Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

's Concord Principles were offered in 1992 as an invitation to the Presidential candidates to improve civic dialogue and the democratic institutions of the United States. They are written as 10 pleas intended to avert a trend of

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, plutocratic influence, banal sloganistic

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

s, power singularities and a popular sense of political futility in political dialogue. The list calls for: *More governmental transparency and civic communication for social consensus. *More public control over civic assets such as public lands, airwaves and pension funds. *Strengthened protections from

big government Big government is a term that refers to a government or public sector that is considered excessively large or unconstitutionally involved in certain areas of public policy or the private sector. The term may also be used specifically concerning ...

and big

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

s. *Democratic protections against nullification of voter powers by: **Bold options for "

None of the above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system ...

". **12 year maximum

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

. **Improved

voter registration In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise Suffrage, eligible to Voting, vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted ...

and ballot access. ** Public financing of elections. **Binding

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

initiative Popular initiative A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put direct ...

and recall powers for state voters and non-binding national referendums. **Checks on presidential and congressional pay raises. *Improved taxpayer oversight of public expenditure. *Improving the civic information infrastructure through: ** Computerized government records. **Utility company billing as a civic notification process. **Expanded

public access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specia ...

. *Strengthened access to

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

s to prevent corporate and government abuse. *Protection for

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

s. *

Shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

protections against corporate greed. *Strengthening school

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

in civic participation.

External links

Ralph Nader's Concord Principles
{{Ralph Nader, state=expanded American political manifestos Electoral reform in the United States 1992 in American politics Works by Ralph Nader 1992 documents

See also

External links