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Abby Martin and Ralph Nader: The Rigged Corporate Two-Party Dictatorship

Corporate Threat to Liberty (Painting)

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin and Ralph Nader

teleSUR English on Dec 19, 2015

On this week’s episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin interviews American political figure Ralph Nader about the 2016 presidential race—from the “Brown Shirt” Trump movement to “corporate criminal” Hillary Clinton—and the reality of who has power in America.

Known for his widely-popular presidential run in 2000, he also ran presidential campaigns against corporate power in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

A consumer advocate since the 1950’s, his work against auto industry giants forced the creation of mandated safety measures that saved millions of lives from for-profit auto production. His contributions span disability rights to exposing corporate pollution.

from the archives:

Chris Hedges: Intolerance Is A Result Of A Political And Cultural Crisis In The U.S.

Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader: The Death of Electoral Politics

Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader: History of The Corporate Coup d’etat

Abby Martin and Noam Chomsky: Electing The President of an Empire

Ralph Nader: Dispelling the Myth of the 2000 Election

26 thoughts on “Abby Martin and Ralph Nader: The Rigged Corporate Two-Party Dictatorship”

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  15. That Ralph Nader was never offered a cabinet position by Bill Clinton or Barack Obama shows how messed up the American political system is to the highest level. If he’d been allowed into the debates he would’ve won and been re-elected. If either Jill Stein or Bernie Sanders were to get an agreement from Nader and announce tomorrow if elected he’d be nominated for a cabinet position, or perhaps VP, they’d pull many voters in their direction, and bring on a much-needed shakeup to the race. Ms. Clinton’s past, in particular relating to inaction/coverup of Saudi/Gulf monarchies financing of terrorism through Swiss banks after it was revealed in 2012 by whistle blower Scott Bennett, could knock her out of the race when the story finally breaks.

    • Critical points Jerry. I’d like to think that this will occur. In a sane world perhaps, not sure if we can rely upon sanity prevailing or honesty emerging triumphant in the US.

      The test may be how the EU with all its huge crises, responds to the current round of debacles and catastrophes. Could be the shiny American gilt is incrementally disappearing from the IMF/World Bank gingerbread.

      • ps I heard the original Sean Stone interview with Bennett, and was initially slightly sceptical about what was going on, whether this was a suspect stunt, however I’m listening right now to the Project Camelot full 3 hr podcast from 2014 and it sounds even more interesting, now that so much has emerged about the funding trail; also the current lack of response to calls (from Pres Putin, Jeremy Corbyn & others) to trace, identify and block sources of Daesh finance, speaks volumes ~ so I think this needs to get a lot more attention…thanks for the reminder!

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  17. If anyone is deserving of due public acclaim in the USA it is Ralph Nader.

    It’s a charade. The US public has been sold a monstrous lie. That lie is reinforced by this false imperialist religion of “patriotism.” A deception that is the quintessence of branded state corporatism, a cult of profane worship; it’s “gods” are profit, materialism and dominance.

    This mechanism of social control operates through universal pseudo-education. It is actually a mechanism of insidious blackmail and propagandist brainwashing ~ engineered through tenured PR collaboration. In short, it is franchised criminality.

    Why does “Daesh” succeed abroad? Because multitudes of lost souls are adrift and vulnerable in the wake of the organised destruction of the Middle-east. They are radicalised and paid to fight. If those funds did not exist, this obscenity would wither away and life would readjust to its natural priorities.

    The same is true for the victims of NAFTA. The “N. American” masses are the victims of a huge, gluttonous conspiracy to defraud the Earth, a determination to subordinate global agencies and international bodies through patented ownership of technological superiority. In the name of what, or whom?

    How do we undermine or frankly, “sabotage” the TPP, TTIP, TiSA? By reforming education!

    Teach critical thinking and the exercise informed discernment; educate the imagination. How to understand facts. We must educate for change!

    Then & only then, shall we witness a healthy attitude ~ a renaissance of natural intelligence that can reshape the climate of thought and action.

    This must happen as the US is about to implode & collapse. What will fill the void?

    • Thanks David. Ralph Nader has been my hero for literally decades. I remember seeing him on the Phil Donahue show after school when I was a kid. Was very fortunate to meet him in person in 2003. And of course, I voted for him in 3 presidential elections.

      The solution: defeat and abolish capitalism!

      • Of course, in principle I totally agree. Only the pragmatist in me wants to know “by what means ~ exactly how?” & “what exactly it is it we intend to displace?”

        One discourse I have found worthwhile is Andy Fisher’s radical ecosocialism. I am also very interested in the approach of Charles Eisentein http://sacred-economics.com/. The emphasis is on qualitative values, necessary social connectivity and reciprocal stewardship.

        I just found an interview you may find interesting, with Cynthia Kaufman discussing her last book Getting Past Capitalism, who says:

        “The main argument of the book is that capitalism is constituted by a varied (sic) of different practices, and so challenging capitalism needs to be about a variety of struggles. I draw on the important work of J.K. Gibson-Graham, who argues that we should model anti-capitalist struggle on feminist struggles. Second-wave feminists didn’t look for an overthrow of patriarchy. Instead, they analyzed what they were up against and fought it in all of its varied manifestations.

        One of the problems with traditional anti-capitalist thought is that it defines capitalism as a totality, which encourages us to imagine another totality, socialism, which we can try to replace it with. This totalizing perspective has colonized the imagination of anti-capitalism and left us waiting for a revolution we can never have.

        In the book I argue that we see ourselves as inhabiting a complex social world that has some capitalist things going on in it as well as some socialist ones, some communist ones, and many where economics are not separated out of the broader fabric of life (such as sharing and gift giving, and mutual support). The way we get past capitalism is by building on the healthy non-capitalist aspects of our world while we also do pitched battle with the capitalist ones that we have a fair chance of winning against. In that way we build a better world and shrink the destructive capitalist practices that are part of the social fabric.”

        https://www.popularresistance.org/how-do-we-defeat-big-finance-capitalism/

        However, context is everything. So one of the very best analyses I have yet encountered is from the Chilean agroecologist Miguel Altieri who talks most eloquently and factually about the current “clash of paradigms.” The core logic of all the arguments based on sustainable well-being and living within our means ie planetary carrying capacity, is that economics must be seen as a subset of our universal ecology, not the inverse that regards the environment solely as a resource to exploit for financial gain.

        So it really is about disabusing ourselves of ideological delusions & coming to grips with the bigger story. No matter how much money there is in the world, without a thriving global ecology, there can be no economic theory, because there will be no life. This is also consistent with John McMurtry’s position…..

        • Thanks for the video link, David. Absolutely, we all need to reduce the amount of animal meat consumed. I’ve been a vegetarian for over 35 years now.

          The problem in the US is that most of the plants (corn, soy) are GMO so one needs to buy organic whenever possible, however, it is very expensive. One reason I grow veggies and herbs in my garden organically.

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