Hundreds of students and community members packed the Alex and Faye Spanos Theater and spilled out into the hallway behind it to hear presidential candidate Ralph Nader speak at Cal Poly on Sunday night.
Nader received a standing ovation from the crowd upon entering the stage. “I want to thank you for showing up,” he said. “Half of a democracy is showing up.”
Microbiology sophomore Sean Anayah said he was taking advantage of Nader’s visit to learn more about the candidate and to hear something from someone he considers to be a candidate of the people.
That was the general opinion from students who attended his speech; that the two-party domination of the United States government needs to end. Other attendants, who don’t think Nader’s bid has a chance of winning the White House, came to hear new ideas that could possibly influence their vote.
“I came to see what he brings to the table,” said aerospace engineering junior Tuan Nguyen. “I don’t think he will change my mind. I’m expecting perhaps a new idea.”
During a press conference before the rally, Nader said that students should be worried about the troubled economy and must become more active in the political process. He said a government takeover of student loans is neccessary to protect students from bank failures.
During the speech Nader called on students to become more active in programs that improve the welfare of the country. He asked students to show how many of them have been to a Wal-Mart and McDonalds in their lifetimes compared to a visit to a city council meeting to portray the lack of civic involvement.
Nader described himself as an example of how ordinary people can produce change.
“I’m not a freak of nature. The difference between me and some of my friends was that I really wanted to help people,” Nader said.
Nader also accused the two major presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) of holding similar, if not identical, positions on issues facing the country. He went on to say that he holds their party’s connections to corporations responsible for the multiple issues facing the United States, a country he said is falling apart.
“Our country is deteriorating, our economy is deteriorating, our education is deteriorating,” he said.
Nader ended the speech with another plea for youth involvement.
“You may be the last generation in American history to give up so little in order to achieve so much,” he said.
Nader’s vice-presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez opened the event by defending the Nader/Gonzalez 2008 bid for the White House. The Texas native criticized Obama’s and McCain’s performances in last Friday’s debate and said the debate illustrates why he and Nader are running.
During the ending question and answer session, pyschology senior Misha Davies asked Nader for advice on how to run a campaign against corrupt, big-money politicians. She said afterwards that she was satisfied with Nader’s answer and the speech.
“His advice was good. It was a great talk. This pretty much settled it for me; I’m going to be voting for him,” she said.