The Seventeen Traditions (Ralph Nader)

There is having an open mind and there is being an idiot! Clearly my picking up this book with any thought of gathering useful information proves that I am an idiot, but at least I realize I'm an idiot, Nader seems to think he is profound. What are the traditions?

1. Listening
2. The Family Table
3. Health
4. History
5. Scarcity
6. Sibling Equality
7. Education and Argument
8. Discipline
9. Simple Enjoyments
10. Reciprocity
11. Independent Thinking
12. Charity
13. Work
14. Business
15. Patriotism
16. Solitude
17. Civics

I'm not sure there is anything "wrong" with the 17 "traditions" in abstract, other than the entire discussion meanders between the trite, the meaningless and the ridiculous. Ralph was raised in a family that owned a restaurant, bar / bakery combination in which the restaurant sat 200 people. It sounds like a significantly successful operation and one of the values of the family was frugality, so it is pretty clear that Ralph didn't have any real financial issues to deal with as a child. One of the themes that comes through the book is that almost everything ill with America has somehow to do with "the market", but the alternative to that market is never stated. Although it sounds like Ralph had some religious background, the role of any sort of faith in a higher power seemed to be minimal at best.

I'm reminded of a company that I know well that used to have a "policy" of full-employment, then the rhetoric changed to "a tradition" followed by "a history", meaning that it laid off people just like everyone else. Ralph is all the way to "tradition" before he gets started, and with no transcendence involved, it seems clear that these "traditions" are fluid at best, to the extent they can be discerned at all.

His Daddy had an idea that people should be able to make and spend all they wanted up to $1 million dollar net worth (although certainly with plenty of at least sales taxes on their way there), but then the WEALTH would be "heavily taxed" (didn't really say how much). The idea was that "this would somehow balance wealth and civic virtue". The fact that dear old Dad had this brilliant insight and that it was discussed a lot was critical to Ralph becoming all he is today. Which, BTW is a pretty amazing story. Due to his running for President in 2000, we know that at that point he had personal holdings of over $3 million in stocks and bonds! This from old Mr anti-corporate author Ralphie Nader! What would old Daddy say? Well, no doubt nothing, Ralph became a good lefty, so consistency isn't an issue.

Ralph is sort of the white version of the Jessie Jackson / Al Sharpton racial blackmail approach. They do a great job of shaking down corporations and individuals on racial issues for many dollars that go into the organizations that they draw salaries and under which their living expenses are covered ("Rainbow Push" for Jackson). "If you give me so much money I won't call you a racist and have your product boycotted". Nader is a smarter guy, he doesn't limit himself to a single issue, he will blackmail them over environmental, safety, labor relations, finances or I'm sure anything that comes to his mind. I guess the core of being "anti-wealth and anti-market" is that you make certain that you avoid producing anything of value yourself and make certain that you keep a large percentage of your blackmail money for yourself.

One little quote "... history shows that economies with a more equitable distribution of wealth were far more prosperous with bigger markets". Nice statement-naturally, there were zero supporting facts for this bold assertion. So the USSR vs USA? USSR had REALLY "equitable income" with nearly everyone approximating zero. The USA has huge differences between the top and the bottom, YET, we are in the top 10 for prosperous and by far the largest market in the world. So how does somebody write such a thing in a book with a straight face?

I guess what the book shows is that when one is a lefty, you reach complete exemption from having to even CONSIDER that you would practice anything you might preach, or that your pronouncements would have any relation to reality. Other than idiots like the foolish Moose, nobody with any rational/conservative bent is going to crack your little book, and lefties are just not prone to critical thought, other than the self-congratulatory fallacies that Ralph talks about under tradition 11.