Nader Predicts Brown-Warren ​“Dream” Ticket

California Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t said he will run for president (or not run for president) in 2016. But Ralph Nader is sure Jerry Brown is ready to run — and he’s glad.

In fact, Nader predicted the ticket will include fiery anti-corporate U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and have the best shot at winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

Brown hasn’t told Nader this directly. But Nader insisted he has it on reliable authority.

“I know Jerry Brown. And he’s just waiting. He’s not going to campaign. But if Hillary [Clinton] sinks before the primaries, if she gets real in trouble — he’s ready.”

Nader called that the ​“best ticket” for the Democrats — better than a Biden-Warren ticket, and assuming that Bernie Sanders doesn’t end up winning the presidential nomination. Which could still happen, despite what the pundits say, Nader suggested.

Nader is more than an idle observer of presidential contests. He ran two high-profile presidential campaigns as an independent in 2000 and 2004, drawing enthusiastic crowds that we’re now seeing turn out for Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont.

In an interview on WNHH radio’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program, Nader took some credit for setting some of the groundwork for the domestic policies Sanders has successfully promoted to emerge as the leading Democratic candidate in the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus polls. He also offered advice for Sanders — to flesh out his foreign policy and to change his mind about promising to endorse the eventual Democratic nominee.

Nader insisted he doesn’t miss watching others succeed on the outsider independent presidential campaign spotlight that once shone on him. He’s been busy continuing his five-decade-old quest to organize legal and grassroots opposition to abuses of corporate power. He came on the program to discuss his latest venture: the opening of an American Museum of Tort Law in his hometown of Winsted, Connecticut. The museum features exhibits about famous wrongful injury lawsuits involving products from the deadly Corvair to 190-degree McDonald’s to-go coffee—setting the record straight about one of tort history’s most misunderstood cases. (At this point, no tarts or tortes are served at the museum, but Nader welcomed the idea as ​“future promotion.” Ben & Jerry’s did donate ice cream for the opening event.)

In the interview Nader spoke about how the museum fits into a broader goal of reclaiming the public debate from corporate promoters of ​“tort reform” (a.k.a. limits on people’s ability to sue corporations) and of promoting greater civic participation, including serving on juries. (Click here to read more about the museum on its website, and here to read a New York Times feature on it.)

He also responded to questions about whether the creation of a consumers’ movement had an unintentional effect of promoting materialism over citizenship. His short answer: No. His long answer: Keep reading, in edited excerpts below form the interview, about how he believes more-informed car buyers can become more-informed voters, too. Or listen to the entire interview by clicking on the sound file at the bottom of this story.

Advice For Sanders

We’re watching the popularity of Bernie Sanders running for president as a democratic socialist. He’s leading in the first primary and caucus states. He’s drawing the biggest crowds. Why is that happening?

Becuase he relates to everybody’s sense of injustice in their daily lives. Whether they’re workers or consumers or patients, he’s transcending the ideological divide.

He’s gotten more small donors at this point than Barack Obama did at this point in 2008.

It’s amazing. He’s raised $28 million; they’re going for $75 million. That makes it a very viable national campaign. Once again I hear comments by people who are quoted in the Times and elsewhere saying, ​“Well, we like Bernie, we like what he stands, but we’re not going to vote for him because he can’t win.” What do you mean he’s not going to win? He could go all the way.

You heard that when you ran for president.

But he’s inside the Democratic Party.

How do you feel watching this? Ralph, you got those big crowds. You had your two campaigns. They didn’t add up to a lot of votes. How do you feel watching Bernie Sanders getting as far as he does with basically the same message?

Domestic issues are pretty good. We certainly helped lay the groundwork.… There are now challenges as to where he stands on military and foreign policy. He’s got to fill those blanks.

Another thing he’s got to do, he’s got to do more Q&A with his audience. I know you can’t do it when you have 20,000 people. He’s only had five Q&A town meetings. He’s got to broaden out that way. He’s been a little bit too much of a lone ranger in the Senate.

Any other advice for Bernie Sanders? Is he doing anything differently from what you did, either right or wrong?

The big difference is he’s part of the Democratic Party. That’s a great asset for him because he’s under the umbrella of the two major parties. But it’s also a hazard. When he was asked a few months ago will he support the Democratic nominee, he should have said, ​“It depends on the nominee.” Instead he said, ​“I’ve always supported the Democratic presidential nominee.” Well that loses some bargaining power for him, some leverage.

So he’s got a real big decision to make as he moves toward the primary. Let’s say he wins Iowa, he wins New Hampshire, and then there’s a showdown in the Southern states a few days later. What happens if he’s elbowed out? What is he going to do?

Paging Jerry Brown

Don’t you think Biden will get in with Elizabeth Warren?

Who knows? I happen to think, Paul, the best ticket as an alternative to the Democrats … from the Democrats’ point of view of wanting to win would be Jerry Brown (pictured) and Elizabeth Warren. Believe me. I know Jerry Brown. And he’s just waiting. He’s not going to campaign. But if Hillary sinks before the primaries, if she gets real in trouble, he’s ready.

Has he told you this?

He’s told someone who’s told me this. The way he phrased it was, ​“Shush. Don’t tell anybody.”

Do you want to see him run?

Yeah. In terms of alternatives, he and Elizabeth Warren clearly would be a winning ticket. There’s no doubt in my mind. Look at the Republican competition. They’re against everything human! I mean these Republican candidates want more war, more military budgets, less support for child care, anticonsumer, against labor unions, more pollution, less regulation.

Is your dream ticket Brown-Warren?

At the present time. Jerry Brown has a way with people, especially Californians… I’ve watched him. He’s not taken many controversial stands. He was a conservative attorney general …

Do you ever watch Bernie or Jerry Brown next and wish that you were up there still?

I don’t want to be immodest. But the political system is like Gresham’s Law. Bad rascals drive out good presidential candidates. … I can give you 30 presidents of universities who would be better presidents of the United States than the Republican crew … It’s a celebrity-driven superficial circus type political system that puts tens of millions of voters in spectator roles watching this circus rather than participating, shaping roles in the election.

Consumers Vs. Citizens … Or Jurors

When we’ve defined people as consumers, then they’re defined by how much money they can pay to corporations. They’re individuals to be marketed to. I’m wondering if one byproduct of the consumer rights movement — the growth of Consumer Reports Magazine — is to define people as consumers [in a way that] enables corporations to undo some of the work you’ve done on tort reform?

There’s an argument that it’s a distraction. especially with leisure time. The companies know how to fill leisure time with entertainment. And leisure time is when you have time for your civic responsibilities in your town, city, state, country, world. There’s something to it. There’s something to the consumer exploitation of children, junk food, junk toys, junk drink. …

But there’s still plenty of time for people to change the country. If it’s reflecting majority opinion, it doesn’t take more than 1 percent or less. I mean we’ve got the coal industry regulated, the auto industry regulated, for far less than 1 percent of people engaged in Congressional districts supporting us. Because it reflected majority opinion. People wanted safe cars for their kids. They wanted safe food.

You mentioned Consumer Reports. They’re one of the founders of the tort museum. One of the emphases of the museum is jury duty….

It’s the greatest institution. Going grumbling into the jury box, [people] come out real proud. They’ve deliberated, they’ve thought, they’ve assessed the facts, they’ve rendered a decision on powerful interests. In Washington, D.C. 70 percent of the people who get jury summonses just throw them away.

Do you think going to the tort museum might convince people to be more open to jury service?

Definitely. That’s one of the major educational purposes of the museum, to see the whole tradition, how the founding fathers fought for it. It was number two on the list of grievances to King George III.

Consumer Reports — I’ve always been of a mixed mind about it, Ralph. I’ve recognized the important power it gives people. Since [the magazine doesn’t] get ads form the companies, it gives people the chance to get independent information about what products might harm them, so they’re not being lied to by marketing. At the same time it gets people so consumed about which vacuum cleaner is the best, which popcorn is the best. I just wonder whether it’s had this unintended consequence of materialism, having people defined more as consumers than citizens.

Well, it has five million subscribers. I don’t think it’s a problem. They’re going to buy these products, like stoves and cars and power lawn mowers anyway. So these are conscientious consumers who want to make an informed choice and feed back negative to the bad manufacturers and positive to the good manufacturers. I think that’s all to the good.

But notice that Consumers Union has advocacy offices in California, in Texas, in Washington, D.C., where they’re like public interest law firms. They file suits. They deal with health insurance companies. They’ve done a lot of good in a broader arc of civic justice than just put out a magazine and have a testing ground in Connecticut for cars.

Is there a spillover? If someone becomes an empowered consumer who’s asking more questions independently, is that person more likely to do his or her own research as a voter to care more and cut through propaganda?

I think that’s true. I’ve never met a sharp consumer who isn’t more likely to be an informed voter. It becomes their way of life. They don’t just take guff and propaganda and swallow it and become cynical and withdraw.

Click on the above sound file to hear the full interview. The part about the presidential campaign starts at 16:23.