Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

'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 a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

plutocratic A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...

influence, banal sloganistic

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

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 and big

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

s. *Democratic protections against nullification of voter powers by: **Bold options for " None of the above". **12 year maximum term limits. **Improved

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

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

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...

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 is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

. *Strengthened access to

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

s to prevent corporate and government abuse. *Protection for

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s. * Shareholder protections against corporate greed. *Strengthening school

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

in civic

participation Participation or Participant may refer to: Politics *Participation (decision making), mechanisms for people to participate in social decisions *Civic participation, engagement by the citizens in government *e-participation, citizen 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