Shots

This country loves to take shots at Ralph Nader.

Maybe it’s because he changed things. He helped make our air safe to breath and our water safe to drink and our food safe to eat. He helped millions of Americans get better working conditions and better pay. And he held corporations accountable for dangerous products and criminal schemes.

Or maybe this country likes to take shots at Nader because he grew up in a Yankee corner of Connecticut and Lou Gehrig is one of his heroes.

Then again, maybe it’s just because we all couldn’t wait to lose our homes and our jobs and give more than a trillion dollars to a bunch of crooked bankers.

If this country spent more time listing to Nader and less time taking shots at him we all would have seen this coming. He has talked for years about the damage done by deregulation and corporate crime.

“For a society dedicated to equal justice under the law, you cannot have equal justice between human beings and corporations who can aggregate capital, technology, power, privileges and immunities unreachable by individuals. Corporations are not human beings. They do not vote. They do not have children. They are artificial entities. They must be our servants, not our masters.”

Well, they continue to be our masters and this week they picked our pockets, too. And in case you hadn’t heard, Ralph Nader is running for president, again. The Washington Post recently said that it wouldn’t cover his campaign because he has no chance of winning.

“Then why did they cover the Nationals?” Nader asked.

Nader was finally able to deliver a shot of his own, but I’m sure no one was listening.

The bankers and the corporate executives like it that way. They stole our lunch money this week and we didn’t put up much of a fight.

They’ll be back for more.