Ralph Nader has just broken a world record. Having a Guinness World Records recorder following his staff all around Massachusetts, he recently announced here that he had broken the record for "Most Consecutive Stops for a Political Campaign in one State and One Day," or something like that. We were at stop #19. He had been to my hometown of South Hadley, had a nice rally in Boston and pretty much criss-crossed the whole state. Bad weather and bad traffic must have slowed him down, but I assume he had fun.
If you were in Massachusetts today, you would know. Well, I was at Smith College when I noticed a pamphlet for his road trip on the table. We went into the Raven used book store (if you live in Northampton you'd know exactly what I'm talking about), and waited for a total of 2 hours for the staffing crew to show up. It's a relatively small bookstore. So, over a span of 2 hours, we ended up being cramped next to at least seventy other people with hardly any breathing space.
The people I met there were quite remarkable. One was a 95-year-old lady who had apparently planned several Nader rallies in the 1960's. Things were getting dubious, as his arrival kept getting postponed. At 10:07, he walked into the room.
I must admit, I was excited. I don't meet many famous people. Living overseas, I haven't been to any political events besides phone-banking and raising funds for Barack in Guatemala City with members of the State Department. His head Treausry advisor gave an intro and then let Ralph take the stage. I was impressed. It surprised me how much he attacked Obama rather than McCain. But then I remembered how I was in the middle of progressive Massachusetts, and the liberals are the ones Ralph has to appeal to. I was a little nervous, fearing that I might have been the only Barack.
Ralph Nader's Massachusetts Marathon
He talked about corporations, and how our tax money ends up in their greedy little hands. He talked about how Obama voted for more military funds, the Bailout Package, against troop withdrawal, etc. I'm young, so I don't really follow exactly what it is that politicians look at when brining up each other's records. Here is what he said*:
We need to stop putting the money of our workers into the hands of these corporate criminals. I know people have been excited by the charisma of Barack's campaign, but you have got to be kidding me. It's great that we have finally gotten an African American this far, but don't tell me you are that blind. He has voted to raise military funding, when half of our budget goes to the military already. We have some of the biggest military bases in history, and he wants to keep them there. I have trouble finding a difference between him and John McCain. Come on. He voted for the bailout. He put your tax dollars into the hands of the people who put us into the mess that it was designed to fix. Are you kidding me? Picking Joe Biden? Are you serious? We used to call him Joe Plastic! If we are to pursue the dream of our 3rd-party candidates, we have got to stop putting power into the hands of the parties who drive our country into the ground!
After that, one of his California staffers talked about their strategy and how they are "telling friends and family" about their hopes. It surprised me a little because of how much Ralph talked about how hope shouldn't be the decider of this election. They talked about how they were denied the debates, a convention and media coverage. The whole group seemed pretty pissed off. Then they asked for donations.
The same staffer asked for a donation of $1000. It was weird because most of those guys looked like blue-collar workers. But I guess those are the guys who make up their constituency. There was an awkward silence of about 30 seconds, while the crowd looked for donations, and then a middle-aged man in the back offered $500. Then another person offered $250. The the old lady passed around her hat to the whole crowd, raising a solid amount of cash. They were still short a couple hundred dollars, so I offered one hundred. As a result, I got an autograph and a copy of Ralph's Denver DVD called, "Open the Debates".
Overall, I must say I had fun. We asked why he chose Massachusetts, and his spokesperson told us that it was symbolic. The American Revolution started in Massachusetts, so he wanted to start the consumer Revolution in Massachusetts, too. His staff was nice, he was pretty funny, and he really got to me just by telling the truth. My hat goes off to Ralph Nader for pushing forth the 3rd-party idea, even though I'm still for Barack.
*My apologies to those who might have attended and know exactly what he said.