NADER: Making of a Revolutionary

A veteran reporter on Ralph Nader for Time magazine has written a superficial but useful introduction to the work and life of the man who according to all public surveys is this country's most trusted public person. Gorey goes through both Nader's most important recent cases (trying to prevent the Hartford. ITT merger) and programs (the Congress Project -- profiles and voting records of every representative). He demonstrates rather conclusively that Nader (who supports government regulation only when competition is non-existent) may be America's last true believer in the traditional capitalistic values of a free marketplace -- rather than the woolly-eyed communist some of his enemies suggest. (Nader may also be the last person to believe that a private citizen can actually have some effect on our government.) The economics of power (and vice versa) are simplified re: Nader's proposals for corporate accountability, the federal chartering of corporations, and sweeping tax revisions. Gorey gives a cursory treatment of his rigidly authoritarian upbringing but Charles McCarry's Citizen Nader (1972) told a little more about the private details of this very private, tireless worker's life. There's a last chapter in which Nader, who hates politics and parties, runs for president on a Citizen's Party platform. Come to think of it -- he probably would do better than McGovern who once offered him the vice-presidency.