Crash!ng The Party * How To Tell The Truth And Still Run For President

by Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is one of America's most passionate and effective social critics. He has been called a muckraker, a consumer crusader, and America's public defender. The cars we drive, the food we eat, the water we drink-their safety has been enhanced largely due to Ralph Nader. His inspiration and example have rallied consumer advocates, citizen activists, public interest lawyers, and government officials into action, and in the 2000 election, nearly three million people voted for him.

An inspiring and defiant memoir, Crashing the Party takes us inside Nader's campaign and explains what it took to fight the two-party juggernaut; why Bush and Gore were really afraid to let him in on their debates; why progressive Democrats have been left behind and ignored by their party; how Democrat and Republican interests have been lost to corporate bankrolling; and what needs to happen in the future for people to take back their political system.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Social Justice, Activism, Economics, United States

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

American attorney, author, lecturer, political activist, and candidate for President of the United States in five elections, including the last election 0f 2008, with his role in the 2000 election in particular being subject to much debate.

Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. Nader is the first Arab American presidential candidate in the U.S.

Reviews

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nader's telling of his 2000 campaign. It is pretty dry, and won't appeal to everyone. Still, for those who love to read about politics, there is plenty there to keep you interested. Unlike other books (such as Jesse Ventura's), I find it more disheartening than inspiring. The troubles and challenges Nader had to overcome show how entrenched the two-party system really is, and how hard it will be for anyone to win as an outsider.

[Mark Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ralph recounts, rather dryly, his 2000 campaign. He makes excellent points and can occasionally be very humorous, but his writing style leaves a whole lot to be desired. Still, the blatant hypocrisy and anti-democratic opposition he recounts on the part of Gore and company is so enraging that you can put up with Ralph not having the best prose.

[Derek Postlewaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

My absolute favorite book from one of the most admirable and important individuals in American history. Nader lays out his 2000 run for president of the United States, details the hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of the Democratic Party, and provides alternatives to our corporate run election system. Extremely enjoyable, entertaining and informative the entire way through.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story after story after story about how the two major parties have conspired to divide up the spoils fairly equally.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Very political, Nader writes w/a polite chip on his shoulder, taking shots at Gore, and bashing the whole two-party system for presidential elections. The book suffers from redundancy, an excess of trivial, quotidian things along his campaign trail, and a personal tone that is not disagreeable but is not very lovable. He delivers the right responses that most everyday Americans concur with but after a while it all starts to just sound lofty & wishful. In a single paragraph he'll list several global causes as if the whole world were just a nutshell. Everything: prisons, rights, abortion, corporate greed. And he provides the just responses...but the dude lost, and kinda confirmed the futility of running as an independent. The book drudges up the wickedness of the Commission for Presidential Debates and laments the lack of integrity & fairness in journalism. It's painful, bitter reading at some points. It's also disheartening & dispiriting to read directly from Ralph Nader who put his self out there on the line, in a race rigged against him, for the sake of the principle of expressing a voice independent of avarice and corporate influence. It's not a bad book, Nader's not a great writer but he does offer experiential insight. It's dated though, Nader had no idea of Obama coming, then Trump. Also, the Green Party continues to be such an underdog that the message & spirit of the party kinda stagnates in despair and perpetual despondency, i.e. the rich have only gotten richer, the news media only more biased & unfair, and the corporations only stronger & more corrupt.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has some important redeeming values. It is important to remember how corporate friendly the Democratic Party was under Clinton/Gore and just how devastating that was to progressive causes. Low information voters that only listen to rhetoric and do not compare it with the corresponding actions taken by politicians will never understand the anguish progressive Democratic voters have had to go through for the last 35 years.

Yes, you can't win if you don't compete and if you don't win a seat at the table, there is no representative for those with no voice. But the compromises they make for their campaign funding left them too often as the guilty party to those on the wrong side of the corporate policy. To be fair it isn't just funding, it was the unregulated free-market ideology that was both popular and Orwellian double-speak. It was a surrender to both economic and foreign policy in order to protect a smidgeon of civil rights. Are you in full agreement with Republicans on everything but you are pro-choice, we'll take you! Was that the only thing it meant to be a Democrat at that time? Perhaps I'm being too harsh ... Perhaps.

This book is largely a memoir of his presidential run and to that I had little hindsight interest. Yes, some exceptions highlight the bipartisan corruption that makes up the debate commission, as one example. But I'm talking the mundane weeds of each phone call made for support. I felt like I was sitting there with him while he made the phone calls.

And I found myself agreeing with his friends that wouldn't back him because they wanted him to run as a Democrat. I don't blame him for the loss, but the system is far more unfriendly to third parties than just the two parties collusion can account. We need to transform the Democratic party, not replace it.

The good news is that has been happening at a healthy rate. While Obama had a distinct difference between his campaign rhetoric and his centrist governance, Sanders had good success while being a completely authentic voice. The negative devolution of the Republican party at least shows that a Party can change quickly in radically different directions. It is equally possible that Nader's Raiders may actually have hope for the Democratic Party to actually push for a Progressive agenda and transform in action to what their voters desperately want them to be.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, Ralph Nader is right about a lot of things. He really is. And there's a lot of important stuff in here about how our electoral system is actually a duopoly and makes it almost impossible for a viable third party to emerge. But this book goes on and on about how right he is and how wrong everyone else is. I even caught a few uses of the royal "we".

It's too bad, because I do think people need to know why and how he ran in 2000, and I agree with him in principle. But this book is just no fun to read.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

318 pages of why one should vote for Nader. The accounts of the Democratic party’s mismanagement and duplicity in the currently flawed system is quite depressing. From campaign finance to the Commission on Presidential Debates, Nader hammers home the point that voting for the lesser of two evils will constantly be a mixture of less and evil. A viable third option needs to be forged, and the sooner it gets started the better off we will all be in the long run.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit out of date....the world is pretty much a different place than it was in 2000. Nader did add a forward addressing 9/11, but still so much has changed, including with elections and our political system. It was interesting to read his perspective, but it got boring at parts because he was recounting so many details of his campaign trail with minimal insight. I would like to read a book on his opinion on the most recent election though!

[Daniel Crews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among all the grandstanding and Ego, Nader makes some salient points that cannot safely be disregarded. We ignore his warnings about corporate control and the death of populism (little p) at our own peril.

[Seytin · Rating 2 out of 5]

NADER POWER! Too much heat has come down on this man. He has a lot of integrity and this book is an amazing analysis of the two party system's love affair with corporate corruption. Let go of your partisan politics and open your mind.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book wouldn't make me vote for Ralph Nader, it made me respect him for bringing another voice into two-party system.

[Public Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bitter reminder of what any third party in the US faces.

[Diane Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

By and large i thought this book contained a lot of valuable information and was an especially interesting comparison to the 2024 election. That said, it was rather dry and spent a lot of time calling out individuals that I am not familiar with - but if you can make it through that I think it's worth the read!
It provides a good first hand account of how rigged federal elections are against third parties, the stark lack of policy/funding differences between gore and bush, and the smear campaign ran by gore against Nader.
While so many likes to blame the green party for costing dems the election (disregarding that many green voters wouldnt vote otherwise), it's funny how rather than adopt some green policies to try to win those voters, gore spent money attacking Nader in the weeks coming up to the election. The same rhetoric used in 2000 (this is the most important election of our lives, now's not the time to go third party! Roe v wade is on the line!) is used today - it'll never be the right time for change and the democratic party just assumes theyll get union and minority votes, so why vie for any policy that would substantially help them?
I think Nader provides a lot of good ideas for changes that need to be enacted to actually hold democrats accountable. On the one hand it's depressing to see how little has changed since 2000, but i suppose on the other there is a comfort in knowing that things haven't all of a sudden gotten so fucked 🤷‍♀️ i do wish nader wouldve run as a dem though, i think his campaign wouldve gotten much more attention

[Scott Benowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting first hand account of Ralph Nader's 2000 Presidential campaign.
Personally, I do agree with Ralph Nader on most issues, there's only a small handful of issues for which my views differ from his.
However- regardless as to whether you agree with his views on many issues or perhaps you disagree with the views that he advocates for on many issues, "Crashing The Party" offers very interesting insights into the obstacles that the 2 major parties in the U.S. have created which make campaigning difficult for the third parties.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this, especially because I worked for Ralph Nader's Public Interest Research Groups and attended the super rally in Minneapolis in 2000.

I think what I liked about this book is that it showed a time when people took third parties seriously and hadn't given up to control by the two major parties. It also showed a time when being progressive was about consumer protection and arms control and jobs with justice and true universal health care. Today, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is more interested in identity politics and less interested in universalism.

[Ryan Lyppens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasionally very repetitive, sounds like it was written by a politician (not a good thing). However, his points about the corporatization of the "pro-labor" Democratic Party as well as the broken two-party system are very engaging. Still, it sounded like he was extremely desperate to excuse himself from potentially playing a role in the victory of George W. Bush.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for any politico - the premise of the book is following Ralph Nader through the 2000 presidential election. Tucked within that, he provides the reader with his policy positions. It is an interesting read regardless of your affiliation or ideology.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Total Stars = 4

Entertainment-0 Stars
Education- +1 Star
Readability- +1 star
Innovation- +1 Stars
Inspiration- +1 Stars

1 Star Good
0 Star Bad-Neutral

Ralph bascially walks through why he ran in 2000 and why he refused to not "steal" votes from Gore. Do other software companies worry that they will be taking business away from Microsoft? No. It is nonsensical to assume that the Democrats own progressive voters. Ralph calls on us to take action to make them earn our vote, or we go to an alternative. What it comes down to is if let the Democrats make empty promises and fail to hold them accountable, they will continue to disappoint us. Since they are now owned by corporations there is little difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Do we want to settle for the least worst or try to make things better? I think when he talks about Martin Luther King and his book "Why we can't wait" he is at his best. They kept telling MLK we can't do it now, we need more time for gradual changes regardin civil rights. Dr. King and a whole lot of other folks said that they couldn't wait anymore and took action as citizen's to get the rights they were entitled to have as Americans.

Ralph now wants us to do the same to take back our rights from the Corpratocrary. Unfortunately we are more intersted in big screen tv's and all the other materialistic, childish and selfish aspects so easily obtainable in America today. Will we wake up before it is too late? Maybe it already is too late.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tough to get through with all his big words, even for a smart guy like myself, but a fascinating, empowering account of his run for President in 2000. He explains all the bullshit about trying to get your voice heard in our amazing democracy run by the two-headed corporate political machine, such as being blocked out of the debates and all the money and time spent by that piece of shit Al Gore to get Ralph kicked off the ballot in different states.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally don't like memoirs, and am on the fence about political treatises. I thought I'd give it a try, but nothing happened.

It is just an OK book, in my opinion, despite the promising title.

Anyway, I picked it up to prove to myself American politics aren't anathema. No, but I didn't find this moving in any direction. So, I suppose my analysis is that 2000 US politics was a stagnant field. It's not bad, it's just not good either.

I'm ambivalently neutral.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

written by Nader about his struggles with running as a third party candidate in the 2000 presidential elections. it addresses critical issues in the American election process such as campaign finance reform and our flawed two-party system. i enjoyed this book quite a bit when i read it. it's what sparked my interest and involvement in the Green Party and politics in general.

[Alberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of the 2000 presidential campaign of Ralph Nader for the Green Party. It is about ways to improve democracy by direct popular participation, no more, no less. The Democrats are too far away from their original ideas. The political process is hijacked by big business. Until new voices are heard, real democracy will be elusive. If I was a citizen, I'd vote for him.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nader sheds light on a subject we all know too well, the political corruption that resides in Washington.We all know his independent run for the Presidency did Gore in, but he still felt both parties are slaves to corporate greed and self interest groups

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a few years since I read this: Nader makes some great points, runs an inspirational campaign.... but would do better if he improved story telling, didn't do as much name dropping, and were a little less self-important. Hmmmm

[furious · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've been proud to throw my vote away to this man.

[Ricky Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a total Nader fan. In this book it shocked me to learn how much of our democratic process is undemoctratic.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

gotta love this guy

[Ever · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know what the majority of the world thinks of Ralph Nader, but I can't help but like the guy.

[Johnny Galt]

I own a signed copy. How could I not give it 5 stars!