Portrait of Ralph Nader by Robert Shetterly
Listen to speech by Ralph Nader and introduction by Jamie Raskin
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Feb. 13, lawyer and consumer advocate Ralph Nader keynoted a symposium at American University’s Washington College of Law entitled “Americans Who Tell the Truth,” which is the title of a series of portraits by artist Robert Shetterly, who also attended.
Among the other speakers at the event, which was presented by the National Lawyers Guild and the Program on Law and Government, were human rights activist Jennifer Harbury and NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake. Also in attendance was Jane Mayer, who was awarded a 2011 George Polk Award this week for her profile of Drake in The New Yorker.
“15 or 20,000 days [is what] you’ve got to go before you retire. That’s a little over 2,000 weeks,” Nader told law students. “So you don’t want to defer developing your own public philosophy.”
From left to right: Jane Mayer, Ralph Nader, Thomas Drake
“He’s been a hero of mine since I was a little boy,” Maryland State Senator and AU law professor Jamie Raskin said in his introduction of Nader, who he called “America’s foremost public citizen.”
“The Constitution says that we’ve got no kings here and we award no titles of nobility,” said Raskin. “The highest office of the land is that of citizen and I would say that in the ranks of citizens the first among equals has got be Ralph Nader.”
Related stories:
Ralph Nader on the Occupation Movement, Oct. 18, 2011
Mr. President, Come Home with Your Rhetoric, Feb. 10, 2011