i this is now afterwards ralph

nader talks about letters he is sent to george w. bush and barack obama regarding our domestic and foreign policy. >> it's great to have you here ralph on c-span thank you. >> i'm honored to interview you on this new book. >> yeah the reference point those days. it's a message that 103 letters i sent to president bush and president obama in 2001 and 2015 that were not acknowledged or not answered. so i thought i would embarrass myself by putting them all in a book to raise a bigger issue which is the most democratic media is when a person writes a letter to anil elected official

can't be censored, can't be distorted, and not to respect it or even acknowledge it so people don't know it's going to some dark hole. it's a major issue i think. most young people don't realize that a young a written letter to an official has more impact. >> they get like a half 1 million letters a week, you don't expect them to answer every letter. >> yes teams of volunteers go to the white house every morning and they separate all these letters. no one expects the president to answer all of these. but he has staff, he has departments, he has agencies throughout the executive branch

and they should all be acknowledged at least. that's my complaint, they have robo letters for high profile issues like the gm bailout. they will send out robo which is often like this, or they will write letters to supporters or contributors and presidents do write personal letters to a governor or mayor who supports the president or who gives some finances. so if anybody says the president doesn't sign particular letters to particular people, doesn't know they're talking about. and so they do play favorites here's how you can get a letter automatically from the white house. you say dearest pres. i want you to attend my daughter's high school graduation. so they have to be polite so they write a letter, expressing regret. >> or dear mr. president i want to give you money that they'll answer right away. >> i have a variety of letters

which could have been farmed out to the secretary of energy head of the federal trade commission no they don't even acknowledge my letters. so i wrote bush and obama a letter and i said what is your policy on answering letters? they they didn't answer that one either. so by comparison i sent to critical letters to the prime minister of canada and that came with formal acknowledgment by the director of correspondence saying they absorbed my message and have reverted to the correct ministry. so at least you know that a human being or more answer the letter. if it all goes to a dark hole and it's not acknowledged, fewer people will write letters. and the postal service shows letter writing is declining and not just because of the internet, what's interesting it

in canada as they have a policy to encourage people to write letters to their members of parliament or prime minister. because it's free. no stamp as needed. in our country our country the politicians are free, they send letters to eyes but we can't do it in reverse. >> so you said that most of the letters were not answer, a couple were can you speak about that? >> i. >> i want to make it really easy for president obama when he's running for reelection i said here's what pres. carter did once, he went to a major hotel bar room ballroom three blocks from the white house and we filled it 1000 liters of citizen groups, labor environment religious, charities, you name it. who have millions of members out there to support these group it's called the nonprofit sector. i said you've gone to india, you always need a little spark and

the letter you've gone to india to promote harley davidson motorcycles, this is just three blocks. >> surely you can just walk across the street. >> and he did walk across to pay homage to leaders that he criticized everyday. but i but i thought this was a good letter for him and good for the nonprofits and they would get more contributions from some people. by the way, a lot of jobs are involved in the nonprofit sector, so more so more contributions more service for children, people in need, so i sent the letter copy to michelle obama. she writes back, and says thank you very much but the president is too busy. so you see when you do persist when you try to get an answer you get a response that is more interesting. >> there is another letter you got from president bush when he

actually invited you to contribute to his library. what did you reply? >> this is a letter to me by name you know they can separate out deer hairy. >> was was this a letter in response to what you wrote? >> he was out of office this was in 2012, he was asking for money for his presidential library. i consider certified i consider george bush a certified were criminal, i picketed picketed him. i challenged him publicly, the computer is nonpartisan. so anyway i chided him on his criminal invasion of iraq and how he didn't have the decency to open up to iraqi refugees who were trying to feed their

families their chef chauffeurs some some of them lost their lives and nobody let them in. we only left about 10,000 iraqi refugees inches and then at the end said i think i want to make a contribution in kind. so i i sent him a book by this mainstream think tank guy, the title of the book is rogue nation. >> did you get a reply to that? >> know i'm get a c someday if they catalogued it in the presidential library. >> a lot of the letters are funny in some ways you wrote one about a terrace named e. coli. can you speak about that? >> well there is is a bacterial outbreak in europe, some people died it was a viral and bacteria and they gave it the name e. coli and then some numbers. so i've been trying to get

presidents back to president clinton to redefine terrorism. if your worried about a loss of civilian life you better worry about viruses and bacteria. not just the ones that come from africa asia you are a scientist, it's a scary thing. if we don't get ready in time it could be like a influenza academic epidemic after world war i. so how my going to get to these people? so i decide to write a letter in the name of e. coli. e. coli is sitting in the petri dish in austria. if life is very limited they're going to, get it. they've already analyzed that has no more use, so this e. coli virus i so this e. coli virus i need to do something to redeem myself. so the letter returned to sender makes the case for the president to prevent deadly act epidemics

all over the world. there's no one better than the united states to confront that, if we can get over the restriction of the word terrorist to a few gangs. >> i was at a few of the events you spoke about the book the one, the first one where you did the book launch in d.c. i wanted to ask him i was really fascinated by how that talk went. it was a great talk but the first question you got was about why did you give the election to al gore and? have you ever been to an event where that question wasn't asked? >> very rarely. >> i thought your answer was so spot on and so direct, the audience was very skeptical go about their stunt democrats but you got applause like serious applause. please talk about the answer i think it's important for people

to hear. >> we can never tolerate political bigotry against third-party candidates who exercise their election rights. we have we all have a right to election. so big guys, third parties we'll have a right to get boats from one another. which means were either spoilers of one another or none of us are spoilers. why should the green party get the third class citizen. but the pragmatic reply is if you ask al gore why he lost the election, he would say one i won the election, the election, i won the popular vote the electric electoral votes through florida. and and then he will say it was stolen from him. in florida, jeb bush and shenanigans, and in the supreme court of course. he also would've been president if he would've 11 state tennessee which he represented

in the senate. when you see either options one to her three any one of those options he could've been in the white house. >> 250,000 voted republican in florida how much was the election loss by. >> 537. >> also arkansas when he was vice president to clinton because in my clinton to campaign. i'm amazed at how many times people continue to ask that question. >> part of it is an alibi they so dislike the republicans that they'll go for anything the democrats offer. i save you do that you're gonna lose your bargaining power.

how do you the progressive wing, the democratic the democratic party which is becoming corporatized, militaristic, corporate cystic, wall street hat. it's not my going for the least worst. i'm not going to put any pressure on you in april may, june july they tell them what they want the corporate democrats to hear. which is blanket support no matter what the democrats will do that you won't like because the republicans are worse. every four years of at least worst mindset the party gets worse. speaking. >> back to the book did you send a copy to the white house? >> ice sent it to the white house with a letter but there's no guarantee that it got better.

i think i now have a contact in the white house and i may give it to her so she can give it to the resident in the oval office. >> what would be a victory for you in this? a phone call from the president and invite, what would be a victory. >> it would be first of all to acknowledge the letter. by the way i send these letters around you can't put all your eggs in one white house basket. you send it to reporters, opponents, members of congress you send it around. maybe a university professor whose interested in the subject. an acknowledgment that is courteous, and i would like substantive responses. we tried for six years to get an appointment with the secretary of energy, who meets all the time with the nuclear energy and

i had been leading anti- nuclear groups for decades, and never been able to see him. he would just blows out. so i wrote wrote to president obama and said your secretary is not giving equal time, nowhere near. no answer, and they didn't even refer to the secretary of energy for response. so i would like the sprawling executive to get some of these letters and respond, if they come from the white house they should have more meaning. >> used up to two presidents bush and obama. obviously written letters to other presidents, why did you stick with those two? are they more egregious compared to the others for not replying's? >> is it because of e-mail?

part of it there securing their seat, they don't want to they don't want to answer in the wrong way. >> yes they have robo letters they don't want to answer the wrong way i would write to jimmy carter and once in a while he would responder his special assistant would respond, i would say asking for a congressional hearing and it would be in the washington post or the new york times. now, no matter how fresh or new a letter is, let's it comes from a professor against missile-defense suppose he writes a letter and its new the

the press doesn't report these as they used to. i once wrote a letter to a public public official on what we call plank lung disease and it was killing the workers in north carolina and south carolina. it was on page three of the washington post. it's a die need the media, we need to revive it and there's no one who can stop us. no one can stop us from writing letters and sending them around. no one can stop us from writing more powerful letters by putting cc and by putting cc and sending it to all parties, and then people will say this person is a networker it's going to a reporter i better write it back. host: you have a podcast on an nadir.org. do you put those letters in the podcast so you have other ways to bring them up obviously

sending them to the white house you're not getting the response and attention but certainly there's a lot of people out there reading alternative media so aside from the alternative let's talk about the use of the podcast to get that information out. the ultimate goal is to get the information out it's not just to get an answer obviously. do you do a multitier approach to sending out this information? guest: i should do more of that the radio interviews people on very important subjects that are not the news. so that is the whole bulk of the program i just interviewed steve silverstein from sampras cisco, he helps others fund seven or eight people where you can come in second in the

popular vote and still become president. it happened four times in american history. most recently in 2001 gore came in first ambush came in second. but the electoral college college put bush first. they now have 165 electoral votes, they have laws passed from maryland, new york, illinois, california if they go to 270 that's the 270 that's the end. what do these laissez? it says in maryland or california that they will throw the electoral votes completely to the winner of the national popular vote. so they redefine what the electoral college cannot do. so we had him on, but you're right i should herald some of the letters and summarize them. host: one way would be to put the letter out and put it out to the white house and along with it you would do some sort of grassroots activism so maybe others can write similar letters and focus on the issue because a lot of times, from what i hear

, from people in congress and even the white house is that they do and respond to the white house by the number of calls and letters that they get on an issue. the b-2 yet make count the letters and they count the calls. they they may not respond but it has an impact if it's coming in in larger numbers. host: do you ever get a call back if you call the white house. guest: i would maybe get a call back after the third call you have to be quite persistent. host: one was the last time you're invited to the white house? guest: it was under bill clinton. he was us bill accardi was a

special assistant to handle our group and invited several times but only to see him. host: here you are one of the most hundred most influential people by time i am magazine by atlantic, i'm just flabbergasted that having run from president and i understand there's an old saying in politics that you brings your friends close and your enemies closer. so whatever you are bringing you closer, there's probably a better purpose you think? why think? why do you think there is this resistance to ralph nader? guest: i think two reasons one the 2000 campaign produced a lot of shunning by the democrat in congress and in the white house

how dare i challenge a mutating democratic party that is a shell of what it was in the 1960s. we could've gone through all these bills for environment, consumer and worker safety we kind of got through them today. but we them today. but we got them through 1960s. the second thing is if you don't get mainstream press coverage they don't think they need to respond to you. so the new york times, they decide they're not going to cover certain citizen groups and they will say, why why should we bother responding? it's too bad because these letters often point out things going on in their own government that they don't know about. things going on in the country they don't know about. they don't like the criticism, they like the praise. it's just not good politics i think you pointed out his lack of politics to do that. if i go go to the chamber of commerce if i was in national association to manufacture you can be sure they would respond.

they respond to perceived power. in the 1960s if you had good knowledge, good information about how cars could be made safer for example, how the air could be clean, that often went over the hurdle and you could get press. if you got press, the centers senators and representatives would respond. host: a lot of people talk about, when i speak speak different about ralph nader they will speak about your legacy. you are 81 years old, you old, you must be thinking about that. you must be thinking about what will be the average american would say not growing up in the 1960s with the issue of gm and all that, what would you like people to know u.s.? b2 more than that we would like to.

>> we would like to have a 50th anniversary in safety and speed. and have a series of events to create new groups and introduce new leaders whose names are not on the evening news. that's really what legacy is all about. it's not about memory, it's about putting forces and motion and then multiplying themselves. like least start a public interest groups back in the 1970s, there are over 25 of them now. their student funded, full-time staff, they have scientists, lawyers, they have scientists, lawyers, lobbyists. places like massachusetts and new york they file referendums and lawsuits. i like to give people ideas that they put into place. for example, i put it had a

discussion about what a great community restaurant would be like and now you have several restaurants which have a bookstore, an event room with events on most every night artistic, poultry, artistic, poetry, political, nothing's off the limits. and a food store. host: that can be inch added to your public interest founding which is interesting because it did come out of the conversation we did have. i remember talking about it when jerry brown was running for office and you helped him to cobble together his platform at that time. >> in the 1990s he had had a box full of on. host: it had a picture of this gap pet statue of liberty was scaffolding around it. i have copies of that. your idea was that you really do believe in citizens that's the beauty of all this. you believe in in citizens and he feel very strongly, and knowing you for so long, that if people just knew how much power they had and what

it is they are up against and what they can do, that they can in fact affect change. do you think the average american has strengthened or weakened over time are you up against such a tide that it's hard to get your views across? spee2. guest: there is a progress factor here and people know who is doing them in now. they they didn't even know that the auto companies were selling them less than safe cars. the gleaming 55 chevrolet with the hood ornaments and music,. host: they're all in cuba by the way now. guest: but now they know who rules them, they know who's degrading them, under insuring them, insuring them, denying healthcare, screwing them as consumers, marshaling

exclusions. they know all of that. so that step one. step two, is to avoid demoralization, that's the big problem in this country. people have given up on the cells, they can fight the big boys just flip pleasant lives as much as you can, text message, watch tv, play sports. that's the biggest problem. demoralization means they have given up on themselves, even though the constitution stop starts and ends with we the people. there's no reference to corporations or political parties that rule us. not a single mention in the constitution as american institute shows that less than 1% of the american population are less engaged in redirection and reform that are supported by the majority of the people that's all you need is 1%.

people go around saying i just need one out of 100 people in in my town, or in my congressional district, or in my state legislative district to put into her 300 hours per year on an issue they believe in. but people put more than that for their bowling league or watching birds or their bridge game. it's all over. like minimum wage now is a big issue, by the way listener hears a restaurant tour who believes in a higher higher minimum wage and even organize restaurant owners in that respect. that's why call him a restaurant tour. less than a population of the city of waterbury, connecticut. to put this on a political map. people took a few hours to demonstrate in front of mcdonald's, burger king, walmart, king, walmart, saying there are 30 million workers making less today than in 1968 adjusted for inflation. that's a disgrace.

you want more consumer demand if you want more prosperity. so people scattered around the country getting media, maybe if you think takes, maybe a few groups like ours contacting politicians, writing beds and putting out reports. isn't that encouraging to people? that's what made obama pay attention. that's what made cities and towns say were not waiting for the government, the federal government which is still some stock still some stock at $7.25 per hour. so less than 1%. we could when wall street was 1% of the ruling class we need to talk about the other 1%. this what abraham lincoln said

with public sentiment you can do anything, without public sentiment you can't. there's so much majority support for whole areas of improvement in the country, minimum-wage restoration, full medicare for all, free choice for dr. and hospital. corporate tax reform, 90% support the breakup of the big banks that are too big to fail. support against the bloated military budget that is destroyed so much a broad wall our bridges, sewage sewage and water systems, highways and schools crumble at home. so this idea that we are polarized, we are red, and blue. that's the dividing that's the dividing rule tactic of the ruling groups. host: you wrote a book about that. >> and how and how often times we are put into that situation

that will necessarily affect or live in a very direct terrain but yet we continue to be very divided and yet like you mentioned we have so much more interest. guest: much more, we we have 24 areas of major conversion, get prison reform, juvenile justice reform, justice reform, the reform on the war on drugs trade reform. that's coming out. it's all over. certainly left right support against elitism and warfare. bailouts, but and warfare. bailouts, but the ruling groups like to focus on the press it on the areas where we disagreed like reproductive rights, school prayer. host: is that because it's easier because it's a black white thing? it might be more difficult to deal with.

guest: if they pay attention where it left, right agree that it's over for them. they're not going to be ruling us. it's unstoppable. the thing a senator fears thing a senator fears or governor fears the most. is someone walking into the office, left, right. they right. they can't game it they can't play it. left right people come in the office and that's what's passing juvenile justice legislation in over 15 states already. bio the coke brothers on the war on gas are lobbying to get solar panels and legislators, they're not winning. there's no such thing as a republican or democrat solar panel. that means jobs in every neighborhood. host: you talked about the 1%, i haven't heard you talk about it specifically like that. you're saying if you talked about 1% of the people got activated books have been written about the tipping points that you need the 10% of the people but you're saying we don't need 10%,

especially when you take into account the new social media and other ways people can reach people. guest: the key is public opinion, if you have 5060 or 78% support once you get beyond 60% you have unstoppable public support politicians know because they see it. all you need is 1% or less. we defeated the coal industry, the auto industry, we got through all kind of things with handfuls of people that you could put in an auditorium all over the country. but serious, tactical, smart there's a lot of smart people in this country they don't give themselves a chance to be cynically smart. i tell people kind of humorously why waste it when and say how are you and the other person says i'm okay even

though they have a sore throat. why waste salutation, why not say hi how is your civic life? speak. >> it'll catch on this like a pogo stick it'll catch on. are you more hopeful today for the average citizen becoming more effective, more involved or do you feel what is it that needs to happen to get people. whenever i talk to ralph you seem like you're in a hurry, you're in a hurry to get things done, there's so much to be done. there's a sense of urgency in your approach. how effective do you think that is? is this just a matter of noticing the emergent sense of

emergency or is in a process issue, what is it that stops people from moving at the speed that you would like them to move. guest: it's a strategy, in history the greatest changes occur pretty quickly and legislation. i me quickly in terms of decades. for example we we have auto safety regulations, my book came out 90 november 30, 1965. by september the next year lyndon johnson had me signing the motor vehicle highway 60 laws. on the other hand truman recommended medicare for all in the 1940s and it still hasn't passed. so i have an opinion when the public is for something, public opinion now is the time to move fast. and you can do it with less than 1% of engaged people. host: it was a very different time then, you didn't have the white noise that jerry brown you

used to talk about with the internet and all the information going on. all of a sudden we have dull zealous the head of the entire new cycle, how do you fight that? guest: it's simple it's less than 1%. you can always find 1% of people involved on serious issues. you not only that but you can get instant information on social media. you don't have to wait for the gallup poll. that's another plus. okay you can say the congress is more right-wing now but one thing everybody in congress wants, unless they're ready to retire, is votes, they want to be reelected. boats are more important than raising money. they raise money to go on tv to raise more votes. once once the message is clear even to the

ones who would never stand for environment, climate change, consumer protection, labor rights snap just like that. we had right-wing senators and representatives in the 60s they could care less for anybody except for the industries in their backyard. the steel steel industry, within a couple of years they were raving consumer advocates. the auto auto safety bill passed on was unanimously in the house even though as opposed to the end by the auto companies. once the people wake up, once the people feel their power once they understand the 1% strategy reflecting the majority opinion, one victory like a minimum-wage victory will lead to another victory. it will lead to another, and another., and another. i think there'll be a major push for single-payer full medicare for all as insurance companies in the next few might months raise the amounts.

>> were seen the impacts from obama care and the affordable care act, how complicated it is and i'm thinking why can't we just have single-payer. it would be be so much easier. guest: is unbelievably complicated. host: in there so much relation that we have to deal with that we in order to be in compliance. guest: the complications are irritating for everyone, business regular patients but its business is in it. it creates consulting firms, litigation. were seen it from all angles. the obama care legislation is hundreds of pages long the regulations are thousands of pages. due to how many pages the canadian medicare for everybody

bill was? in the late 1960s? thirteen pages. you know you can have a hip replacement and break in hip and be operated on, and be rehabilitated and you don't even see a bill. the american people see dreams of incredible bills, that's why a man like malcolm spiro estimates the fraud, just by computerized billing fraud this year is at least $400 billion. billion with a beep. were dealing with fraud, crime complexity, your accuracy which all creates generates jobs and profits. were tying ourselves and not with the corporate tax phoniness. were tyner cells and knots with healthcare and forms and do you qualify with substitutes and

co-pays. why are we tying ourselves into knots? because we lost confidence in our self. we've lost confidence in our history and how we've change things for the better. and we don't know the 1% rule. host: 1% rule. host: while the one thing the 1% rule has done is it with the trade agreement the tpp. i'm amazed i'm amazed about how people were talking about this at a year ago and it was on anybody's radar and suddenly it's on everybody's radar. there's a lot to be learned about this complicated issue that isn't just black white. it's a complicated issue its have you been involved in that? guest: we been on trade watch.org and she's taken this

complication you'll see it on the website and boiled it down to precise shifts of power on democratic procedures, all these disputes go into secret tribunals, which are not part of our court system. that's why the lawyer who teaches at george washington university put on a memo that it's unconstitutional, these tribunals. not only that she shows how people can get involved in congressional district but they blocked the most awesome power combination imaginable. you had the business, the corporate law forms, the hench people in congress, and the, and the president of the united states. and they beat him. i don't think they have half of 1% out there around the country. or even calling their members of congress.

because people in their gut and knowing how communities are being hollowed out, jobs sent to fascist and communist regimes, you don't have to tell people that they see it every day in their towns, villages and cities. speed back will they see it but they don't react the same way i'm amazed. guest: because they don't have part of that 1% seriously engaged in every can get congressional district and on capitol hill. they don't have the vanguard the two worked together. the whole point of return to sender, is not just showing people, hey look these are all interesting things that affect your life, it's to try to get young people, and were going to try to get social studies teachers around the country, we we want to have a contest where students with the best letters judged by a panel of social studies teachers to the president and they win prizes. eight gets kids engaged, once

you write a letter your over hurdle one if you're just griping about it you internalize it you become cynical, you withdraw, you produce a vacuum and that's exactly what wall street 1% is. >> yeah you create a nature of a nature of civic engagement that way. i remember for my daughter, there is a lot of speeding happening down our street, they needed a stop sign to slow cars down. the third grade decided to make that their civic project. every kid in that class is hooked, they are hooked for life because they see they were able to make an impact, they were able to get that sign in place. guest: what we should do an elementary school other than this core curriculum, were obsessed with test, test on thursday, test on tuesday. high freak is frequency testing

on the core curriculum. look, a fifth-grader, little girl walks into the classroom in salt lake city and says to her teacher, i think i've located a waste dump. the teacher says what you type talking about? it's only five blocks away so they took a little journey, and it was like a square block with brush all over it. it turned out it was a waste dump and they exposed it. the press gave them publicity, the publicity, the mayor invited them, they cleaned up the waste dump and as you say they are never going to forget that. actually they testified on the

superfund legislation in the state legislation and the teacher was so motivated, she writes a book called kids and social action. she just put out the second edition and she is now lecturing around the country about how you can motivate elementary school children to learn about their civic responsibility and improve their own local communities instead of watching screens and text messaging. do you see how simple it is, we have to stop overthinking. the power structure wants to bring us in a way that when we grow up corporate to shut up and shop as george w bush once encourage us to do and live our private lives in increasingly degraded standard of living. host: i want to ask you what's been your biggest disappointment? let's say in this last president? president obama came with so much hope maybe that was bent over used, i think may be included in that way a public excitement that brought him in i think a lot of it a lot of us are disappointed in many ways.

you are speaking about don't raise your hopes up too high, i remember then, but what has been your biggest disappointment? spee2 in my own small way ran against him, reverend, reverend president 2008. i knew about his legislative record in illinois, which is not very courageous at all. he dodged a lot of controversy old votes by not voting. i knew could see that he was a maneuver us, he was trying to figure out how to climb the ladder of power. speed one if you wanna see the person climb in the next latter look at the person with the least legislative record. spee2 it comes comes down to character and personality for all politicians. he was wanted desperately to win so he was very easy on the military industrial complex. and the war machine, the empire.

and he wasn't he was elected on a mass movement. there were no populist mass movements where they sent him there, he had a email list of 13 million people who sent money. and that's a problem with all these politicians, unless we have a mass movement like we did in the populist progressive. over 100 years ago, where the one years ago, where the one selected knew where they were coming from and they knew they were coming back. host: so hope is another movement? guest: know it's a slogan. that's the problem he didn't have a transformative personality politically. the worst thing is he didn't have the personality to deal congress, you have to schmooze with them, he them, he paid the price on the trade bill.

the one he was transformative in some ways by bringing people from the left and right together, whatever it is call it some magic trick that brought all these people together, but but he had to have that transformative ability. i think a lot of us all that potential as other things to happen, having on that mantle, of the people to be able to make an effect right from the get-go. guest: he was transformative in terms of votes, and bring in minority groups in and he gave a good speech. but it stopped at the water's edge when he had to go into deep water as president, he hit he had that critical few years when the congress was dominate by his congress by his party. and he blew it.

he promised us he was going was going to for $9.50 minimum wage by 2011 and he never mentioned it in two years, when he could've got it through congress. same with healthcare, he punted on the public same with healthcare, he punted on the public option and now the insurance companies are laughing all the to the bank and so are the drug companies with these staggering prices of medicine. again, we can we can turn it around if people don't like this and big majorities just less than 1%. host: has it been talked about yet in the majority, the majority house, senate and president all democrats. yet that moment passed. guest: i'm so glad you mentioned that, because most people don't talk about it, we have a colony district columbia that cannot elect a representative. host: i'm from iraq originally and i'm able to vote in the iraqi parliament today and have a representative of iran. i haven't been to iraq in 50 years. my my daughter, who is

born here, hardly speaks arabic, is able to vote in the iraqi parliament area and yet we both live in d.c. and we cannot vote for a full representative in d.c. guest: the thing is people out there have to be a little supportive of us here around the country. there is no capital of any country that even has a hint of being a democracy where the people who live in the capital like paris london cannot vote. host: i think the statistics show that about 80% of the people throughout the country don't even know that. that's one of the reasons, other congressmen decide our fate and that's just unfair. that's taxation without representation, that's what this country is built on. spee1 isn't. host: isn't that a license plate? host: right but nobody becomes

pays attention to it. guest: i think the democrats are to blame most of the time. host: i think both parties have been complicit on this issue. guest: is there of place for this. host: yeah d.c..org d.c. one.org. the green party has been talking about it a lot in d.c. in a final few minutes i want to talk about the current election. we have three democrats running, right now clinton sanders o'malley are any of them interesting you? host: are you hillary are you going to run?

guest: hillary is interesting she got white house support when libya was toppled to negotiate with the west. and there's still chaos and isis is going in and al qaeda is there, weapons are there spreading all over it's spilling into central africa. a huge geographical in area she should be held accountable for that. she hasn't seen a weapon since it system she hasn't liked her where she hasn't liked. as part of highly placed women, trying to overcompensate by being more aggressive so that the macho men don't say, you can't lead us. you're too soft. even though the great tradition muscular peace advocacy in this country is more associated with women than with men. bernie when it comes to

domestic, sometimes i have to accuse him of plagiarism. he's very good, good on pharmaceutical good on wall street, on worker rights, on tax reform. a little vague on foreign-policy >> is not vague on israel. he's very supportive matter what. guest: he voted for the appropriations of iraq you're after your and afghanistan. he hasn't taken on the military industrial military-industrial complex. he's very sensitive as to industries like in vermont, like the dairy industry. and the machine tool industry which reads a lot of its products into military equipment. but he needs to take

strong stance on that. he's going to have to take hillary on, you can have a parallel campaign because she can sweettalk and during the six debate coming up in the primary. i served with bernie in the senate, and shall be very general. o'malley on the other hand she is apparently progressive senator but he can really develop and he got has to be more exciting. host: he was able to abolish the death penalty in maryland and raise the minimum wage. guest: so he needs to develop a strategy, now on the republican side you're going to have 18 candidates, and the worst nightmare of 17 of these candidates is donald trump. assuming he hangs in there with his flamboyance he. he is going to burlesque the whole republican nomination process. he just goes wild his ego the problem donald trump he's going

to be a nightmare. i'm sure rubio, walker, and bush are like oh no he can go all the way through the primary because he has the money. he is going to break his way through the entire country, and he is a militarist but he thinks he's going to get a lot of people jobs. he presents a serious problem to saturday night live. because now they're trying to figure out how do we work with this flamboyant announcer who is always on my, i, i the only technique that saturday night live has is to exaggerate someone's bizarre traits and make people laugh. well, how do you satire satire? and how can you exaggerate trump? that's a real problem for saturday night live. host: are unique medication with bernie? guest: he doesn't answer any of

my calls i've lost hope. in 15 years i've called him in the senate he doesn't answer. i think he doesn't like to be pushed in areas of progressive movement that he doesn't want to be pushed on. so he's a lone ranger. he's not a networkers7ñi of citizen groups representing millions of people around the country, or in washington, he's not that type you doesn't have that type of personality. it's unfortunate because of all we have our ten or 12 progressive senators, and they're all lone rangers and they don't even have a caucus as i urge them to do in a letter which was never answered by the senators, were not getting anywhere. host: maybe spend some copies of the letter. guest: yet they don't like to

talk about it when they can make things happen he doesn't. he's playing it very safe. i would've said to him i think you're running for president, i don't think you're going to iowa and new hampshire. i think if hillary falls or collapses or something happens where her popularity is damned, he's ready. he's ready. host: thank you so much ralph it's been been an honor to have this conversation with you we've had conversations but never this in depth, thank you for your time. guest: thank you up you think this is your time easy interview he opposed me when i ran for president in 2004. >> thank you ralph nader

and then like everybody else, i have gotten the new book by lee harper. i'm not really looking forward to reading it, but it's what everybody is talking about so i have to see if the book i loved in high school isn't the same. then i have to admit i'm one of the people that probably put ted cruz on the best several list. i buy all of the republican candidates' books ted cruz, scott walker, ben carson, all of them and nicole wall los angeles madam president. you have to read everything. it's how you stay current and ode indicated and relax too. >> booktv wants to know what

your reading. tweet us your answer,@book tv or post it on facebook.com/booktv. >> up. the, madea benjamin is live on "in depth" to answer your questions. some of her books include bridging the global gap, how to stop the next war now and her most recent, drone warfare. you can take part in the program by calling calling in or sending you questions via e-mail, twitter and facebook. >> host: medea benjamin, when and how was coat pink founded? >> guest: we were a group of women environmentalists that were sitting together in a retreat right every 9/11 -- right after 9/11, talking about how to deal with the climate crisis and during our lunch break we started