by Ralph Nader
weaknesses of, 167–170
Libertarian label
voters’ definitions of, 36
See also Labels, political
Libertarians, political beliefs of, 13–14
Libya, 33, 130
Lieberman, Joseph, 52
Limbaugh, Rush, 14, 169
Lincoln, Abraham, 17, 186
Lind, William, 55–56
Lindsey, Brink, 183
Lockheed Martin, 51, 72, 169
Long, Huey, 140, 148
Love Canal, New York, 114
Lovins, Amory, 115
Lowi, Theodore J., 87
Luntz, Frank, 30–31
“Myths About Conservative Voters,” 31
MacArthur Foundation, 110
Madison, James, 84, 88
The Making of a Conservative Environmentalist (Durnil), 173
Mankiw, N. Gregory, 78
Marshall, John, 144
Marx, Karl, 14
McCain, John, 33, 44, 52
McCain-Feingold Act, 44
McCarthy, Daniel, 55–56
McCarthy, Joseph, 30, 168
McConnell, Mitch, 31, 125, 172, 179
McDonald’s, 75, 122
McGovern, James, 45–46
McIntyre, Robert, 48
McKinnon, Ronald, 31
“The Conservative Case for a Wealth Tax,” 32
Mead, Margaret, 118
Means, Gardiner, 102
Means, vs. goals, 68, 124–126
Media, 191–192
big media, 50
and corporate welfare, 47
Medical malpractice, 18
Meese, Ed, 108
Melville, Herman, 111
Menger, Carl, 26
Principles of Economics, 26
Merrill Lynch, 103
Meyer, Frank, 26, 27, 29
Michigan Supreme Court, 62–63
Microsoft, 90
Mikulski, Barbara, 52, 62
Militarism, wars, and the American empire, conference to end, 55–58
Military budget, 50
audit, 65, 71–72
Military financial profligacy, 51
Military-industrial complex, 9, 34, 51, 177
Military policy, 34–35
Military spending, 31
Minimum-income plans, 170
Minimum wage, 122
in California, 63
and link with inflation, 65, 75–76
See also Wages
Mises, Ludwig von, 14, 25, 26
Human Action, 26
mischaracterization of, 25–27
Monks, Robert, 24, 102, 103, 104
Monnet, Jean, 119
Monsanto, 106
Morehouse, Ward, 153
Moral sentiments, 9
Morgenson, Gretchen, 77
Motivation, 191
Mountaintop removal, 114
Moynihan, Daniel P., 170
Muir, John, 112
Murkowski, Lisa, 43–44
“Myths About Conservative Voters” (Luntz), 31
NAACP. See National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NAFTA. See North American Free Trade Agreement
Napolitano, Andrew, 122–123
It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong, 122–123
Nation, 34
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 108
National Audubon Society, 2
National Campaign to Reform State Juvenile Systems, 110
National Commission on Intelligence and Foreign Wars, 93, 131
National Criminal Justice Commission, 52–53
National Journal, 1
National Resources Defense Council, 2
National Review, 14, 165
National Rifle Association (NRA), 50
National Security Agency (NSA), 89, 93
National Taxpayers Union, 2
Natural gas fracking, 114
Neoconservatives
versus conservatives, 174–177
and Iraq War, 178
and war, unconstitutional, 33–34
See also Conservatives
New Deal, 140, 163, 171
New England, 84
New Left, 168
New York Stock Exchange, 128
New York Times, 30, 32, 47, 77, 103, 109, 131–132, 155, 169, 175
Nixon, Richard, 1, 61, 103, 108, 112, 163, 165, 170
Norquist, Grover, 6, 48, 129
Norris, Floyd, 77
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 7, 61, 93–95, 174–175, 175–176
NRA. See National Rifle Association
NSA. See National Security Agency
Nuclear power plants, 114
Obama, Barack, 52, 73, 79, 89, 157
and Libya, 130
and war-declaration authority, 176
Obama, Michelle, 117
Obama administration, 45, 91
“Obama’s Lawless War” (Will), 33
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 113
Occupy Wall Street, 191
OCM. See Organization for Competitive Markets
O’Connor, Sandra Day, 134–137
Odom, Howard, 92
Oglesby, Carl, 55–56
“On Buyouts, There Ought to Be a Law” (B. Stein), 103–104
O’Neill, George D., Jr., 55, 56–57
Open minds, 17
Open Society Foundations, 108
Opportunism, 8–9
O’Reilly, Bill, 100
Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), 10–11
Organizations, convergence-only, 134, 184
OSHA, 110
Ostrolenk, Michael, 98
Outsourcing, 174–175
Owner-shareholders, empowerment of, 66, 102–105
Pacific Gas and Electric case, 96–97
Packers and Stockyards Act, 11
Parenting.com, 96
Patents, on life forms, 66, 105–106
PATRIOT Act, 5, 12, 88–89, 127, 129
Patriotism, corporate, 175
Paul, Rand, 43, 92, 109
Paul, Ron, 4, 50, 107, 116, 177
Paulson, Henry, 73, 149
Paulucci, Jeno F., 82
Pentagon, 51
Perle, Richard, 34
Perry, Rick, 109
Pfizer corporation, 63
Phillips, John, 3–4
Pinchot, Gifford, 112
Pioneers, criticism of, 68
Pitiless abstractness, 10, 17
Pizza Hut, 122
Planned Parenthood, 31
Plutocracy, 140–141
Poletown, Detroit, 62
Political beliefs, 13–16
Pollin, Robert, 55–56, 75
Populist conservatives, 174
liberals, and progressives, convergence of, 177–178
See also Buchanan, Patrick J.; Conservatives
Populists, 147
“A Positive Program for Laissez Faire” (Simons), 162–163
Powell, Colin, 132
Powell, Lewis, 96–97
Powerlessness, xii
and Walmart workers, 17
Preventive war, 176–177
Price Anderson Act, 154–155
Principles of Economics (Menger), 26
Prins, Nomi, 102
Prison-industrial complex, 52–53
Prison reform, 52–53, 107–110
Pro-Israeli government lobby, 34
Procedural agreements, 60–63
Procedural convergence, 66–67
Progressive Policy Institute, 47, 48, 134
Progressives, 168–169
liberals, and populist conservatives, convergence of, 177–178
Property ownership/rights
versus control, 144–145, 154
individual versus corporate, 147
See also Land ownership, and farmers
Property redistribution, 150–151
Proposition 103 (California),
85
Pryor, Mark, 52
Public Citizen, 47
Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, 2
Public commons, 66, 99–100
Public sentiment, 17
Public treasury, fraud against, 3–4
Public Welfare Foundation, 108
Rand, Ayn, 14
Rationalism, 15
Rawe, John C., 142–143
Raytheon, 51, 72
Reagan, Ronald, 1, 10, 33, 38, 39–40, 54, 108, 124, 134, 170, 174, 176, 177, 189
and air bag installation, 40
and Clinch River Breeder Reactor project, 2
and conservative label, 6, 76
and corporate welfare, 49–50
Reagan administration, 55
Reassessing the Presidency, 27
Reformers, contemporary, and lack of action, 152–154
Regulatory capture, 24
Rehnquist, William, 96–97
Reid, Harry, 125
Rejectionists, xi
Republican Party, 12–13, 178–179
hijacking of, 177
libertarian-conservative wing of, 13
Review of Austrian Economics, 162
Ricardo, David, 26
Rifkin, Jeremy, 105
Robbins, Lionel, 26
Rogers, Will, 53
Romania, 4
Romney, Mitt, 76
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 7, 140, 158, 159, 164, 167, 168, 171
and New Deal, 140, 163
Roosevelt, Theodore, 111–112
Röpke, Wilhelm, 26, 27–28
Rosen, Jeffrey, 32
Rosenfield, Harvey, 84–85
Ross, Donald K., 110
Rothbard, Murray N., 26–27
Rubin, Robert, 156–157
Rumsfeld, Donald, 131
Rural Electrification Administration, 142
Rusher, William A., 165
Ryan, Paul, 162
Safety regulations, 28, 39–40. See also Air bag installation
Samuelson, Paul, 176
Sanger, Margaret, 31
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 96
Santorum, Rick, 75–76
Savage, Michael, 169
Savings and loans crisis, 157
Scaife, Richard, 31
Schmoke, Kurt, 107
Scholastic News, 41
Schumer, Chuck, 20–21
Schweizer, Peter, 8
Science, 15
Scowcroft, Brent, 92
Scruton, Roger, 173–174
How to Think Seriously About the Planet, 173–174
Securities and Exchange Commission, 104–105
Self-reliance, community, 66, 85–86
Sessions, Jeff, 52
Shallal, Andy, 183
Shapiro, Edward S., 139–140, 141, 158, 159
Sheehan, Cindy, 55–56
Shultz, George P., 78
Simons, Henry Calvert, 162–163
“A Positive Program for Laissez Faire,” 162–163
Simpson, Alan, 31, 96
Sixty Minutes (television program), 47
Skeptics, xi–xii
Sloan, Alfred P., 145
Smith, Adam, 6, 9, 14, 101, 142, 162, 163
and “invisible hand” metaphor, 24, 25, 28
mischaracterization of, 24–25
The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 24
The Wealth of Nations, 24, 25
Smith, Fred, 3, 62, 124–125
Snowden, Edward, 89, 131
Social life, 123
Social media, 192
Social welfare/social welfare programs, 28–29, 32, 169–170. See also Liberal programs, corporate exploitation of
Socialism, corporate, 49
Solar energy, 74–75
Soros, George, 93
Sovereignty, and free-trade agreements, 5, 19, 61
Soviet Union, 51, 140, 165, 168, 170
Speculation tax, 76–77
Sports stadiums, 13, 63, 129
“Spread of wealth” movements, 140
Standing to sue, 81–83
States’ rights, 18
Steffens, Lincoln, 14
Stein, Ben, 103–104
“On Buyouts, There Ought to Be a Law,” 103–104
Stein, Herbert, 103
Stereotyping, x, 12–13, 20, 34, 40, 54–55, 77, 119
Stifling Political Competition: How Government Has Rigged the System to Benefit Demopublicans and Exclude Third Parties (Bennett), 88
Stigler, George, 24, 155
Stock market crash of 1929, 158
Stock markets, 86
Stock ownership, versus direct ownership, 142
Stockman, David, 33, 76–77
Stokes, Fred, 10
Substantive convergence, 66–67
Summers, Larry, 176
Sunstein, Cass, 190
Switzerland, 94
Taft, Robert, 163–165, 169, 174, 177
Taft, William Howard, 163
Taft-Hartley Act, 164–165
Taleb, Nassim, 157
Target (retailing company), 76
Tate, Alan, 139, 141, 145
Taxation reform, 65, 68, 76–78
Taxes, uncollected, 65, 78
Taxpayers Coalition Against Clinch River, 2
Tayler, Jeffrey, 56
Tea Party, 14, 191
Teamsters, 168
Tech Freedom, 90
Technocracy, 151
Temporary National Economic Commission (TNEC), 7
Tester, Jon, 52
Texas State Republican Platform, 2002, 12–13
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (A. Smith), 24
Think tanks, 31
and corporate agenda, 9
and safety regulations, 28
See also specific think tanks
Thomas, Norman, 140
Thurmond, Strom, 18
Time, as convergence obstacle, 122
Time magazine, 47
TNEC. See Temporary National Economic Commission
“Too big to fail” banks, 65, 78–79
Toplin, Robert Brent, 169
Townsend, Francis, 148
Toxic soil, 114
Transpartisan Alliance, 97–98
Truman, Harry, 185
Turner, Lynn, 105
Union of Concerned Scientists, 2
Unions. See Labor unions
United Kingdom, 32
United Mine Workers, 168
University health insurance, 185
Unsafe at Any Speed (Nader), 185
Unz, Ron, 63
US Bancorp, 79
US Department of Commerce, 127
US Department of Defense, 127, 178
and military budget audit, 65, 71–72
US Department of Justice, 4, 101
US Department of the Interior, 127
US Department of the Treasury, 127
US Department of Transportation, 53, 54
Vanden Heuvel, Katrina, 56
Veblen, Thorstein, 167
Vidal, Gore, 49
Viereck, Peter, 26, 29–30, 35, 111
Conservatism Revisited, 29, 111
Viguerie, Richard A., 108
Voinovich, George, 52
Volcker, Paul, 105, 109
Wages
government regulation of, 145–146
and low-wage policy, of Walmart, 145–146
See also Minimum wage
Wagner, Dave, 56
Walker, Jesse, 56
Wall Street, 140
bailout, 5, 73, 103, 148–149 (see also Corporate bailouts)
financial crisis, 2008–2009, 101, 103, 128, 148–149, 158–159
Wall Street Journal, 31, 32, 47, 103, 116
Wall Street speculation, tax on, 76–77
Wallach, Lori, 19, 94
Walmart, 75, 122
CEOs, 76
low-wage policy of, 145–146
workers, 16–17
War, unconstitutional, 33–34, 66, 91–93, 128, 129
War-declaration authority, 45–46, 177
War on drugs, 66, 107–110
War Powers Act, 45–46
War Resolution Act, 130
Warren, Earl, 164
Washington Monthly, 108
Washington Mutual, 103
Washington Post, 30, 34, 47, 125, 131–132, 149, 190
The Wealth of Nations (A. Smith), 24, 25
Webb, Jim, 52–53
Weill, Sanford, 156
Wells Fargo, 79
Western Europe, 16, 32, 165
Wheat Farming Corporation, 147
Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency (Buchanan), 34, 174
Whistle-blowing rights, 51–52
Whitney, Richard, 158
Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence (ed. Agar and Tate), 139–140, 150, 154, 158, 159–160
Wilkinson, J. Harvie, III, 32
Cosmic Constitutional Theory: Why Americans Are Losing Their Inalienable Right to Self-Governance, 32
Will, George, 10, 31, 33, 78, 79, 107, 110
“Obama’s Lawless War,” 33
Wills, Garry, 171
Wilson, George, 56
Wolfowitz, Paul, 34, 131
Women, 150
Woods, Thomas E., Jr., 56
World Trade Organization (WTO), 7, 18–20, 61, 93–95, 174–175, 175–176
WTO. See World Trade Organization
Wyden, Ron, 43–44
Zakaria, Fareed, 31
Zeese, Kevin, 55, 56, 107
Zinni, Anthony, 92, 177, 190–191
Credit: Beverly Orr
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 best-selling 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.
Founded in 2000, Nation Books has become a leading voice in American independent publishing. The inspiration for the imprint came from the Nation magazine, the oldest independent and continuously published weekly magazine of politics and culture in the United States.
The imprint’s mission is to produce authoritative books that break new ground and shed light on current social and political issues. We publish established authors who are leaders in their area of expertise, and endeavor to cultivate a new generation of emerging and talented writers. With each of our books we aim to positively affect cultural and political discourse.
Nation Books is a project of The Nation Institute, a nonprofit media center established to extend the reach of democratic ideals and strengthen the independent press. The Nation Institute is home to a dynamic range of programs: our award-winning Investigative Fund, which supports groundbreaking investigative journalism; the widely read and syndicated website TomDispatch; our internship program in conjunction with the Nation magazine; and Journalism Fellowships that fund up to 20 high-profile reporters every year.
