20160526 (citizen)

Had I my wits about me I would have told you about Nader's conference ahead of time. But you can still catch it easily on YouTube where it will be for a good time and viewable not as a marathon but as shorter, intellectually digestible sections--GREAT STUFF

If you’re enervated by what passes

For electioneering this season and

Would like to see matters on a fairer

More honest course, I’d recommend

Your watching the entire four days

Of the civic power gathering 

Which closed today called 

Breaking through Power

Live-streamed on the internet 

By The Real News Network.

Assembled by Ralph Nader who

Called upon many of his colleagues

And former interns of his Public

Citizen organization who have

Come to chair their own civic

Power groups, it was a testimony

To the idea that, despite the 

Unbalanced influence of monied

Interests on our government,

Power still originates in the 

Consent of the governed who

Can still be rallied if we

Break them free of the cynicism

Engendered through the takeover by

Special interests and the unchecked

Executives. Regrettably I missed

Most of the first day and could 

Grab only parts of the other three.

The present picture is grim, they

All attest, but we are not without

Hope. However much the elected

May be in the pockets of the 

Rich, they are still in office

Only by reason of our vote.

Produce enough people eager

To pitch them out on their ear

And they will crumple. This

Formula, most powerful in

The presidential election years,

Can make them sit up and listen

When they are most vulnerable.

Sadly, were it so simple, we 

Might have recovered a state

For, of, and by the people by

Now. It’s the time in between

When the people may think,

As they quite clearly have in

The instance of Barack Obama,

That they have achieved victory

And can take a well-deserved 

Rest. How painfully we learned

We can never relax. Between

The inspiring examples of people

Who are making change in our

Society, there were numerous

Instances of grave failures (Iraq) in

Government. Nader, having

Begun with critique of the

Chevrolet Corvair, Unsafe at 

Any Speed, came in for dirty

Tricks treatment as GM sought

To pull this thorn from their 

Side by hiring prostitutes to

Waylay him, stalking his

Friends and family. Nader 

Brought the matter to public

Light in congressional 

Hearings and sued GM for 

Harassment and defamation

Of character. With the $425,000

He wrested from them, he funded

The beginnings of a whole

Range of public interest groups

To gadfly the corporations for

Decades to come. A great story

Of personal dedication which

Gave rise to many others and

A continuing challenge to us

Today.

c.J.S.Manista, 2016