Ralph Nader Puts Single Payer at Center of Super Bowl of Civic Action

May 16, 2016

Single payer advocates will be joining with scores of other corporate crime fighters at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. May 23, 24, 25 and 26.

Ralph Nader calls it the Super Bowl of Civic Engagement.

He also calls it Breaking Through Power.

It might also be called Challenging Corporate Power.

Or challenging the Corporate Medical Industrial Complex.

At the center of the line up are a slew of long time fighters for single payer including Ralph Nader, Public Citizen’s Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Karen Higgins of National Nurses United and Russell Mokhiber of Single Payer Action.

The line up tells it all.

Most of the speakers are expert in fighting corporate power and corporate crime.

Day one (May 23) features leaders of influential civic groups including Jim Hightower (Hightower Lowdown), Ralph Nader, Janet Domenitz (MassPIRG), Karen Friedman (Pension Rights Center),  Michael Jacobson (Center for Science in the Public Interest), Clarence Ditlow (Center for Auto Safety), Ralf Hotchkiss (Whirlwind Wheelchair),  Sidney Wolfe (Public Citizen Health Research Group), F. Paul Bland (Public Justice), Robert Fellmeth (Children’s Advocacy Institute),  Robert T Coulter (The Indian Law Resource Center), Michael McPhearson (Veterans for Peace),  Jay Feldman (Beyond Pesticides), Jamie Love (Knowledge Ecology International), Jeff Ruch (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), Harvey Rosenfeld (Consumer Watchdog), Al Fritsch (Appalachia Science in the Public Interest) and Lois Gibbs (Center for Health, Environment and Justice.)

Day two (May 24) — titled Breaking Through the Media — features Nicholas Johnson, Michael Copps, John Nichols, Jeff Chester, Jeff Cohen, Jim Hightower, Patti Smith, Eugene Jarecki, Laura Flanders, Jim Naureckas, Winona LaDuke, Mark Green,  Ken Reed, Richard Newman, Phyllis Bennis, Kathy Ozer, Janine Jackson, Rena Steinzor, Philip Weiss, Jeff Cohen, Pete Davis, Stephen Cohen, Phil Donahue, Mickey Huff, Matt Wuerker, Jeff Chester. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney.

Day three (May 25) — titled Breaking Through War — features Lawrence Wilkerson, Paul Pillar, Mathew Hoh, Raed Jarrar, Jim Cason, Kevin Martin, Medea Benjamin, Chris Hedges, Eugene Jarecki, William Hartung, Danielle Brian, John Kiriakou, Tom Drake, Jesselyn Radack, Colman McCarthy, Allan Nairn, Stephen Kinzer, Michael McPhearson,  and Barry Ladendorf.

The final day, day four (May 26) — titled — Breaking Through Congress — features Mark Green, Dennis Kucinich, Marta Tellado, Tom Devine, Max Steir, Russell Mokhiber, Ralph Nader, Karen Higgins, Mark Dimondstein, Robert Pollin, Lori Wallach, Michael Shuman, David Freeman, Bruce Fein, Jonathan Turley, Medea Benjamin, Wenonah Hauter and Miles Rapoport.