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Friday, December 10, 2004
The unknown Nader
I had always assumed that Ralph Nader was a typical leftie. That's why I was quite surprised when I ran into this Justin Raimondo piece endorsing Nader for President and quoting an article Nader wrote in October 1962 in the libertarian magazine The Freeman. This piece lionized the residents of his Winsted, Conn. hometown who had rejected by referendum a federally-funded public housing project. Nader, after lamenting the fact that "giant government has outgrown the capacity of the institutions designed to restrain its encroachments and abuse", describes the economic impact of public housing:
Public housing pushes private housing toward deterioration and away from expansion. The private sector must pay for public housing which, in turn, takes away their tenants from whom income is derived to pay the taxes in the first place. "It takes the fruits and chops the roots," as one old-timer phrased it. The more public housing, the more difficult for owners to keep their property in repair and the weaker the incentives for people to want to own their own homes. [...]A vicious circle begins to operate; as private property is undermined by public competition, private investment is discouraged by the threat of more public housing. As local taxes increase, the prospects diminish for new or expanding industry.
Public housing accentuates that which it professes to alleviate, creating conditions that will raise the call for more public housing. It will destroy the incentive to build new dwellings and to develop creative methods of private financing.
Nader is no more impressed by the impact public housing has on its tenants:
Consider the proposed project itself and the people who would occupy it--the drab, uniform, barrack-type existence. Living under the government as landlord neither teaches children the value of property (which is one reason why public housing deteriorates so quickly) nor produces the environment for the exercise of independence, self-reliance, and, above all, citizenship. Any government intrusion into the economy deters the alleged beneficiaries from voicing their views or participating in civic life. The reason for this goes beyond the stigma of living in subsidized housing. When public housing becomes, as it has over the nation, a source of additional patronage for local distribution to contractors, repairmen, and tenants, the free expression of human beings is thus discouraged.
I won't disagree with that, but I wonder how many of those who voted for Nader in 2000 or 2004 could read this piece without choking.
Posted by Laurent Moss on December 10, 2004 in International Politics | Permalink
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Comments
If Nader wants to help average Americans, he should tell them all how he became a millionaire while investing in stocks, even though he only makes about 30,000 a year.
Posted by: Kathy | 2004-12-10 6:53:03 PM
Yeah, Nader is a pretty honourable guy. (Although he's totally insane about most issues)
He owns millions in stocks, but he donates about 90% of his income to charity.
Posted by: Japnaam Singh | 2004-12-10 9:18:55 PM
I have seen Ralph Nader speak at U of T a while ago and I have followed his political "career" for some time. I would be quite surprised if Ralph Nader still holds the same views on public housing that he held in 1962. He's as left as they come.
Posted by: Michael Dabioch | 2004-12-12 12:29:18 AM
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