If you drove to your workplace this morning in a car equipped with seatbelts and airbags; if you turned on the faucet when you got there and filled a cup with clean water; if you took a break and enjoyed fresh air free of tobacco smoke, one person more than any other has helped to make it possible: Ralph Nader.
And that's just for starters.
Cited by The Atlantic as one of the 100 most influential figures in American history, for more than 50 years this tireless activist has crusaded for tax reform, atomic power regulation, occupational safety, open government, congressional ethics, corporate responsibility, and much more.
Author of books ranging from the classic “Unsafe at Any Speed” (1965) to his most recent “Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State” (2014), Nader is America's Public Citizen No. 1 and a legendary advocate for social justice: passionate, independent, outspoken, and incorruptible.
On Nov. 7-9 at the Rowe Center in Rowe, Mass., you'll have a rare opportunity to spend a weekend with Nader in a workshop, exchanging ideas and strategizing how to repair our wounded democracy.
“Bring a pencil and a notepad,” Nader says, “we're going to be doing some serious work.”
Nader says he believes that “more than ever, our nation needs change. Stronger social safety nets, more effective electoral reforms, greater accountability for corporations, a shift of power away from the few toward the many, a return to communal self-reliance. … Our problems are clear and urgent. But we the people can always find better solutions.”
In three days of lively discussions, organizers say, “participants will hear about the myths that prevent real change and about issues that political parties have stealthily slipped off the table and that should be put back on.”
There will also be “counterintuitive discussions on why an occasional alliance with the Tea Party might be necessary, how the super-rich might actually save us, and how history proves that fewer than one percent of the people can make a difference.”
And, most importantly, advance copy says, “participants will learn how to bring civic consciousness back into every aspect of our society despite the juggernaut of corporate interests that stands in our way.”