FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Tuesday criticized the two-party political system in the United States, describing it as pre-packaged and funded by corporate interests, a process he said leaves millions of low-earning workers out in the cold.

“They can’t afford housing, they can’t pay for health care,” Nader said of many workers. “Their children get sick, they’re out. They have to pay for a second-hand car and insurance policy just to get to a Wal-Mart job where they pay $7.50 an hour before payroll deductions. Who speaks for these people? You think the two parties speak for these people? They don’t speak for these people.”

Nader made his remarks at the University of Miami’s Bill Cosford Cinema before a crowd of about 250 students. His appearance, which came only two days before the first presidential debate on Thursday, was part of a four-day campaign swing through Florida, the state that decided the 2000 presidential election by 537 votes. Many Democrats blame Nader’s presence as a third-party candidate in the disputed contest for former Vice President Al Gore’s defeat.

In an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Nader made it clear he is weary of addressing whether he also could be a spoiler in this year’s presidential election and ruin Democratic nominee John Kerry’s chances.

“I don’t accept second-class citizenship,” he said. “You don’t ask Kerry if he’s worried about taking votes away from me.”

As the Green Party nominee in 2000, Nader received 97,000 votes in Florida, many of them from liberal voters who might have otherwise voted for the Democratic nominee.

But Nader insists that 10 times as many Democrats abandoned Gore for Bush as abandoned Gore for Nader.

“In Florida we want them to vote their conscience,” Nader said of the upcoming election.

Florida was one of the states where Nader and running mate Peter Miguel Camejo had to fight to get on the ballot this year.

Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court put Nader back on the Nov. 2 ballot by reversing a lower court that had sided with the Democratic Party.

Democrats had argued Nader’s Reform Party nomination was not legitimate and hastily done merely to qualify Nader for the Florida ballot. Although he successfully won ballot challenges in several states, including Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined a request from Nader supporters to block Oregon from printing ballots without his name. Nader vowed to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Oregon Supreme Court decision that is keeping him off the ballot there.

On Tuesday, Nader also encouraged UM students to follow in his footsteps and become civic activists.

“If you don’t think of yourself as having a role in the future, if not now as students, you don’t have any self-respect for yourself,” he said.

The audience included Nader supporters and detractors – and some students who came looking for extra credit.

Tracey Siepser, a 20-year-old junior, said she supports Nader but will be voting for Kerry.

“I think (Nader) can be a great candidate, but we need to get Bush out of office, so I won’t vote for him,” she said.

But Tony Sotelo, 22, who is undecided, said he does not buy the argument that Nader ruined the 2000 election for Gore.

“It’s a democracy,” Sotelo said. “You’re putting your vote where you want it to go.”

Nader, who planned to visit Sarasota and Tampa on Wednesday, will be back in Miami on Thursday for the debate. Although he will not be allowed to participate, he plans to conduct a news conference and be on hand to provide commentary for media outlets.

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(c) 2004 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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