> >Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000
> >From: Ted Glick <indpol at igc.org>
> >Organization: IPPN
> >--
> >Ted Glick, National Coordinator
> >Independent Progressive Politics Network
> >P.O. Box 1041, Bloomfield, N.J. 07003
> >973-338-5398 (t), 338-2210 (f), www.ippn.org
> >
> >[forwarded]
> >An event will be held in Washington, DC at the Lincoln Memorial
> >next Wednesday to urge Ralph Nader to announce his candidacy
> >(his announcement is expected to follow shortly thereafter).
> >
> >The campaign would like to have a big "kick-off" with a show
> >of support from as many interested citizens as possible. We
> >are all being urged to sign on to the proclamation below.
> >If you want your name added to the list (the list is expected
> >to grow to thousands of names by next Wednesday's event) just
> >send back a message in response to this email.
> >[NJ4Nader at aol.com]
> >
> >------------------------------------------------
> >
> >NATIONAL ACTIVISTS TO CALL ON RALPH NADER
> >TO DECLARE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY
> >
> >Group to Present Nader with a Proclamation
> >Calling for Grassroots Activism in Election 2000
> >
> >Washington, D.C., January 12 -- Democracy activist Ronnie Dugger and New
> >Mexico Green Party leader Carol Miller will be among the "political
> >sparkplugs" and dissatisfied voters who will gather on the steps of the
> >Lincoln Memorial Wednesday, January 19 at 12:30 p.m. to call on public
> >interest advocate Ralph Nader to run for President in 2000. The assembly
> will
> >present Nader with a proclamation, signed by political activists around
> the
> >country, urging him run a grassroots, independent presidential campaign.
> >Later, a delegation will deliver a signed copy of the Proclamation to
> Nader
> >in the capital city. Everyone who would like to see Ralph Nader run in
> 2000
> >is invited to attend.
> >
> >In his weekly radio broadcast of January 4, Jim Hightower prescribed
> Nader
> as
> >"A Cure for the Millennial Blues," saying, "Gore-Bush-Bradley-McCain-et
> al.
> >pretend to have big policy differences, but they're all in agreement on
> the
> >corporate agenda of their campaign contributors. All of the major
> contenders
> >fully embrace the WTO and other forces of globaloney that are knocking
> down
> >the American middle-class, exploiting impoverished people abroad, and
> >subverting our own right to self-government... One way to shake up
> >business-as-usual is to get Ralph Nader to run for president..."
> Hightower,
> >formerly the Democratic Commissioner of Agriculture in Texas, has agreed
> to
> >be the keynote speaker at the Greens' national convention in Denver this
> >summer.
> >
> >Nader allowed the Green Party to put his name on the ballot in fewer than
> >half the states in 1996, and set and observed a campaign-spending limit
> of
> >$5,000; yet he received about 700,000 votes, or more than 1.6% of the
> vote
> in
> >those states. If he decides to run in 2000 and receives the Green Party
> >nomination again, Nader has assured representatives of the Green Party
> that
> >he will not impose the $5,000 limit again and will campaign vigorously in
> >every state where activists set up personal appearances for him.
> >
> >A Draft Ralph Nader 2000 web site has been set up by activists who hope a
> >swell of grassroots support will convince Nader to run. Nader supporters
> can
> >go to www.Nader2k.org and write a message to him, pledge a contribution
> to
> be
> >matched against federal funds, or volunteer to work in the campaign.
> >
> >Although the public and the press are invited to the reading of the
> >Proclamation at the Lincoln Memorial next Wednesday, no rally is
> intended,
> >but rather a quiet, sober, potentially very important event.
> >
> >A Citizens' Proclamation to Our Fellow Citizens:
> >>From the Lincoln Memorial
> >
> >The citizens of our Republic, alienated from politics and the electoral
> >process, are wanting for honest moral leadership.
> >
> >The national electoral process is characterized by meaningless
> sound-bites,
> >full-time fundraising, servitude to corporate interests seeking favors,
> and
> >systematic insults to the intelligence, dedication and neighborliness of
> >ordinary citizens.
> >
> >The major party candidates for the presidency are beholden to this system
> >comprised of, and corrupted by, money for favors, empty promises,
> >pollster-manufactured visions, "issues" determined by focus groups, and
> >messages packaged for the mass media on Madison Avenue and for Congress
> on K
> >Street by beltway lobbyists, who must be the world's highest-paid
> specialists
> >in pandering.
> >
> >Democracy is thereby diminished to the vanishing point. And this is our
> >common danger: even democracies die.
> >
> >We live in an era that lacks true civic leadership and true commitment to
> the
> >public interest by our elected representatives at the national level.
> >
> >Today we, a group of self-chosen Americans, issue this Proclamation from
> the
> >Lincoln Memorial to call on Ralph Nader to lead the people of our country
> in
> >the revival and restoration of our democracy as we enter the Third
> Millennium.
> >
> >Established by polls as one of the most trusted men in the country, Ralph
> >Nader has over the decades responded to government abuse and corporate
> power
> >and worked for the public interest. Unquestionably a civic hero and a
> >patriot, he embodies the highest office in a democracy, the office of
> >Citizen. By common consent Ralph Nader is Public Citizen Number One.
> >
> >Already recognized internationally by educational institutions and
> >publications as one of the great Americans of the 20th century, he has
> made
> >concrete differences for the better in the lives of working people,
> >consumers, taxpayers--women, people of color, youth, and senior citizens.
> >
> >In our time, he has created consumer advocacy, fostered the practice of
> >public interest law, and inspired citizen activism.
> >
> >His ideas, studies, books, inventions, civic organizations, and legal and
> >political victories have improved and continue to improve the very air we
> >breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Our cars, our airplanes,
> >even our jobs are safer because of him.
> >
> >He has sought to improve our banking and insurance services, as well as
> our
> >government, and was instrumental in providing public access to the
> >information which is essential to our roles as citizens. And there are
> many
> >among us, in untold numbers, who have escaped injury or death because
> Nader
> >badgered government and companies into paying more attention to the
> safety
> >and suitability of products and workplace practices.
> >
> >He has energized the recent growth of the Green Party, an open, citizen-
> and
> >issues-based party which now is the most promising new vehicle for
> bringing
> >the people back to electoral politics and reinvigorating popular
> democracy.
> >
> >Only weeks ago, by leading the organizing against NAFTA, the World Trade
> >Organization (WTO), and other "bipartisan" trade policies that have
> >undermined our democratic control of our own government and have
> disregarded
> >the despoliation of our common environment and the interests of workers
> >everywhere, and by out-debating the government's team triumphantly in
> >Seattle, Ralph Nader became a central figure in the "Battle after
> Seattle"
> on
> >these essential issues.
> >
> >We know from his 40 years of public service that Ralph Nader is not for
> sale.
> >He cannot be bought.
> >
> >What he cares about and works for all the time is the highest democratic
> >ideals and institutions and the broadest public interest. Of what other
> >candidate for President this year can this be said?
> >
> >Now therefore, we citizens listed below---believing that we are in accord
> >with millions of our fellow Americans who have been alienated from
> politics
> >as usual and who are now searching for a new leader with highest
> commitment
> >and vision -- summon the citizen among us best qualified to redeem our
> >democracy. We ask Ralph Nader to declare his candidacy for President of
> the
> >United States.
> >
> >We pledge to work with him to run an innovative, democratic, grassroots
> >campaign sparkling with his many bold new ideas for the public good and
> >completely independent of corporate special interests.
> >
> >We pledge to work with all those citizens from around the nation who
> would
> >join us, some of whom lack financial resources or are otherwise burdened,
> but
> >who have nonetheless pledged their time and energy in support of Ralph
> Nader
> >and our beloved country.
> >
> >We read this proclamation at the Lincoln Memorial, among those of us who
> have
> >assembled here at midday on January 19, 2000, because Abraham Lincoln was
> >elected from a new party with the noble purpose of ending slavery and
> >preserving the Union and our democracy. Now transnational corporate power
> >threatens the same Union and the same democracy. The time has come to
> reject
> >the predictably over-compromised electoral options that we are offered
> again
> >and again by the two major parties, whose leaders are now fatally
> dependent
> >on arrogant big money and inextricably implicated in the demands of
> vested
> >corporate interests.
> >
> >We believe that Ralph Nader has the experience, knowledge, temperament
> and
> >ability to lead us in reclaiming our country, restoring participatory
> >democracy, and guiding our Republic into the future that stretches before
> us
> >like a dream if we but have--if we Americans still have--the courage of
> our
> >dream.
> >
> >We pledge to work with Ralph Nader, our leading public citizen, to redeem
> the
> >vision of Abraham Lincoln--the vision of government of, by and for the
> people.
> >
> >We pledge to work with him to gain ballot access in all 50 States, and we
> >call upon our fellow citizens to volunteer and to assist in drives to get
> him
> >on the ballot in the states and in the organization of a national
> campaign
> >that is of, by, and for the people.
> >
> >Mr. Lincoln, the man seated so peacefully in the majestic image of him in
> >this Memorial behind and above us, asked, "Why should there not be
> patient
> >confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better
> hope
> in
> >the world?"
> >
> >We respond to Mr. Lincoln: Our patience with the corporate two-party
> monopoly
> >of politics and power is over, but our confidence in the people in all
> parts
> >of our country is ever patient and strong. We act together now in our
> >profound hope for America and the world.
> > Ronnie Dugger, Massachusetts
> > Carol Miller, New Mexico
> > David Korten, Washington
> > A.V. Krebs, Washington
> > Remar Sutton, Georgia
> > Mike Feinstein, California
> > Paul Cienfuegos, California
> > Holly Hart, Iowa
> > Nicholas Johnson, Iowa
> > David Kairys, Pennsylvania
> > Jane Elioseff, Texas
> > Harvey Wasserman, Ohio
> > Marion Traub-Werner, North Carolina
> > Rob Rafn, Minnesota
> > Art Goodtimes, Colorado
> > Mike Green, Arizona
> > Ben Manski, Wisconsin
> > John Rensenbrink, Maine
> > Madelyn Hoffman, New Jersey
> > Deborah Mokma, Oregon
> Julia Aires, Florida
> David Poston, Florida
> Jan Smiley, Florida
> (list in formation)