GIVE RALPH NADER HIS NIGHT ON BROADWAY

If Ralph Nader is excluded from the presidential debates, many issues
important to millions of Americans will get little or no attention during
the corporate sponsored face-offs between the two major party candidates.
For example:

The U.S. has 2 million people in jail, the result of a drug policy that
endangers cops and innocent bystanders in a Wild-West strategy of knocking
down doors and screaming, "Police! Freeze!" Even conservatives have called
for some form of drug decriminalization. If Nader isn't there, the two
major party nominees are not likely to touch this "third rail" issue.

In a country where mentally retarded teenagers have been executed, a
journalism class at Northwestern University conclusively proved the
innocence of death row prisoners, leading to the inmates' freedom. The
Republican governor of Illinois was moved to declare a moratorium on the
death penalty. Al Gore and George W. Bush appear to have a consensus:
"Let's make really, really sure that they're guilty before we kill them."
Without Nader present, don't look for much disagreement on this important
matter during the debates.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military isn't working. More gay
military personnel have been discharged since the inception of this policy
than before its adoption. Nader believes in equal rights for gays in every
way these protections are extended to all other Americans--including civil
unions. This important position will get no airing during the debates
between the two major party candidates if Nader isn't there.

For those who oppose the World Trade Organization, the China trade deal and
striker replacement laws, the debates will be a sterile rehash of the
doctrine that holds all trade to be good and "don't sweat the sweatshops."
If Nader's not there, a robust airing of the other side of trade issues
(worker safety, child labor abuse, factory pollution in Third World
countries) won't be heard.

This year's debates will be thin fare without a discussion of single-payer
national health insurance. No matter that 44 million Americans now live
with the anxiety of being wiped out by a major illness. Single-payer health
insurance is unlikely to come up in the debates at all if Nader isn't there.

The major party candidates have raised 80% more money in this election
cycle than during the same period four years ago. Nader wants campaigns
publicly funded, an idea that would remove the big private and corporate
checkbooks from electoral politics and free candidates to advocate
positions rather than waste time dialing for dollars. Good idea? Don't look
for a vigorous examination of public financing if Nader isn't there.

A review of Nader's positions makes clear the long road he and his Green
Party supporters must travel. Nader's lifelong assault on corporate power
is all the debate sponsors need to know. He is not welcome to share the
stage in a show paid for by Anheuser-Busch, US Airways and AT&T.

A vigorous progressive voice is being silenced with what appears to be the
quiet approval of the TV networks and most of the media. No stranger to Big
Business, major media seem bent on marginalizing the only man in the race
who wants more teeth in regulatory agencies, more enforcement of antitrust
laws, total unqualified guarantees of all constitutional rights for gays,
illegal immigrants and other minorities, more respect for privacy
protections and due process, an end to the commercialization of children,
fewer nonviolent offenders in jail and trade policies that protect
powerless people here and around the world.

Instead of giving the American people a chance to hear this principled
voice, some in the media attempt to redirect our gaze by waving Nader's
stock portfolio. "Aha! Nader made a profit!" A liberal with plumbing is a
hypocrite.

No one took Jesse Ventura seriously until he appeared in gubernatorial
debates in Minnesota. Those of us who support Nader for president don't
want him to become the latest worthy man to be victimized by the adage,
"You can't get on Broadway unless you've been on Broadway." A Zogby Poll
released last week found 61% of those polled want Nader on the debate
stage. Unlike the major party candidates, Ralph Nader is doing what the
people say they want all our candidates to do: forswear soft money and obey
the rules that limit campaign contributions to $2,000 per person.

Because he is not a billionaire, because he obeys the law, the nation's
most powerful private voice for justice, the man who revolutionized auto
safety design, opened up government secrets by forcing the establishment of
the Freedom of Information Act, blew whistles on faulty products 35 years
before the current Bridgestone/Firestone tragedy, the man who inspired
millions of young people to become active citizens is being shut out of the
Great White Way of presidential politics.

Proud Americans of all political stripes should bang their spoons to ensure
that Nader gets on the Broadway of this campaign--the three debates
sponsored by the debate commission. It could make a big difference. Ask
Jesse Ventura.

Former Talk-show Host Phil Donahue Is a Member of the Committee to Elect
Ralph Nader President.