Listener Questions & Feedback

Ralph answers some of your recent questions about the genocide in Gaza, how to jumpstart civic engagement, and more!

Your feedback is very important. And the more detailed and factual it is, the better off the impact will be by your initiative and getting back to us. You have to be active in a program like this. Because we’re not just talking to the choir here. We want the choir to sing back—in affirmation or dissent.

Ralph Nader

I was astonished…how disinterested the American people are in empowering themselves. That’s the problem we have. The lack of civic motivation, the lack of saying, “Look, we’ve given our power to only 535 people in the Congress, and they’ve turned it against us on behalf of some 1,500 corporations. We’re going to turn it around. We’re the sovereign power.” As I’ve said a hundred times, the Constitution starts with “We the people,” not “We the Congress” or “We the corporations.” And the people don’t seem to want to focus on that. If they had anyone in their neighborhood and community who were treating them the way Congress is treating them—as voters, as workers, as consumers, as parents, as children, as taxpayers—they would never allow it.

Ralph Nader

You get more and more voters vulnerable to just what comes out of a politician’s mouth. Remember, everything Trump has achieved politically has come out of his mouth—not out of his deeds, just out of his mouth. Repeatedly, unrebutted largely over the mass media, and faithfully relayed to the American people by a supine media which points out his mistakes once in a while, but it was too little, too late.

Ralph Nader

News 9/26/25

* This week, the campaign for Palestinian statehood notched major victories. According to the BBC, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia and Portugal all announced on Sunday that they would recognize the state of Palestine. They are expected to be joined by a number of smaller states, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra and San Marino. These countries, all traditionally close allies of the United States and Israel, join the 140 countries that already recognize the State of Palestine. A statement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explains that this move is “part of a co-ordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.” These heads of state are pursuing this policy despite a thinly veiled threat from Congressional Republicans, a group of whom – including Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Elise Stefanik – sent a letter to President Macron and Prime Ministers Starmer, Carney and Albanese warning them of possible “punitive measures in response,” and urging them to “reconsider,” per the Guardian.

* In more Palestine news, as the Global Sumud Flotilla draws near to the coast of Gaza, they are apparently under low-level attack. Al Jazeera reports the flotilla, “has reported explosions and communications jamming as drones hovered overhead.” In response, the United Nations has called for a probe, with UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan stating, “There must be an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the reported attacks and harassment by drones and other objects.” In response to this harassment, Reuters reports Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto expressed the “strongest condemnation” and ordered the “Italian multi-purpose frigate Fasan, previously sailing north of Crete, to head towards the flotilla ‘for possible rescue operations’, focusing primarily on Italian citizens.” The strong response by the Italian government is likely related to the labor unrest the targeting of the flotilla has engendered within the country. ANSA, a leading Italian news outlet, reports the Unione Sindacale di Base or USB “would proclaim a wildcat general strike and protests in 100 Italian cities for Gaza after the success of Monday’s stoppage and protests involving an estimated 500,000 people in 80 cities.” T