Mom, Dad and Today's House Vote on the Bailout
People often ask me — what forces shaped you, Ralph?
I reply simply:
"A lucky choice of parents."
Among other things, my parents passed down many traditions.
Traditions that were handed down from generations before them.
Traditions that served as a counterweight to the addictions.
And fads.
And technologies.
Of modern life.
Traditions such as:
The tradition of listening.
The tradition of scarcity.
The tradition of discipline.
And the tradition of civics.
A couple of years ago, I sat down at my manual Underwood typewriter and wrote a book titled The Seventeen Traditions (Harper Collins, 2007).
It’s about growing up in my hometown of Winsted, Connecticut (above is a picture of me standing next to my mother Rose).
And it details the seventeen traditions of my youth.
It’s the only book that I’ve written that everybody loves.
When you get a copy, you’ll know why.
Flipping through a copy of the book the other day, I asked myself —
If the majority in this Congress was governed by the traditions that we grew up with in the New England of my youth — wouldn’t they have acted to prevent Wall Street’s "sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior" — as Richard Fisher, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank put it last week?
Surely they wouldn’t then turn around and reward that behavior with a $750 billion bailout?
By now you know that McCain, Obama and Bush all support the bailout.
And Nader/Gonzalez are opposed.
And we again urge all members of the House to vote against the bailout today.
But no matter how the House votes today, Nader/Gonzalez will be barnstorming the country in October.
Putting front and center our platform of shifting the power from the corporations back into the hands of the American people.
We’re on the ballot in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
We’ve deployed a contingent to each state to coordinate our get out the vote drive.
And we’re raising money to drive the campaign home to election day.
But we need to raise $1,000,000 in October to get it done.
Our first October goal is to raise $250,000 by October 12.
Yes, that’s a heavy lift.
But it’s been heavy before, and you’ve come through every time.
So, here’s the idea:
If you donate $17, or $170, or $10, or $50 — whatever you can afford to donate — by midnight tonight, we’ll e-mail to you tomorrow a signed one pager listing the 17 traditions.
You can share it with your friends and family.
Or just stick it in your drawer for posterity’s sake.
If you donate $100 now, we will send you a copy of the 150-page hard cover edition of The Seventeen Traditions — my favorite book.
And I’ll autograph it.
In my humble opinion, this book makes a wonderful present — for the upcoming holidays, as a wedding present, birthday present, Mother’s Day present, or for a baby shower. (This Seventeen Traditions book offer expires on October 12, 2008 at 11:59 p.m.)
So, stock up now.
The more the merrier.
The proceeds will power our campaign during this momentous October.
Thank you again for your generous support.
Together, we are making a difference.
Onward to November
Ralph Nader
PS from The Nader Team: If you want one copy of the book, donate $100. If you would like two copies of the book, you will have to make two separate donations of $100. If you would like three copies of the book, donate $100 three times. And so on. Thank you.
