Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State

by Ralph Nader

Overview

Ralph Nader has fought for over fifty years on behalf of American citizens against the reckless influence of corporations and their government patrons on our society. Now he ramps up the fight and makes a persuasive case that Americans are not powerless. In Unstoppable, he explores the emerging political alignment of the Left and the Right against converging corporate-government tyranny.

Large segments from the progressive, conservative, and libertarian political camps find themselves aligned in opposition to the destruction of civil liberties, the economically draining corporate welfare state, the relentless perpetuation of America's wars, sovereignty-shredding trade agreements, and the unpunished crimes of Wall Street against Main Street. Nader shows how Left-Right coalitions can prevail over the corporate state and crony capitalism.

He draws on his extensive experience working with grassroots organizations in Washington and reveals the many surprising victories by united progressive and conservative forces. As a participator in, and keen observer of, these budding alliances, he breaks new ground in showing how such coalitions can overcome specific obstacles that divide them, and how they can expand their power on Capitol Hill, in the courts, and in the decisive arena of public opinion.

Americans can reclaim their right to consume safe foods and drugs, live in healthy environments, receive fair rewards for their work, resist empire, regain control of taxpayer assets, strengthen investor rights, and make bureaucrats more efficient and accountable. Nader argues it is in the interest of citizens of different political labels to join in the struggle against the corporate state that will, if left unchecked, ruin the Republic, override our constitution, and shred the basic rights of the American people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568584553
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Ralph Nader is an author, a lecturer, an attorney, and an American political activist in areas of consumer and worker protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. He is the bestselling author of many books, including Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers. Nader is a four-time candidate for president of the United States, having run as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000 and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 Convergence: The Sporadic Coming Together of Right and Left Against Corporatists 1

2 Conservatism's Authority Figures: Principles Versus Dogmas 23

3 Hands Reach Across the Aisle, Though Often Slapped Back by Wily Corporatists 43

4 Twenty-Five Proposed Redirections and Reforms Through Convergent Action 65

5 Getting to the Actions: Convergences Ahoy! 71

6 Obstacles to Convergence and How to Overcome Them 121

7 Who Owns America? A Light from the 1930s Illuminates Now 139

8 Common Ground for Common and Uncommon Causes, Found in the Thoughts of Much-Cited but Little-Read Conservative Icons 161

9 What of the Liberals? And Populist Conservatives? 167

10 Dear Billionaire 181

Epilogue 189

Acknowledgments 195

Notes 197

Index 211

Editorial Reviews

“I read Ralph Nader for the same reasons that I read Tom Paine. He knows what he thinks, says what he means, and his courage is a lesson for us all.” —Lewis Lapham

“Thomas Jefferson fretted that, with the passing of the founding generation, the truer patriotism that he knew as the ‘Spirit of '76' would be lost. He need not have worried. Ralph Nader has recaptured the founding faith with an inspired call for a left-right coalition of conscience on behalf of democracy, liberty, fairness and peace.” —John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation and co-author of Dollarocracy

"For more than 50 years, Nader has backed the rights of citizens against the growing influence of corporations and government leaders tied closely to those businesses...The new book offers readers broad philosophical views, as well as many detailed suggestions, about how to promote and advance a growing political alliance between the left and the right that challenges the growing alliance between Big Business and Big Government."—The Charleston Gazette

“Ralph Nader's timely book once again makes him prescient in his insights about American politics. His against-the-grain prediction of a Left-Right alliance is not just a hope, but it is grounded in emerging evidence.” —Cornel West

“Nader at his best—original, indignant, idealistic, and on the lookout for new political alliances and possibilities. A tonic for the cynicism that's poisoning the groundwater of our democracy.” —Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley

“No American in recent decades has done more than Ralph Nader to construct a workable alliance between the principled Right and the sincere Left to salvage our country and our national prosperity, and Unstoppable outlines his vital mission.” —Ron Unz, former publisher of The American Conservative

“Unstoppable is even-handed, erudite, practical and necessary. Nader harnesses his lifelong crusade for the public interest over the corporatist agenda into a treatise that is optimistic and patriotic. He demonstrably shows that effective Left-Right alliances aren't pipe dreams, but historic realities in need of strategic cultivation, for the sake of our future.” —Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents' Bankers

"In Unstoppable, Ralph Nader argues that there are in fact surprising areas of convergence between the left and the right... These are profound observations... Mr. Nader rails so effectively." —David Asman, Wall Street Journal

“Activist Nader sketches out places of 'convergence' where liberals and conservatives can start working together for the public good.…[he] lists reforms with which many lawmakers would agree, including breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, protecting children from commercialism and ending corporate personhood.” —Kirkus Reviews

“One of Ralph Nader's finest efforts. A bold and lucid handbook for the future.” —Patti Smith

“Conservatives and liberals both look askance at the Leviathan state and realize that promises of ‘doing good' often obscure the reality of ‘doing well' at taxpayer expense. Those looking for opportunities for bi-partisan cooperation should look at the nexus of statism and cronyism. Unstoppable shows that opposing such corruption can bring activists of the right and left together to fight side by side.” —Grover Norquist

From the Publisher

2014-03-16
Activist Nader (The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future, 2012, etc.) sketches out places of "convergence" where liberals and conservatives can start working together for the public good. Though increasingly rare, the author points to a number of instances when lawmakers worked in concert to support automobile airbags, prison reform, halt media concentration, and oppose taxpayer-funded stadiums and arenas. Sometimes they found success; often, they got bogged down in committee or watered down during the process. However, as Nader argues, we also must acknowledge the global corporate giants, whose "DNA commands them to control, undermine or eliminate any force, tradition, or institution that impedes their expansion of sales, profits, and executive compensation." Certainly, there is endless ammunition to support this point, and Nader trots out one infuriating illustration after another—e.g., "the Department of Defense cannot or will not make an annual audit of it sprawling $527 billion yearly budget, not counting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan"—but corporate and governmental malfeasance are givens. The issue is how to make government heed "the supremacy of civic values to which commercial pursuits must adjust." Nader lists reforms with which many lawmakers would agree, including breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, protecting children from commercialism and ending corporate personhood. However, he also delivers many examples where lawmakers are despairing, stymied by partisanship or in the corporate pocket. "Whether Democrats or Republicans are in control, corporations still receive the same wasteful or expanding assorted privileges," while corporate welfare is ever more varied and bipartisan. Nader hopes that "convergence stimulates the depth of our basic humanity and sense of justice," but it feels awfully distant from this vantage point. If the best we can do is "agree on a general policy or stance without having to also agree on the exact implications or use that would be made of a policy," that sounds like planting seeds with no hope of rain. Despite the best of motives, Nader shoots down his own case for convergence.

Kirkus Reviews