Civic Arousal

by NADER RALPH

• ISBN13: 9780060793258
• ISBN10: 0060793252
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: Regan Books

Summary

When we were youngsters, our father would ask us provocative questions. One day he asked, 'What is the most powerful, event-producing force in the world?' We guessed and guessed. His answer: 'Apathy.' What? 'Yes,' he said, 'apathy, because huge numbers of apathetic citizens, or victims, allow bad guys to create all kinds of problems on the ground -- from dictatorial regimes, to repressed economic conditions, to health and safety hazards, to corruption, to wars and so forth.' Edmund Burke, the British conservative philosopher around the time of our country's revolution, put it another way-- 'All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.'" Thomas Paine's Common Sense galvanized his fellow American colonists into seizing their independence from Britain. Today, as we again face "times that try men's souls," Ralph Nader's call to civic action is as crucial to our country's future as Paine's was in 1776. In Civic Arousal, Nader responds to thoughtful letters written by two young citizens, both frustrated with the political status quo but unsure about their power to affect real change. His insights will inspire every citizen to participate in our democracy and movements for positive change in this country.

Excerpts

Civic Arousal

Chapter One

August 23, 2004

Dear Mr. Nader,

I don't have anything nasty to say to you. I think you're a good man trying to do an impossible job. It is because of this that I am writing to you.

I have lived in Florida for all of my twenty-seven years, including (obviously) the disaster that was the 2000 presidential election. During that debacle, I actually lived in Tallahassee, so I got to see firsthand the nastiness and media frenzy and party polarization and so-called "activism" that we all remember so well. At the time, I must admit I was angry at Nader voters, because it did seem to me that people who voted for you could have voted for a member of the two-party system and made things go more smoothly for the candidate I favored. In retrospect, however, and as we face another presidential campaign and election cycle, my feelings are different.

I am not writing to tell you whether to run again or not. I'm a waitress: what do I know about campaigns and elections? I am writing you because I face another cycle of the same stories and the same faces and the same attitudes I've witnessed since I first registered to vote ten years ago. I am writing you because you have intentionally kept yourself outside of the two-party system and have stood for what you believe in and have sought votes from the people who are tired of the ways things are done. I am tired of the ways things are not done. I am tired of wanting money for education to go to students instead of administrators. I am tired of wanting to focus on the needs of my country and my fellow citizens and seeing attention given, instead, to international issues that do not—regardless of the assertions of either party—affect the daily lives of people living here, voting here, paying taxes here. I am tired of knowing that something different must be done and yet voting within a system that guarantees—no matter whether "liberals" or "conservatives" are "in power"—that nothing new will happen, nothing will ever change.

'What frustrated me the most about your campaign in 2000 was that I knew smart, active, dedicated people who were voting for you, and yet I couldn't, because I knew it didn't matter if I voted for you. Voting outside of the two-party system seems like a waste of a vote, because you and other candidates outside of the majority do not have the exposure or the support to win elections. However, voting within the two-party system is equally a waste of a vote because neither Democrats nor Republicans will say or do what needs to be said and done to bring about real change in the world. I have only been registered to vote for ten years, and I have only voted a handful of times in my life, and already I am tired of it. I want to speed through this election cycle and submit my will to whomever will be elected (or reelected) next, because in a system as corrupt as ours, what difference does any of it make? And at the same time, I am disappointed in myself for the defeatism I feel.

My question is not whether you will run again or not. Personally, I don't really care whether you do. My question, really, is HOW can we change the way things are done? To whom do I write? To whom do I complain? To whom do I speak? Even people who once cared about change are now too entrenched in the system to see beyond it, and the rest—well, they either have too much money or not enough. I don't want to vote next year. I don't want there to be a President or a Legislature. I want them all to go away, to start from scratch. I am bored and frustrated with the same language and the same policies and the same problems.

This is a funny thing. You, yourself, are the closest "rebel" to the middle stage, and it is only because of this closeness to the American center that I have even heard of you, that CNN even bothered with you years ago. And this is why I'm writing. You come the closest to being them.

What should I do?

I suppose, in the end, none of the politics matter. I hope, finally, that you are just a good man. And that no matter what happens with the rest of the mess you continue to be so.

Sincerely,

Erika McVoy
Tallahassee, Florida

Civic Arousal. Copyright © by Ralph Nader. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Civic Arousal by Ralph Nader
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