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  Issue No 77 Official Organ of LaborNet 10 November 2000  

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Tool Shed

Ralph Nader: The Soiled Saint


He may have wanted to bring purity back to US politics, but all Green maverick Ralph Nader looks like achieving is the elevation to the White House of a man who'll bash the workers, give tax cuts to the rich and outlaw abortion.

It now appears likely that Ralph Nader's fantasy tilt at the Presidency has cost Al Gore the job. In an election where every vote counted, Nader managed to pinch enough votes from the Democrats to elect Forrest Gump II as commander of the Free World. In the key states of Florida, Oregan and Philidelphia, it was the Nader vote - inevitably skimming the Left of Gore's Democrat camp that stood between the two candidates.

The Nader campaign, that was to have been built around integrity, degenerated into a slanging match against Al Gore as it became obvious that Nader was going to get nowhere near the five per cent he needed to secure funding for future elections. In the final days, Nader was reduced to campaigning in Gore strongholds, attacking the Vice Presdient and ignoring the Gump.

The key to Nader's candidacy was that the Republicans and Democrats had become the one party, the presidential candidates offering identical policies: but as the New York Times pointed out in an editorial during the campaign this was intellectually dishonest. On key issues such as environment, labour laws, reproductive rights and international policy Gore's policy settings were substantially different from Bush's.

But in an era of sound-byte Democracy, the man who could say 'a pox on both your houses' was always going to get a following of sorts. The issues he raised about the corporate control over the major political parties were valid, but the outcome of his actions has been to play into Corporate America's hands by tilting a bewildered electorate into the grasps of the free-wheeling Texan.

The tragedy for Nader, is that he has ended up a caricature of the courageous consumer advocate who had gained international respect. As his campaign degenerated into an exercise in Gore-baiting, Nader exposed himself as a dangerous maverick with an ego out of control. His comments after the full impact of his contribution to Bush's likely victory became apparent says it all: "Al Gore cost me the presidency".

For Ralph Nader, it all ended up being about Ralph Nader.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 77 contents

In this issue
Features
*  US Election: Democracy Version 1.0: Time for an Upgrade America
This week the world's greatest democracy is looking pretty rickety. Michael Gadiel reports from the front line.
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*  Interview: Crikey! A Corporate Commando
He may be a lapsed Lib, but Stephen Mayne is making life hell in the boardrooms of corporate Australia. And he might have some clues for unions too.
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*  Unions: Class of 2000 Hit Redfern
They're just out of acting school and straight into the union. Tomorrow's stars and today's union members.
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*  International: US Cleaners Fast for Justice
Talks between striking janitors and the cleaning contractors who employ them resumed on Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut.
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*  History: Racing Radio
The Cup is over, but the races go on, and so does Labor council's radio station, 2KY, as it celebrates its 75th Anniversary.
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*  Legal: A Pandora's In-Box
Screening of employee's emails could be in breach of telecommunications laws, according to Minter Ellison lawyer Megan Dixon.
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*  Satire: Our Snobs Are Tops
Tony Moore on why the lucky country has always been a tosser�s paradise.
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*  Review: Brassed Off With a Tutu
Billy Elliott, currently a hit at the box office, gives a new twist to the working class rags to riches story.
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News
»  Games Workers Still Waiting on Closing Ceremony
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»  Showdown: Howard Faces Court Over Rail Sell-Off
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»  World Awaits Landmark Slave Labour Decision
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»  American Voters Reject Vouchers
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»  Illawarra Fights The Big Bastard
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»  Retailers Rethink FairWear Retreat
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»  Killer Holidays: Activist Fired for Taking Vacation
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»  ANZ Faces Contracts Challenge
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»  Cup Workers Score Heady Brew
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»  Meals on Wheels Turns Mean
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»  Wild Horses Get Maurie's Goat
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»  Labor Council backs Souths Rally
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»  Sisters Celebrate Four Years
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»  Reith to Face the Music
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Nader no Fels
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»  Sartor's Veladrome
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