[NV Greens] Fwd: Notes From My Manual Typewriter

Sat Jun 4 00:40:54 PDT 2005

>Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 06:56:49 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Ralph Nader <naderteam at votenader.org>
>Subject: Notes From My Manual Typewriter
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>
>Notes From My Manual Typewriter
><http://www.votenader.org/> <http://www.votenader.org/>
>Click here to receive
>
>"The Populist Moment"
>and
>"The Lead Pencil Club"
>
>
>Dear Friend,
>
>Let us all - active citizens - take a moment
>
>and
>
>hang our heads in shame.
>
>I'm not talking about the Democrats and Republicans.
>
>Or Bush and Cheney.
>
>Or Kerry and Edwards.
>
>Or even about Hillary and Newt.
>
>I'm talking about you and me.
>
>You.
>
>And.
>
>Me.
>
>One hundred and twenty years ago, citizens of the United States 
>didn't have cars, phones, or even e-mail or faxes.
>
>Blackberries grew wild on bushes.
>
>And yet, a group of living, breathing human beings - starting with 
>poor farmers in west Texas in the late 1880s - banded together to 
>challenge the forces of darkness - the giant banks and railroad 
>companies.
>
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>
>It was what historian Lawrence Goodwyn called 
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>"The Populist 
>Moment".
>
>Thousands of farmers' alliances built into a nationwide movement of 
>more than 2 million people that shook the political and economic 
>system to its core.
>
>Instead of the Internet, the word was spread through a series of 
>lecturers - people speaking directly with people.
>
>And according to Professor Goodwyn, it was the last time we've seen 
>such a grassroots challenge to the economic and political system in 
>the United States.
>
>Despite all of our lovely web sites, and hand-held devices, and 
>ringtones on our cellphones, and 400 channels on our DirecTV, and 
>instant access messages, and . . .
>
>Despite all of this, where are we?
>
>Exactly.
>
>Ah, Mr. Nader, but here you are communicating with me via the 
>dreaded Internet.
>
>To which I respond - but where has it gotten us?
>
>Do you see thousands of alliances building into a mass movement of 
>two million people?
>
>I don't.
>
>Forty years ago, I used a manual Underwood typewriter to write 
>"Unsafe at Any Speed" - my book length critique of the automobile 
>industry that led to the auto safety laws.
>
>And I still use my manual Underwood.
>
>I don't write on a computer.
>
>Never have.
>
>It's my little reminder of the false promise of modern technology.
>
>As long as the ribbons hold out, I'll continue to write my books and 
>letters and ideas on my Underwood.
>
>I'm not oblivious to the wonders of this new era.
>
>We're no longer dependent on mainstream media for our news and analysis.
>
>I can order any of the hundreds of documentaries I've been wanting 
>to see and instantly watch them on a DVD player.
>
>But just take a moment and ask yourself - if our message is so 
>compelling, and at the push of a button, we can deliver it to 
>millions of citizens - then why hasn't it helped us to galvanize 
>Populist Moment II?
>
>Where are the thousands of alliances and two million people to shake 
>the irrevocably corrupt Democratic and Republican parties?
>
>Where is the mass movement to extricate us from the quicksand's of Iraq?
>
>Could it be that the technology itself has undermined our ability to organize?
>
>That we have become slaves to our machines?
>
>These are not new questions.
>
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>
>In fact, many of these questions were raised in a wonderful book 
>published a few years ago - 
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>"Minutes of 
>the Lead Pencil Club".
>
>In it, you will find inspirational essays by Wendell Berry (Why I'm 
>Not Going to Buy a Computer), Russell Baker (A Little Cyber Grouch), 
>Mary Clagett Smith (Abolishment of Childhood), Amy Wu (Young Cyber 
>Addicts), David Gelertner (The Myth of Computers in the Classroom), 
>Stephen Manes (User-Friendliness: Book vs. Disk) and many, many more.
>
>Perhaps a close reading of Professor Lawrence Goodwyn's "The 
>Populist Moment" followed by the "Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club" 
>will trigger some thoughts on how we can jump-start a new populist 
>moment that will free us from the corporate supremacists.
>
>As you are well aware, we have been barnstorming the country, 
>speaking against the war in Iraq and for the impeachment of Bush and 
>Cheney.
>
>We've been tearing aside the corporate curtain to expose the 
>Democrats and Republicans in their corrupt little dance.
>
>To all of you who've left behind your computers and DVDs and 
>satellite dishes and televisions to join us on the road for 
>one-on-one conversations - it has been a pleasure.
>
>To those of you who have so generously helped us whittle away at our 
>2004 civil liberties debt - incurred fighting off the corporate 
>Democrats who drove to push us off the ballot in many states - we 
>say, thank you.
>
>We have raised over $500,000 since the election and now are looking 
>at a manageable $80,000 that we must pay off over the course of the 
>next few months.
>
>To help move our campaign into the black, to gain an understanding 
>of the accomplishments of the populists of a century ago, and to 
>bring into focus the technological straightjacket where we find 
>ourselves - we make you this offer:
>
>For a donation of $100 to our campaign, I will send to you a copy of 
>Lawrence Goodwyn's classic 342-page book 
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>"The Populist 
>Moment" (Oxford University Press)
>
>I will also send to you a copy of the 235-page 
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>"Minutes of 
>the Lead Pencil Club", edited by Bill Henderson (Pushcart Press).
>
>And as a token of my great thanks for your ongoing support of our 
>efforts to revitalize our democracy, I will sit down at my manual 
>Underwood typewriter and type to you a personal thank you note that 
>I will include in Goodwyn's "The Populist Moment".
>
>So, that's 
><http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>Goodwyn's "The 
>Populist Moment", plus "Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club", plus a 
>hand typed thank you note from yours truly on my manual Underwood 
>typewriter.
>
>All for <http://www.votenader.org/contribute/index.php?cid=68>a 
>donation of $100 (or more if you wish) to our campaign.
>
>And please let your friends and family know about this invitation by 
>forwarding this letter to your e-mail address book.
>
>Together, these books make a wonderful gift for all ages.
>
>For the young, who when asked might guess that "The Populist Moment" 
>is some new reality television show on Fox.
>
>And for those of us who need to be reminded that what goes around 
>comes around, that the people will only take so much for so long, 
>and that sooner or later, together, we will find the key to change.
>
>Again - thank you for your generous support and bright horizons.
>
>Ralph Nader
>
>Paid for by Nader for President 2004 General Election Committee
>
>Contributions are not tax-deductible
>
>
><http://www.relevanttools.com>
>This email sent by:
>Nader for President 2004
>www.votenader.org
>PO Box 18002
>Washington, DC 20036
>USA
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand
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