Presidential candidate Ralph Nader shares insight with Lew-Port High School students

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, October 30, 2004

This past Monday, Lewiston Porter High School juniors and seniors had the to unique opportunity to experience a visit by a presidential candidate at the High School auditorium.

No, it wasn’t incumbent President George Bush or his chief opponent, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, but the equally impressive Ralph Nader, a long-time consumer safety advocate, visionary, and third party presidential candidate whose presence in the presidential elections has and continues to be a factor.

Just ask Al Gore, loser in the 2000 elections to Bush by the narrowest of margins, much due to the Nader influence. He’d likely reply that having Nader on the ballot in swing states can indeed be a factor. In fact with both Bush and Kerry running virtually neck and neck in may polls, “the Nader factor” is again an item to consider by both of the 2004 leading candidates as the days wind down to Nov. 2.

Lew-Port Visit

Which is what made Nader’s brief but informative Lew-Port student assembly visit all that more intriguing. Following a Sunday afternoon campaign stop at a community center on Buffalo’s east side, Nader was hosted for an overnight stay by supporters in Youngstown, who also helped arrange with Nader campaign officials and the Lew-Port School District, the candidate’s visit with students Monday at the Lew-Port High school auditorium.

Nader, who received impressive rounds of applause from the Lew-Port students, opened by focusing on his past efforts in the 1960s and ‘70s on consumer product safety issues, his work to educate the public and the resulting government legislation for change.

“The world is filled with problems,” said Nader as he quickly moved to 2004 and his focus on the many national as well as global issues of concern. “We have a lot to do here,” Nader told students, as he discussed current issues ranging from the Iraqi war to domestic and economic policy areas to environmental concerns. Throughout the discussion he attributed the blame on many of these issues to the nation’s long established two-party system and the limitations it has on the voter’s choice and decision-making process.

“We live under a two-party electoral dictatorship,” said Nader, telling students the two major parties “have made it almost impossible” for a third-party candidate to have any impact, especially at the national level.

And Nader placed much of this blame on corporate America, telling students “Elections should not be put up for sale to big business contributors. The next big step is big business controls the government.”

Get Involved

Challenging students to become more involved, Nader asked, “How are you going to make this society better, so it doesn’t get worse?”

Focusing on environmental concerns he brought up Lew-Port’s proximity to waste sites, saying “you live not far from the last giant waste site in the northeastern United States ... no one wants their waste. It’s the most devastating toxic waste you can imagine.”

Nader again brought up the role of powerful big business and their influences on quality of life issues, as he raised issue with Chemical Waste Management and the local health concerns of continued radiological contamination just off the Lew-Port campus property.

“How do you prevent this? You become more involved,” said Nader telling students their focus should be on their community, their environment, their lives.

Responding later to a question on what the government should do about the numerous problems associated with the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works site, Nader proposed a massive government public works remediation effort similar to that which rebuilt Europe following World War II. “Get it done. It’s the government’s responsibility, they should deal with it,” Nader said.

Student Questions

The session concluded with student questions, one of which focused on the Iraq crisis and what Nader would do. “We’re in it ... we’re in a quagmire,” said Nader as he compared the war to the nation’s troubled experiences in Vietnam. Nader said the US needs to focus on an end time of its involvement in Iraq, proposing a six-month withdrawal coupled with greatly increased involvement by global powers to resolve the problem.

To a student question on gay marriages, Nader conveyed his support, calling it an “equal rights” issue.

And to another student question, focusing on the distressed economic situation in Western New York, Nader again attributed much of the problem to corporate America, from continued outsourcing of jobs to a lack of concern on an area’s quality of life and its residents.

Offers Challenge

Throughout the session, Nader continually turned issues into challenges for the students, telling them they need “to make demands on their politicians.

“It’s up to your generation” to do something about this, Nader said, to student applause.

Lew-Port students generally seemed to be much in agreement with Nader on the various items he conveyed throughout the roughly 45-minute session and they offered the third party candidate a resounding ovation as he left the auditorium.

Later on, when asked why he took the time out of his busy schedule to visit Lew-Port students, Nader who had to depart soon after for a lengthy road trip to Ohio, replied, “That’s our future. They have the longest and largest stake in our country.”

Certainly words of truth for tomorrow’s leaders.