Nader wants public financing of campaigns and other campaign finance reform. He also wants to strengthen labor laws and consumer protection laws, and supports universal health insurance coverage. Nader: If I win president's race, corporations lose Barry Flynn of The Sentinel Staff - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson