Nader is remembered very much as the guy that elected George W. Bush. Liberals turned against him when his candidacy siphoned off votes in more than one state that could have gone to Al Gore.
This is kind of unfair. Nader was never a Democratic hack; he considered Democrats as people who gave lip service to what he believed in while compromising to special interests. And he hasn't been entirely wrong; the Democratic Party of today is where social liberalism meets Wall Street.
Woke Fuzzy.
I'm old enough to remember when
Unsafe At Any Speed came out. I'm old enough to remember learning about Ralph Nader in
My Weekly Reader in 6th grade.
Ralph Nader is a man that has brought about more corporate accountability than all of the elected officials combined. He is to consumer protection what MLK was to Civil Rights. He's not without flaws, and he's gone off on tangents, but Ralph Nader is a person who has made MY life better and YOUR life better.
If he hadn't run for President in 2000, siphoning votes from Gore, he'd be lionized today.
I personally believe that if we're going to jettison Columbus Day as a holiday, we should replace it with Ralph Nader Day, or Consumer Protection Day. That is about the only reframing of a holiday I would consider supporting. Ralph Nader's work made life better for all. Few people in American History can say that.