Nicole Robinson

Growing up in Connecticut, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said Wisconsin always seemed, to him, to be the “progressive standard.” Nader shared his well-received progressive views with students, faculty and community members Thursday in Schofield Auditorium.

Junior Andrew Werthmann, president of the Progressive Student Association at UW-Eau Claire, said he hopes Nader’s visit helped inform students of the choices they will have in November.

“By getting more information out on the wide variety of candidates there are in this race, I think you better educate the voters,” Werthmann said. That is the goal of the Progressive Student Association, he added.

Nader shared his views on his presidential opponents, warning the audience that corporatism in American politics is corrupting both Democrats and Republicans.

“The big issue in this country has been and is … too much corporate power,” Nader said. He added that neither Democrats nor Republicans will admit this fact.

Candidates need big money for TV ads, Nader said; smaller party candidates cannot compete.

“The two (big) parties don’t like competition,” he said. “There is no Western democracy that is so rigged against small parties and the multi-party system as the U.S.”

He added that while it is fairly easy to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin with 2,000 signatures, stateslike North Carolina, which requires 100,000 signatures to get on the ballot, are decidedly more difficult.

Nader explained that without small political parties, major social and civil rights movements such as women’s suffrage and worker’s rights would never have taken place.

Werthmann said he believes a third-party candidate like Nader has a good chance of receiving a large number of votes on Eau Claire’s campus.

“Many people are sick and tired of the dirty politics that are going on between the big parties,” Werthmann said. “They want a voice of reform like Ralph Nader’s.”

Senior Kevin Taddonio said he’s sick of the big parties’ negative politics, but he will probably vote for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., anyway.

“I’m not satisfied with who’s in office now. I’d like a change,” Taddonio said. “I’d like to vote for a candidate I support, but also one that’s going to win.”

Freshman Charlotte Narr disagrees. She said that Nader has the ability to change American politics for the better.

“I’m totally going to vote for Nader,” she said. “His speech was a lot better than any past president’s I’ve heard.”

While Nader admitted his views are closer to the Democratic Party than the Republican Party, he criticized the Democrats for losing elections he said they should have won.

“They can’t even beat Republicans in the House and Senate,” Nader said. “(The Democrats) have been losing to the worst Republicans for the past 10 years.”

He said that with his candidacy, he hopes to push the Democratic Party to address issues important to the American people. Nader said that Kerry is not separating himself from Bush on important issues such as labor.

“He could’ve drawn the bright line between him and the Republicans,” Nader said. “He blew it.”

Political preference aside, Nader said it is critical that college students vote.

“I don’t want to hear young people say, ‘I’m not into politics,’ ” Nader said. “If they’re not into politics, politics is going to get into them in very real ways.”