nothing seems to be happening, but ralph nader has got a plan. one day he says e will get companies hiring and fast. getting people spending soon. >> nonfinancial companies are sitting on over a trillion dollars of shareholders cash. the investors cash. a lot of them are not giving adequate evidence. some of them like google and emc giving no dividends. if they can be pressured by pension nds to unload a cup and billion dollars into the economy, people would spend it. they don't like the tax penalty for it. would you give them a tax holiday? you have to put it to use and do something? >> they tried that in 2004 and they brought back hundreds of villains. they put the murders and bonuses and what we have to do is recognize the president obama is not an economic dictator. the federal reserve can bring interest industry rates much lower. so we have to go to these two other areas are overwhelming support of inflation adjusted minimum wage. >> i'm not alone in an environment like this, how are you going to compel businesses, fast food joints and the r

we're talking to ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate.spoke last night at the peace ball, of voices of hope and resistance. stay with us. ♪ [music break] >> that was sweet honey in the rocks, singing last that at the peace ball, unaffiliated with any political party, a celebration of the voices of hope and resistance. sweet honey in the rock singing to thousands of people at the mead center for american theater at the arena stage. ralph nader also spoke there, longtime consumer advocate, former presidential candidate. he is author of many books including his latest "the 17 solutions: new ideas for our american features." the inauguration is about to take place in just over an hour. people are gathering in the west front of the capital. just saw eleanor holmes norton making her way. the congresswoman from washington, d.c., though not quite full congress person because d.c. does not have those rights. velazquez of new york, rahm emanuel i see taking his seat, the former chief of staff of president obama and now mayor of chicago. yes, the wa

ralph nader likes to " cicero, who said freedom is participation in power. with that in mind, can have a little bit of further elaboration on political alternatives, acknowledging the difficulties and the constraints, to the established institutional democratic party, or if you don't think that is the way to go, please say so little bit more explicitly. thank you. >> i supported ralph nader. i wrote most of his policy speeches for him in 2008. i voted for joe stein in this election because i believe the democratic party, beginning under clinton, essentially sold out for corporate money. clinton continues like obama to speak in that "i feel your pain" language, while he gave us nafta, while he deregulated the fcc, he destroyed welfare and 70% of the recipients were children. from doing the business of corporations, he got corporate money. by the 1990's, the democratic party had fund-raising parity with the republicans. when obama ran in 2008, he got more. i look at other countries like germany. the labor party in germany never pulled more than 5%, but it is a

ralph nader likes to " cicero, who said freedom is participation in power. with that in mind, can have a little bit of further elaboration on political alternatives, acknowledging the difficulties and the constraints, to the established institutional democratic party, or if you don't think that is the way to go, please say so little bit more explicitly. thank you. >> i supported ralph nader. i wrote most of his policy speeches for him in 2008. i voted for joe stein in this election because i believe the democratic party, beginning under clinton, essentially sold out for corporate money. clinton continue like obama in that -- to speak in that i feel your pain language, while he gave us nafta while he deregulated the fcc, he destroyed welfare and 70% of the recipients were children. from doing the business of corporations, he got corporate money. by the 1990's, the democratic party had fund-raising parity with the republicans. when obama ran in 2008, he got more. i look at other countries like germany. the labor party in germany never pulled more than 5%, but

and that kind of piggybacks on ralph nader's observation that only the superrich can save us. and so i'd like to just kind of get an update on your take of the educational challenge that we're faced by your analysis which i think is absolutely superb. you're really a beacon of light in the darkness for us all. [laughter] >> guest: well, thank you for that. but, look, i think education is our biggest challenge. education is what drives economic growth in our country, and we have an educational system that still works on a model that was developed, you know, at the university of bologna in the year 800 where a guy stands in the room full of people and talks at them. we could be plugging the greatest minds in the country into every classroom using video and the internet. we also need to recognize that an educational system that was designed for an agrarian era and, therefore, we give kids the summer off, doesn't maybe sense. designed for people having one career in their lives beginning when they turn 21 and extending perhaps 20 years after that doesn't work, and people need life

. >> we'll also hear from the legendary poet son the sanchez, ralph nader, sweet honey and the rock, and angela davis. >> let me say this time around we cannot subordinate our aspirations and our hopes to presidential agenda. >> we will look at big money behind the inauguration. four years ago president obama refused to accept corporate donations, but this year exxonmobil, at&t, christoph are among the biggest backers of today's festivities. -- microsoft are among the biggest backers of today's festivities. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the teenage gunman is in custody after allegedly killing five members of his family in new mexico on saturday night. police say the 15-year-old killed his parents and three siblings, each suffering multiple gunshot wounds. the suspect was armed with several weapons, including an assault rifle. it was the deadliest mass shooting in the u.s. since the newtown massacre over a month ago. the shooting came on the same day opponents of gun control held rallies across the country to oppose the white ho

the reason i supported ralph nader and voted green is not because i believe anyone is going to win, but ralph is right. we need to build five, 10, 15 million people who begin to put pressure on the democratic party from the other side. this policy of voting for the least worst, voting in elections were the primary emotion is fear of the other. it is fear that homosexual couples will teach your children in kindergarten, whatever wacky idea that have. romney was a corporate -- where did obamacare come from? it was first put in practice by romney in massachusetts and then it was adopted by the obama. it is a completely faux the date. it is part of resistance, but not enough. i actually agree with your. and the work you are doing, and when i talk about a sport, high and not sitting at home watching c-span awaiting for a spark. but i think that we cannot get demoralized with numbers, and after the success of the occupy movement, i am finding a demoralization. i came out of seminary, harvard divinity school, and resistance is kind of a moral imperative. that is what king got and what malcolm

republican and my mom had been traditionally a democrat so she has, the wars have pushed her towards the ralph nadern paul winning -- there is not a wing in the democratic party for. c-span: where did you get your intellectual start? where did you start thinking strongly about the war in and things like that? >> guest: when i was about five years old my dad would get to this army surplus store in the town of north banger which is 10 miles from the canadian border in upstate new york and i remember i bought an army flak jacket and helmet and i started, then we moved to montrÉal in canada for a couple of years. i had become obsessed with the vietnam war and argue to my classmates that america wanted to be in the war at the time i remember supporting that george h. w. bush, i guess i was 12 years old and inactive seventh-grader, campaigning on h.w.'s behalf and it just sort of, telling my friends about vietnam and this and that. and then as a teenager i became fascinated by a lot of of the drug literature, sort of material and then as i had to get a job and wanted to write -- i knew i wanted to write a

guest: ralph nader is a wonderful person and yes, i believe in transparency and disclosure.ve got to remember that we are powerful but we are not using our power. as citizens of this country, we have become passive. it is like we have been worn down and don't believe we have the ability to change. we do. these people in congress want you to be passive. they want the system to continue. we can change that. i think the only question is how angry and active we need to be to break this monopoly on power and change the way our politics is going instead of complaining. host: jonathan turley is a law professor with george washington university. clacks georgia o'keeffe was really the first well-known artist. well known for her life in the 1970's. there was nobody who could match her fame. she became a feminist icon, and i grew up under her influence. my first recognition of her work was not as an art historian but as a budding feminist whose attention was drawn to these fabulous paintings. i lived in colorado. people talked about this woman. it was the way she lived. the 1929 forwar

guest: ralph nader is a wonderful person and yes, i believe in transparency and disclosure. got to remember that we are powerful but we are not using our power. as citizens of this country, we have become passive. it is like we have been worn down and don't believe we have the ability to change. we do. these people in congress want you to be passive. they want the system to continue. we can change that. i think the only question is how angry and active we need to be to break this monopoly on power and change the way our politics is going instead of complaining. host: jonathan turley is a law professor with george washington university. up next, president obama planned to make immigration an issue in his next term. this week, we will look at the money budgeted for embassy security and what cuts have been made. here is a news update from cspan radio. >> president obama meets with police chiefs from three communities that have experienced mass shootings. it is part of the push to address gun violence. representatives from the major cities chief association and the major county

guest: ralph nader is a wonderful person and yes, i believe in transparency and disclosure. we've got to remember that we are powerful but we are not using our power. as citizens of this country, we have become passive. it is like we have been worn down and don't believe we have the ability to change. we do. these people in congress want you to be passive. they want the system toi think the only question is how angry and active we need to be and change the way our politics is going instead of complaining. host: jonathan turley is a law professor with george washington university. >> you can see that discussion again at our website. we are live at capitol hill for an event looking at health care costs. this is folks -- this is by the folks for the alliance of health care reform. they will look at the impact of the affordable air cap -- of the affordable care act. live coverage here on c-span. >> can become to something like order here? -- ken we come to something like order here? i want to welcome you on behalf of senator rockefeller and our board of directors to this program

guest: ralph nader is a wonderful person and yes, i believe in transparency and disclosure.ve got to remember that we are powerful but we are not using our power. as citizens of this country, we have become passive. it is like we have been worn down and don't believe we have the ability to change. we do. these people in congress want you to be passive. they want the system to continue. we can change that. i think the only question is how angry and active we need to be to break this monopoly on power and change the way our politics is going instead of complaining. host: jonathan turley is a law professor with george washington university. >> new members of congress are joining us on "washington journal," -- "washington journal." luke messer and john delaney will join us. we will also discussed the influence of terrorist groups in north africa. "washington journal" is live on c-span at 7:00 a.m. eastern. ♪ >> higgle we turn away from the needs of others, we align ourselves with those forces which are bringing about this suffering. >> the white house is a bully pulpit. you ough

and you instantly become a pariah as anybody at mit knows noam chomsky's work will tell you, or ralph nader that understands better than anybody in the country. they also grasp that the only mechanism we have left by which we can save ourselves is civil disobedience and they courageously carried out the act of civil disobedience repeatedly what was the response of the state? the response of the state was to move in and eradicate the encampment in a coordinated effort run by obama's administration because it terrified the power lee and the democratic party, the kind of liberalism that speaks in the traditional language and has demanded of the kind of constituency that they purport to represent. i watch what political pluralist this does and that is essentially what has happened. we have a system that is incapable of responding of the legitimate grievances and injustices that are being visited on tens of millions of americans. half of this country is now living in either poverty or a category called near poverty and what is the response of the corporate state. for hundreds of thousands of ame

city crime, the shootings among drug dealers, the prison industrial complex, what ron paul and ralph nader talk about. real solutions to the debt limit and taxation of illegal drugs, at least marijuana will reduce the deficit, increase revenue, increase jobs. decrease crime in half. host: so what do you think about the strategy from house republicans? what do you think specifically on this as a strategy? caller: i think it's just a big joke. without new revenue. they know. they don't care that we're going down the tubes. they don't care about sese quest ration. now they are talking about the construction industry is going crazy. we need more cheap labor from third world countries. like that's going to help. host: ela is on our democrats line from charlotte, south carolina. you're on. what do you think about this proposal? caller: i think it's crazy. because the president is not going to go for it. he has already said that he wants a clean debt ceiling bill. not three months that we have to go through the same thing again. he wants it for a whole year. so i don't understand why the republic

113th congress than the do-nothing 112th congress at that the 112th congress was the nader of congresses. not ralphic can't tore wanting to step up it's a shakespeareen type thing. >> cenk: congress has a 9% approval rating. head lice and cockroaches are more popular than congress. do you have a sense from your colleagues obviously you're a democratic you want to discuss gun control. twenty murdered kids, apparently as far as they're telling you didn't do it, they're not going to bring it up. a congresswoman getting shot in the head didn't do it. massacre after massacre didn't do it. is there any amount of murder and mayhem in this country that would actually push the republicans to schedule a vote on this in the house? >> i don't see it, because i really think the republican house membership and the caucus is so far out of touch it's not anything like republicans used to be that were an alternative party and had a moderating influence. the moderates are gone. you saw steve latarette reach the apex of his exposure at the end of congress as a reasonable republican. he didn't run for reelection, beca