You don't see Obama or McCain in Kansas much these days. The state's considered a lock for McCain, so both candidates are spending their time elsewhere.
Not so Ralph Nader, who delivered a fiery indictment of just about everything Thursday night before an enthusiastic crowd of a few hundred in Lawrence.
You don't hear political speeches like this too often. Nader (who's on the ballot in 45 states) quoted Ghandi and Eugene Debs (twice!). This reporter half expected to see Upton Sinclair jump up on the stage.
Before the rally, Nader talked with reporters and got a little agitated when this one asked whether he could play spoiler on election day.
“It’s a contemptuous word. I think you should ask Sen. McCain ‘are you going to spoil the race for Sen. Obama? … We all have an equal right to run for election. I think the two parties have spoiled our elections.”
He said corporate America has run amok, and the government is their enabler. He noted that 9 out of 10 Americans say the nation is in decline.
“Large corporations have taken over our government and are turning our government against its own people,” he said.
Other highlights:
“This is going to be more than a recession. We’re heading for a depression…”
“I’ve never seen a greater unanimity of rage and demand for action…”
“Taxation without representation is back. Big time…”
“How many more years, how many more decades, are we going to let these two parties hijack our system?”
"The more votes we get in our column, the more the two parties are going to say, hey, there’s something on its way here. There’s something building."
On Wall Street moguls: “Crooks, swindlers and speculators… Wreckless fatcats, big time rollers with other people’s money…. The corporate crime wave is eating the life and soul of America.”
The bailout: “It became quite clear that Congress was abandoning its Congressional responsibilities… what it left out were all the important safeguards for investors, workers…”
“The constitution starts with we the people in the preamble. Not we the corporations.”
What he would have done instead of the bailout: He said Washington “had Wall Street over a barrel” and could have insisted on greater oversight of financial dealings.
He said a small tax on speculative derivative transactions – one tenth of one percent – would raise $500 billion and allow Wall Street to bail itself out. A rent-to-own program to help struggling Americans. Green jobs, public works investments, and health care reform.
And last but certainly not least, investigations of corporate executives who lost billions. “We must have criminal justice for these corporate crooks,” he said.
He called on Congress to reconvene immediately after Election Day to rewrite the bailout.
Who should we blame? “It was the deregulation of the Clinton administration in 1999 that opened the doors…
And Congress? “I have never seen a Congress so cowardly.” He told the crowd to vote against all of them, but then corrected himself. “About 10 percent are really trying to do a good job.”
McCain and Obama: “Cowardly, inhibited candidates that are unworthy of the American voters.”
On their rhetoric about Iran and Pakistan: “It’s like Obama is determined to match McCain belligerency for belligerency.”
On being kept out of the debates: He blamed the Debate Commission, which he said does the bidding of the two parties and keeps alternate voices out.
“A majority of the people wanted me in the debates… It’s one great debate commission fraud. It’s ridiculous. They are restricting voter choice. This country was never meant to be a two party duopoly.”
Why’d he come to Lawrence and the University of Kansas? “We always get a great reception here at KU. We’re campaigning in all 50 states. We believe if you’re goint to run for president, you shouldn’t slice and dice.”
Iraq: Six-month withdrawal. He said the country should never have invaded Iraq. Instead, after 9/11, a fast, effective “multinational team of commandos” should have pursued and destroyed Al Qaida.
Government spending: Greatly reduce corporate subsidies. Make significant cuts in the military budget. Start a “vast public works program” to repair infrastructure, refurbish schools and rebuild America at home.
Energy: No new nuclear, no new drilling. Step up conservation efforts, require much more energy efficiency. Expand wind, solar and geothermal sources.
No new nuclear? “It’s too costly. It’s too risky. We don’t need it.”
Ethanol: stop subsidies for corn-based ethanol; switch to sugarcane.
Health care: Give Medicare coverage to all Americans. “A majority of people, a majority of doctors want that.”
Wages: Adjust the minimum wage to make it a liveable wage. Based on inflation, if it had stayed on course since 19.
Problems with public education and No Child Left Behind: “There is too much memorization, regurgitation, vegetation in public education.”
Later: “Our educational system teaches us to believe, not to think.
