by Rene Luna
Staff Writer
The Claremont Colleges were the scene of a tremendous turnout, as hundreds of people filled the Mabel Shaw Bridges Music Auditorium to capacity on Oct. 20 for a visit from a presidential hopeful.
The Center for California Cultural and Social Issues, based at Pitzer College, hosted a visit from Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, and candidate for U.S. Senate Medea Benjamin.
Benjamin launched into a speech that was filled with intensity as she talked about issues that “the Democrats and Republicans won’t talk about.”
One of the issues that Benjamin talked about was the U.S. government’s knowledge that people worldwide are dying from “preventable diseases” such as malaria and AIDS. Benjamin said the reason medicine is not shipped to countries is greed, “the love of money instead of life.”
Concerned with the fact that people are falling below the poverty level due to low minimum wage, Benjamin said that a living wage has to be established that allows people to stay financial state.
“Minimum wage has to be a living wage. It has to lift people out of poverty,” she said. Benjamin also said Wal-Mart and Bill Gates are “two families worth more than the underdeveloped world.”
Benjamin also talked about the government prioritizing prisons over education. Currently, there are more than 2 million people incarcerated, of which one out of three are African American.
Most prisoners are serving time for drug offenses. Benjamin said drugs should be decriminalized and drug addicts should seek treatment on their own discretion, in order to make prison space available for serious offenders. Benjamin also described the death penalty as “racist” and “classist.” A total of 60 percent of death row inmates are African American. Benjamin urged citizens to join “the other 108 civilized countries who say no to the death penalty. Studies have shown that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime,” she said.
At the end of her speech, Benjamin stressed that America needed to change its priorities by “overturning the duopoly that has been corrupt and taken our democracy.” Making change starts “by building coalitions with allies,” she said. “We are going to take back our democracy and surprise the nation on Nov. 7!”
After a nearly two hour delay due to what he described as “California’s poor public transportation system,” Nader walked into Bridges Auditorium before a standing ovation. Shouts of “Vote Nader!” were heard from time to time in the auditorium.
Nader’s speech was geared toward the corporate influence in the lives of the American people, and in the two ruling parties of the United States, the Democrats and Republicans.
Nader said that with many young people not registered to vote, it can greatly affect them.
“If they don’t turn on politics, then politics will turn on them, in disagreeable ways,” Nader said.
In regards to why it is important to address young voters that get overlooked by Republicans and Democrats, Nader said “We are pioneering a new movement. What better place to start than with young people.”
The Nader campaign plans to get third-party involvement by the next election. The Green Party plans to abolish the corporate funding of debates by starting a new commission called the “People’s Debate Commission.”
At the end of his speech, Nader said that corporate power will be in people’s lives, as it is in the lives of the Democrats and Republicans. The Green Party hopes to become involved in the lives of the American people. “It’s a party to build a new elective movement,” Nader said.
Rene Luna
