Ralph Nader Comes to Amherst

A tall, graying man sits huddled in a corner of the Amherst Cinema. He signs book after book while his publicist tries to maintain his composure dealing with the old, burnt out refugees of the hippie generation. All of whom think their problems could be solved by the man. For our generation, he has only been known as the crazy old guy who keeps running for president despite almost no chance of winning, a candidate that even the Green Party found too "out there" for their tastes. And so demonstrates the fall of Ralph Nader, a once respected and revered champion of consumer rights known today only to some as the man who lost Al Gore the 2000 election. Nader was in Amherst this past Sunday to introduce the newly released documentary An Unreasonable Man, which chronicles his life's journey from his roots as the child of a blue-collar immigrant to a man once hailed by Time Magazine as one of the world's most influential people. The audience's political persuasion was evident early as his detractors on screen received hisses and boos throughout the film. After the movie, he walked on stage to a standing ovation and answered questions from the sold-out audience filled with both baby-boomer activists pining for the old days and students eager to learn a little bit more about what made the man so intriguing. The film itself was at the same time inspiring and saddening. His life as an influential public persona began in the early 1960s when he published a book titled "Unsafe at Any Speed" detailing the dangers of General Motors' Chevrolet Corvair. At the time, safety was not a factor in designing the "psycho-sexual dreamboats" (as Nader referred to them) of the time. In fact, when Ford released an optional safety package consisting of seat belts and a padded dashboard for one of its cars, GM pressured the company into dropping the option or risk being undercut into bankruptcy. So when Nader published the book GM was not happy, they tried everything they could to dishonor and discredit the man by paying women to solicit him in supermarkets and tailing him to try and reveal any moral indiscretion. They found nothing, and when the press caught wind of it, it turned into a fiasco. Not too far afterwards, GM President James Roche was before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee publicly apologizing to Nader for his company's actions. Nader used this and a subsequent breach of privacy lawsuit to catapult himself and his issues into the public arena. His work and the work of his followers, going by the name of "Nader's Raiders," eventually led to the regulation of the industry mandating things we take for granted today like seat belts, crash testing and airbags for all cars. For the next 30 years he would pursue more legislation in the name of consumer rights, all through legal action and never holding public office. When he was bumped from an overbooked flight and not given a replacement ticket he took his case all the way to the Supreme Court and won, forcing airlines to offer replacement tickets to those ousted off their flights. Warning labels on cigarettes and medication, and worker's rights to know that they are working in a chemically toxic environment were just some of many accomplishments that ensued. It is hard to imagine someone being such a driving force for progress without the aid of well-off parents or connections in Washington, but Nader maintains that he was just a kid who "lost a lot of friends in crashes" and was driven into action. And with regard to the movie, to which his only contributions were his interviews and a demand that his opponents be given the chance to speak their views, he spoke of the inspiration he hoped it would give up and coming students. He stressed that anyone could make change and all they have to do is, "want to want to do it." He played a big part in establishing MassPIRG at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and across the state in the 1973 and spoke of how big student involvement in groups such as MassPIRG could be in changing the world. "There are a lot of solutions for global warming, poverty and accountable corporations but students have to ask themselves, how much time are they going to spend on their civic responsibilities?" said Nader. When asked about the perception of apathy in our generation he commented, "Students are making too many excuses for themselves... right now they are obsessed with computers, the internet, myspace, cellphones and they are devouring on their own time," Nader said. The solution? "Join MassPIRG or an environmental group or civil liberties student group, you really get educated in your extracurricular activity," Nader said. It is hard to separate Nader from his effect on the elections of the last decade but when you do it is difficult to deny his positive impact on the people of the United States. Oh, and as for 2008, he won't declare his candidacy yet, but don't be surprised if he does. Matthew Cadwallader can be reached at mcadwall@student.umass.edu.

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