Longtime consumer advocate and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader criticized President Clinton, the two major political parties and the power of big business Tuesday during a stop in Utah as part of a 50-state campaign tour.
"We are a prisoner of the two-party system," Nader told an enthusiastic audience at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics. The two parties have become so similar, he added, they are one party "with two heads wearing different makeup."
A choice between Al Gore and George W. Bush is a choice between the bad and the worse, he added.
Nader, 66, is on the ballot in 11 states, but not in Utah. The Green Party of Utah is mounting a petition drive to put Nader on the Utah ballot.
Later Tuesday, Nader drew a crowd of more than 500 students at a Green Party rally held in the U.'s student union building.
His ideas found avid support from the audience.
"I was really impressed," said senior Sophia Brophy. "He touched on important issues such as media and corporate domination."
It was refreshing to hear something new instead of the run-of-the-mill campaign rhetoric, she added.
Nader focused on the major issues of his campaign, the issues he says the two major parties aren't addressing: universal health coverage, the need to form a viable third party and corporate control of politics and people.
"Big business is on a collision course with American democracy," he said. "We own the public airwaves, public lands . . . . We're the landowner, and we don't control any of them."
Those in power make it hard for the public to know they own these assets, Nader said. The solution would be to start with citizens organizations.
He also said big businesses oppose environmental laws. Utah has its share of problems with hazardous waste, he added.
None of the mainstream parties talks about solar energy as an option, he said.
Nader also lambasted Gore, calling him a "coward" for not regulating the automobile industry to come up with clean, more fuel-efficient engines.
In 1993, Clinton and Gore announced a billion-dollar partnership with automakers, Nadar said. It was to finance cleaner technology. In the seven years since, the auto companies have proceeded to do nothing, Nader said. In Gore's recent Earth Day speech, he said he's confident automobile companies are serious about this matter.
"This is a statement from a chronic, political coward," Nader said.
Business is controlling politics, he said. "Instead of government of, by, and for the people, we have a government of the Exxons, by the General Motors, and for the DuPonts," he added.
"Corporations are planning our future," Nader said. "These companies get bigger and more insatiable that they turn elected officials into puppets."
There were 400 political action committees (PACs) in 1974, Nader said. "There are 9,000 now."
Nader said he won't take any money from PACs. He is limiting his contributions to no more than $2,000 per individual. He is relying on thousands of volunteers to help him in his presidential campaign.
"I view the presidential campaign as a movement of thought, not beliefs," said Nader. "It's OK to have beliefs but it's better if it's preceded by thought."
You can reach Donna M. Kemp by e-mail at donna@desnews.com