Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader and his running mate Matt Gonzalez visited Madison Friday and spoke at the Orpheum Theater about the need to change the U.S. government and elections.
Nader officially earned the right to appear on the Wisconsin ballot after his campaign collected twice the required 2,000 signatures last week.
During a news conference Nader said he continues to run for president to promote change in federal elections in spite of his narrow chances of winning. This is Nader’s third presidential election.
“What keeps me coming out here is that I don’t like the corporate government in Washington shutting the doors on the ability of the American people to go to Washington and improve their country,” Nader said.
According to Nader, voters should not just vote for the candidate who can win, but for the candidate they believe in. He said the two-party system has not been successful for American citizens.
“You’ve been voting for winners and been losing,” Nader said.
He said he has an equal right to run in the election as Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain and does not believe he is taking votes away from a particular candidate.
“We’re either all spoilers of one another, or none of us are spoilers,” Nader said.
He said Americans are taking their civic freedoms for granted and are not demanding enough out of their government. According to Nader, some reasons for this are students not learning enough critical thinking skills in school, and social science has become a second-class subject.
Gonzalez said the Democratic Party shares responsibility with the Republican Party for U.S. involvement in the Iraq War because Democratic members of Congress did not vote against war funding. He said war appropriations rose after Nancy Pelosi took office as Speaker of the House.
“The theme that we’re really trying to communicate to people is to get away from this idea that somehow one political party is at fault for where we are today,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said if he and Nader could participate in the presidential debates, it would be a three-way contest.
