An Open Letter to Ralph Nader



by State Representative Ed Fallon (Des Moines)



Ralph Nader

P.O. Box 18002

Washington, DC  20036



Dear Ralph,



I write
as one who has, for decades, admired your commitment to fighting for
the welfare and well being of all Americans. I was barely out of
diapers when you took on the automobile industry, an effort that led to
congressional hearings and the passage of several important automobile
safety laws. As I prepared to enter high school, you founded Public
Citizen, an organization with a long and impressive record of advocacy
for everything from health care to food safety to sustainable energy.



While I
work-studied my way through college, you became a vocal and articulate
spokesperson against the growing influence of corporate power within
state and federal government. Through the 1990s, you tirelessly
challenged NAFTA, a treaty that accelerated the convergence of
corporate and government power and led to the certifiable loss of
412,177 U.S. jobs.



Yours is
truly an impressive legacy. Yet this legacy is being tarnished, your
name dragged through the mud, your credibility and judgment called into
question. If for no other reason than to preserve one of the most
impressive records of public service in American history, please
reconsider your decision to run for president.



On an
island in a lake near my family’s ancestral farm in Ireland sits a
castle remarkable for its lack of defense. The usual deterrents to an
enemy attack – high walls, battlements, arrow loops – are noticeably
absent. MacDermot’s Castle, as it is called, is what’s known locally as
a “folly,” built in the 1800s by Lord Lorton, for no apparent purpose
other than the Lord’s personal entertainment.



With all
due respect, it is clear to me – and to nearly everyone I talk with,
including most of your admirers and past supporters – that your current
presidential bid is nothing more than a folly. Perhaps you have grown
tired of fighting the good fights, the ones you could win, the ones
that really mattered in people’s lives. And who could blame you? 
Five decades in the ring, always the challenger, would tire even the
most legendary boxer.



But like
MacDermot’s Castle, your presidential bid serves no useful purpose. You
do yourself harm. You have no chance to win. Your message is lost in
the single-minded clamor of a rising chorus to defeat George W. Bush.
Your only possible “accomplishment” would be to help re-elect him to a
second term.



Deep
down inside, I can’t imagine you really want this to happen. Over the
past four years, Bush has proven himself to be the consummate
enemy of everything you believe in, everything you’ve fought for. I
have met very few Bush opponents from the last election who ever
imagined he could be this awful. In the words of Barbara Ehrenreich,
writing recently in the New York Times on July 18, “Who could have
guessed that within a year and a half, the genial Bush would morph into
a figure invoked worldwide to scare unruly children?”



With his
anti-environment, anti-consumer, anti-affordable health care and
pro-everything corporate record, Bush has become, if you will, the
Anti-Nader.



For the
restoration of sound budgeting practices, respect among the community
of nations, and a national agenda that doesn’t seek to destroy much of
what you have fought for, George Bush must be defeated.  Like it
or not, the only man who can do this is John Kerry. Like it or not,
your entry into the race only weakens Kerry’s chances.



As I
finish writing this letter, I am shocked to learn that you have
accepted 43,000 petition signatures collected by the Michigan
Republican Party in order to qualify you to appear on that state’s
ballot. Doesn’t it speak volumes that the Anti-Nader wants you to run
so badly he’s willing to direct his minions to invest this kind of time
and effort to help you out? Those 43,000 signatures didn’t come cheap –
and they didn’t come from your supporters or from those who believe in
your issues.



It’s not
too late to give those of us who admire you the chance to do so once
again. Please, decide not to run for president. America needs the Ralph
Nader it knew for nearly five decades. If you’ve still got it in you,
continue to fight the good fights – for health care, for the
environment, for corporate responsibility.



This latest run for president isn’t a fight, it’s a folly, and a dangerous one at that.



Ed Fallon, State Representative

Des Moines, Iowa
http://www.fallonforgovernor.com