When asked to define himself, he always responds, "Full-time citizen, the most important office in America for anyone to achieve."
Positions at the heart of the Nader-Camejo campaign:
- Prompt and responsible withdrawal from Iraq
- Repeal of the PATRIOT Act
- Taxation of wealth before work
- A break from our addiction to fossil and nuclear fuel, along with an embrace of sustainable, clean, renewable energy
- Enactment of a living wage
- Creation of a national universal health care program
- Reduction of the bloated Defense Department budget
- Enforcement of accountability for corporate crime
- Federal oversight of corporate globalization
- Reform of the criminal injustice system
- Suspension of the failed "War on Drugs"
- Authentic protections for consumers, workers, and the environment
The Nader/Camejo Campaign recognizes the need for a variety of electoral reforms to re-invigorate our anemic democracy. Nader/Camejo 2004 advocates:
- National ballot access laws for federal elections-one standard, not 50—to ensure third party and independent candidates are allowed on the ballot, giving voters more choices, not less.
- Enforcement of punitive measures for deliberate electoral manipulation. From inappropriate purges of voter registration rolls to election-day harassment, systemic efforts to undermine voters' rights are too common, and punishment of such efforts is too rare.
- Streamlined voter registration processes, including registrations on election day—as in Minnesota.
- Voter-verified, individual paper ballots for independent audits and meaningful recounts. New paperless voting machines are raising questions about whether we can trust that our votes are being counted as they are cast.
- Public funding of public elections with access to free airtime. Money-dominated, expensive campaigns, waged mainly with television sound bites, create a stranglehold and restrict politics to the rich or richly funded.
- Open Presidential debates. Control of the debates needs to be taken away from the corporate-funded, Commission on Presidential Debates, controlled by the two major parties. Nader/Camejo 2004 supports the efforts of the Citizens Debate Commission (www.opendebates.org). Also see OpenDebates
- Instant Run-off Voting, binding None-Of-The-Above options, and proportional representation. These necessary electoral reforms will ensure that every vote counts and all voters are represented.
The difference is not over whether to "defeat Bush"—understanding that to mean the program of corporate globalization and the wars and trampling of the Constitution that come with it—but rather how to do it. We do not believe it is possible to defeat the "greater" evil by supporting a shamefaced version of the same evil. We believe it is precisely by openly and sharply confronting the two major parties that the policies of the corporate interests these parties represent can be set back and defeated.
Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign exposed a crisis of confidence in the two-party system. His 2.7 million votes marked the first time in modern history that millions voted for a more progressive and independent alternative. Now, after three years of capitulation by the Democratic Party to George Bush they are launching a pre-emptive strike against a 2004 Ralph Nader campaign or any Green Party challenge. Were the Greens right to run in 2000? Should we do the same in 2004? The Avocado Declaration based on an analysis of our two-party duopoly, and its history declares we were right and we must run.
The Avocado Declaration by Peter Miguel Camejo and the Avocado Education Project
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Those who continue to say that Nader ruined the 2000 election ignore that over 7 million Democrats voted for Bush—250,000 of them in Florida. They ignore that 6,600 votes in Palm Beach were spoiled by a butterfly ballot designed by a Democrat. Instead, they attack Nader, who has dedicated his entire adult life to fighting for consumer and civil rights. He has been a stalwart against growing corporate power. His running mate, Peter Camejo, has written on post-Civil War Reconstruction and has been a pioneer on socially responsible investing. The Nader/Camejo ticket offers voters something very different.
http://votenader.org | Top image by Dave Seeley |