abroad. and that is what it all means. when third no voices parties are excluded. amy: it's official. when the first presidential debate takes place next a week monday, from today, it will exclude third party candidates from the debate stage. the commission on presidential debates announced friday that both dr. jill stein of the green party and libertarian gary johnson failed to qualify by polling at 15% or higher. what is this commission? we'll get reaction from former third party presidential candidate ralph nader. he has been excluded himself in the past. then, what does it mean to break througugh power? >> it means citizens organizing, having full-time advocates, and taking back the power from their elected officials who are often in the pockets of business interests. it is basically sovereignty as a people. it is s been done on so many areas, local, national, international am a throughout our history that we ought to learn from our forebears and go forward and exercise sovereignty of the people. nader,day, ralph longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic, three-time presidential candidate. we will discuss his f forthcomig book ahead of a national conference. all that and morore, coming up. welcome e to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. new york city mayor bill de blasio says auauthorities are searching for a suspect after a string of improvised bombs targeted parts of new york and new jersey, including a blast saturday night in manhattan's chelsea neighborhood whichh wounded 29 people. authorities have named a suspect 28-year-old ahmad khan rahami, , who they described as originally from afghanistan and a naturalized american living in new jersey. his whereabouts are unknown. mayor bill the blasio said the investigation is moving quickly. >> the fact they have the last moments put out a photo that shows real conference on the part of law enforcement that this is someone that is likely involved in one way or another. but we should not speculate yet how many people or what role each person played. what we do know is we need to get this guy in right away. my experience with the nypd and the fbi is once they zero in on someone, they will get them. amy: rahami was identified after the fbi detained five men sunday night in brooklyn. the agency said it was questioning the men without charge in connection with the chelsea bombing. police also say they identified a suspect in surveillance video, seen planting two bombs in manhattan, including a second device that did not explode and was later recovered. police told cnn the video has allowed them to identify a person of interest in the attack. it's not known if that person is related to the five men detained in brooklyn. elsewhere, a pipe bomb left in a garbage can exploded saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey. no one was injured in the blast, whwhich appeared to targetet a charity run hosted by the u.s. marines. and d in elizabeth, new w jerse, early this morning, police discovered a bomb in a backpack at a commuter rail station. part of the device exploded when a police robot attempted to disarm it. it's not known whetheher the the bomb sites are related. they came just before world leaders begin converging in new york for this week's meeting of the united nations g general assembly. the new york police department says it will beef up security with more bag checks and train and subway stations and heavy weapons teams employed in transit centers. new york governor andrew cuomo has called up 1 1000 members of the national guard and police. in minnesota, a man in a security guard's uniform stabbed and injured nine shoppers at a mall on saturday before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer. the minneapolis star-tribune identified the man as ahmed adan, a a 22-year-old bornrn in kenya who grew up in the u.s. an isis website claimed responsibility, calling the assailant a "soldier of the islamic state." fbi special agent rick thornton said the agency was looking into possssible links to terrorism. >> we do not know if this point in time whether the subject was in contact with, had connections with, was inspired by a foreign terrorist organization. that is whatat the investigation is attempting to ascertain at this point in time. amy: in syria, a ceasefire continues to unravel after u.s.-led bombers attacked a syrian military position, killing scores of government soldiers and allowing isis fighters to overrun the survivors. u.s. military officials acacknowledged satururd's attack near deir al-zour, which killed more than 60 s syrian soldiers,, saying they mistakenly belieievd they were e targeting isis unit. the attack came less than a week into a ceasefire brokered by the u.s. a and russia meant to separate warring factions anando alallow humanitarian aid to o rh besiegeged cities.s. it prompted russia to call an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council, where ambassador vitaly churkin questioned whether the attack was timed to derail the ceasefire. >> it is quite significant and, frankly, suspicious that the u.s. chose to conduct this particular airstrike at this time. while it was sudden, the u.s. choose to help the syrian armed forces defending -- they did nothing when isil was advancing on palmyra. isil made 100 mile march without being attacked by the coalition. amy: russia's foreign ministry accused the white house of defending isis. and syria's government said the attack proved the u.s. was aiding the group in a bid to topple the assad regime. u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha power denounced such claims and blasted russia for calling a meeting of the u.n. security council. >> if we determine we did indeed strike syrian military personnel, that was not our intention. and we, of course, regret the loss of life. , even by russia's standards, tonight stunt, a stunt replete with moralism and grandstanding, is uniquely cynical and hypocritical. amy: following the u.s. bombing, there were reports of other ceasefire violations across syria, including at least four airstrikes in aleppo. india's government is accusing pakistan of involvement in an attack that left 17 of its soldiers dead at an army base in kashmir. susunday morning's attack came near the highly militarized line of control between indian- and pakiststani-administered shshmir. it was one of the deadliest attacks since the start of an armed insurgency began in 1989. top indian officials accused pakistan obacking the attack and supporting terrorism in kashmir, a claim pakakisn denieded. ram madhav, the general cretary of india'ruling bjp party said the attacks would be heavily punished, writing on facebook -- "for one tooth, the complete jaw. days of so-called strategic restraint are over." amnesty international says a u.s.-made bomb was used in an attack on a doctors without borders hospital in yemen last month. the august 15 airstrikes by a saudi-led coalition killed 11 and injured 19 others. amnesty international today distributed photos it says show a u.s.-made precision-guided paveway-series aerial bomb. the u.n. says at least 10,000 civilians have died or been wounded in the 18-month conflict. the u.s. continues to supply saudi arabia with weapons, including banned cluster bombs. meanwhile, activists with the anti-war group codepink will gather outside senate offices in washington today to protest u.s. weapons sales to saudi arabia. they're supporting a bill by senators chris murphy, mike lee, al franken, and rand paul which would block the u.s. from supplying the kingdom with more than $1 billion worth of tanks and other military hardware. governors in six states have declared a state of emergency after nearly 340,000 gallons of gasoline spilled in central alabama from one of the region's major pipelines, prompting gas prices to rise across the region. carriesnial pipeline 1.3 million barrels of gas a day down to refineries in texas and louisiana, counting for a full 40% of the east coast gasoline. epa officials say the massive spill narrowly avoided reaching the cahaba river, home to endangered spepecies. in news from the ongoing standoff at standing rock, a federal appeals court has officially halted construction of the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline within 20 miles on either side of lake oahe along the missouri river in north dakota. the d.c. circuit court of appeals says this ruling will give the court more time to rule on the standing rock sioux tribe's request for an emergency injunction against construction over concerns it could destroy sacred sites and burial grounds. the emergency injunction was filed by the tribe after a lower court rejected a request for an injunction the previous friday. this latest ruling now mandates obama administration's request that dakota access voluntarily cease construction along that same 40-mile stretch. in a separate legal development, a federal judge in bismarck has dropped temporary restraining orders against standing rock sioux chairman david archambault and other tribal leaders. the restraining orders were part of a slapp suit -- a strategic lawsuit against public participation -- filed by dakota access against leaders of the tribe in august over their participation in protests. meanwhile, a citizen journalist was arrested and jailed sunday and charged with criminal trespass after she filmed portions of the pipeline under construction. a live video posted to facebook shows sara long being asked by private security guards to leave a field near a public highway. she complies and returns to her vehicle, where she's met by police. >> unless less time being detained, i don't want to answer any questions. >> you're being arrested for criminal trespass. >> do you hear that everybody? i'm being arrested for criminal trespassing. amy: police arrested more than forty people in southeastern iowa as they crossed onto a dakota access pipeline construction site near where the company plans to bore beneath the mississippi river. the activists were arrested with plastic handcuffs and were charged with trespassing. this comes less than three weeks after 30 others were arrested in iowa blocking the pipeline's construction.. a group of iowa landowners have also sued the dakota access pipeline company's use of eminent domain. in germany, the party of angela merkel lost ground in regional elections that saw the largest vote share for a far-right party in berlin since world war ii. the anti-muslim and anti-immigrant alternative for germany party will gain its first-ever seats in parliament after winning 14% of the vote. in france, a 14-year-old afghan war refugee died in a hit-and-run incident as he attempted to board a moving truck bound for great britain. charity workers at the calais refugee camp near the english channel say the boy had a legal right to travel to britain, but months of delay in processing his paperwork led him m to attet to stow away on a trip through channel tunnel. the boy, whose name is not being released, was at least the 13th person to die near the port this year, and ththe third child. to see our full report from france's largest refugee camp, the calais jungle, go to our website at democracynow.org. hate crimes against muslims soar -- hate crimes against muslims in the u.s. have reached their highest level since just after the 9/11 attacks. new data from researchers at california state university, san bernardino, show that a 78% rise in attacks including arson, murder, assault, and violent threats. for ththe first time, donald trp has admitted that presidident barack o obama wasas born in the ununited states. his comments on friday came more than five years after he added his voice to the so-called birther movement. even as he admitted that obama was born in hawaii, trump falsely accused hillary clinton of questioning obama's citizenship. mr. trump: hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started as the birther controversy. i finished it. i finished it. you know what i mean. borndent barack obama was period.nited states, amy: president obama laughed off trump's admission, telling a congressional black caucus foundation dinner, "in other breaking news, the world is round, n not flat." pres. obama: i am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over. isil, north korea, poverty, clilimate c changee --e of those things wait on my mind like the validity of my birth certificate. trump hashile, donald once again alluded to violence against hillary clinton. at a came pan -- at a campaign rally in miami on friday, trump claimed clinton would destroy second amendment rights and said her bodyguards should disarm. mr. trump: i think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. they should disarm. right? i think they should disarm immediately.. what do o you thinink? yes? take their guns away. she doesn't want guns. let's see what happens to her. take their guns away, ok? it would be very dangerous. amy: the nation's largest police union has endorsed donald trump. more than two-thirds of the national board of the fraternal order of police voted in favor of the endorsement. in a statement, the fop said trump will "make a america safe again." and the "washington post's" editorial board is calling for nsa whistleblower edward snowden to face criminal charges. in an editorial published on saturday, the "post" called on snowden to return to the united states to face charges under the espionage act or to bargain for "a measure of criminal responsibility for his excesses." a team of "washington post" reporters won a pulitzer prize in 2014 for coveringngsa spyingg revealed in documents leaked to the post by edward snowden. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. well, it is official. when the first presidential debate takes place next a week monday, from today, there will be no third party candidate on the debate stage. the commission on presidential debates announced friday that both dr. jill stein of the green party and libertarian gary johnson failed to qualify by polling at 15% or higher. johnson is currently polling at 8%. dr. stein is reportedly averaging about 3%. a recent poll by morning consult found more than half of registered voters believe johnson should partake in the debate scheduled for september 26 and nearly half believe stein should as well. this comes as polls show trump and clinton are among the least popular major party candidates to ever run for the white house. mcclatchy recently polled voters under the age of 30 and found 41% backed clinton, 23% supported johnson, 16% backed stein, and only 9% back trump. in 2012, stein and her running mate, cheri honkala, were arrested as they attempted to enter the presidential debate site at hofstra university -- the same location where monday's debate will take place. democracy now! was there at the time of their arrest when the third party candidates were blocked by a solid walall of police before sitting down on the ground. they were then arrested. >> we're here to stand our ground, dust and grandpa the american people who have been systematically locked out of these debates for decades by the commission on presidential debates. we think the commission is entirely illegitimate. that if democracy truly prevailed, the ruby no such commission, that the debates would still be run by the league of women voters, that the debates would be open -- >> ladies and gentlemen, you are constructing traffic. if you refuse to move, he will be subject to arrest. thank you, ladies. amy: that's the green party's candidate in 2012, joel stein, seeking entrance to the presidential debate at hofstra university. this year she has continued to demand four-way presidential debates, and said in a statement that she plans to show up with hundreds of supporters outside the first debate. the debates are organized by the commission on presidential debates which is controlled by , the democratic and republican parties. it said it will review the criteria for the second and third debates in the future. in a minute, we will be joined by a former third party candidate, ralph nader. but first, this is george farah, the founder and executive director of open debates, speaking on democracy now!, about how the democrats and republicans took control of the debate process. >> the league of women voters ran the presidential debate process from 1976 until 1984, and they were a very courageous and genuinely independent nonpartisan sponsor. whenever the candidates attempted to manipulate the presidential debates behind closed doors, either to exclude a viable independent candidadate oror to sanitize the format some tothe league at the courage challenge the republican and democratic nominees, and if necessary, go public. in 1980, john b anderson was polling about 12% of the polls. the league insisted that he be allowed to dissipate because the vast majority of the american people wanted to see him, but president jimmy carter refused to debate him. the league went forward anyway and healthy debebate w with an y chair sean jimmy carter wasn't going to show up. years later when they try to get rid of difficult questions by vetoing 80 of the moderators that they have proposed to host the debate, the league said this is unacceptable and held a press conference and attack the campaign for trying to get rid ofof difficucult questions. lastly, and 1988 was the first attempt by the republican and democratic campaign to negotiate a detailed contract. it was tame by comparison. a mere 12 pages. they talked about who could be in the audience and how it would be structured, but the l leak founund that kind of lack of transparency was fun a mentally outrageous -- funnily outrageous. they r reased the e contract and stated they refuse to bebe an accessory to the hoodwinking of the american people. today, we have a private corporation that was created by the republican and democratic parties called the commission on presidential debates. it seized control of the debates precisely because the league was independent, precisely because this woman's organization had the guts to stand up to a candidate for the major car in the -- party candidates had nominated. amy: that's george farah, the founder and executive director of open debates. for more on who is excluded from the first presidential debate we are joined by someone who has been through this before -- four-time presidential candidate, ralph nader, the longtime consumer advocate and corporate critic. he has a new book coming out, "breaking through power: it's easier than we think." he is speaking today here in new york. ralph, talk about this decision that just came down. no third party candidates in the first debate. you know this well. whoororporations are deciding debates, when they debate, who asks the questions. in the primaries, you had major corporations decide who gets on, who doesn't. they excluded the former head of the irs, former deputy ofof immigration service. the only man who had any experience in the federal government b because he did not have a super pac sponsoring him. you can see what they did with dennis kucinich in 2012. now we havave the super bowl of debates, a and we have another corporation -- which is funded by other corporations like anheuser-busch am a ford motor company, at&t -- they have these hospitality suites of the debate location. and this is controlled by the two-party tyranny that doesn't want any competition, doesn't want voices that represent majoritarian directions in this country likike living wage, full medicare for all, crackdown on corporate crime, pulling back on empire, civil liberties advance inststead of the patriot act -- all of these are represented by our third parties, which cannot reach tens of millions of people. you see, it is basically a terminal exclusion. you can go and speak to the iggest crowds of all -- filled madison square garden, the boston garden, the target center, reached less than 2% of the people i could have reached had i been on one debate. the polls again and again show the majority of the people want more people on that stage. they don't just want the republican and democratic party going through basically parallel news conferences. they are not really debates. amy: let's take something like gonethis community has through this weekend. i mean, we're sitting in chelsea between where on 27th street a pressure cooker with wires linked to a flip phone was found, and 23rd street where some kind of device went off injuring 29 people. they are all out of the hospital now. it was put in or near a dumpster that was a part of construction in front of the home of the blind on 23rd street between 6th and 7th. some have said donald trump is one terrorist attack from the presidency. we are now looking at -- we don't know any details yet about whether the explosion on 23rd street, the pressure cooker on 27th street, the backpack in elizabeth that was just blown up this morning in new jersey out side the train station, or five men who were detained earlier in a car as well as another new jersey attack this weekend -- we do not know anymore information than that, though i am sure the authorities do. how does a debate that includes for different candidates impact what we're dealing with this weekend? >> because candidates like jill stein and gary johnson of the green party libertarian party respectively will show that when wewe are in their bacackyard supporting their dictators overseas, military attacks everywhere -- it has been going on for 100 years -- eventually, they're going to want to come ininto our backyard. trump is not one to say that. clinton is not one to say that. at these two parties are going to say that. we don't have a debate on empire. we're breaching national sovereignties, violating our constitution, killing anyone the president wants to go. and d we see it in yemen and afghanistan, iraq, now syria and many other countries. it is not working. what started with a criminal gang in northeast afghanistan has now spread into 20 countries . they're more trained, more adept in social media, have more people, and they are headed this way. trump will only exacerbate that because he takes everything personally in terms of his ego. he has no impulse control. he will lash out with brute force, and it will only come back. we are far more vulnerable than other countries. we totally freak out with an explosion here were shooting their compared to what happens in baghdad or in afghanistan every day. so we are extremely vulnerable. the last thing we want is someone in the white house who believes in brute force. i'm sorry to say that hillary clinton has a tendency as well when she advances u.s. foreign policy. amy: would you say hillary clinton is more hawkish than donald trump? >> she is more systemically hawkish. she will try to persuade barack obama to topple the libyan regime, which resulted in african in total chaos and violence. what the problem is with trump, he is a predictably belligerent. yourings his personality -- cannot as president take every criticism, every a front from congress or some foreign leader personally, and translate that into military options. amy: what is the answer? you are a four-time presidential candidate. how do you think you deal with what is referred to as terror in the world? terror, certainly, the killing of innocent civilians. the question is, what we consider a terroristic act and what we don't consider a terroristic act. >> first of all, the the state terrorism is killing far more than stateless terrorism. what is important is the brute force does not work. you're going against people, many of them in their 20's that have nothing to lose. there's nothing more dangerous than an unemployed person who has no purpose left in life except to attack the invader. so it is a losing proposition. we have to wage keys. matthews a fraction of the money we use for armaments abroad, making things worse, dealing with health care and clean drinking water and a cultural collapse -- all of the things -- an education, all of the things that will build support for a peaceful resolution of disputes and support for the united states. as they say, distant rocket science. the proof in the pudding is that our government does not learn from its failures. there is no flunking grade for brute force and military foreign-policy. the essence of it has to go down to us. we, the people. i mean, if we got r reasonable arms control and reduction -- because a few thousand people in this country organize groups like sane in the past and lead to arms control agreement between washington and moscow. it never takes more than 1% of the people representing the public sentiment of the majority to change power. to break through power. we have historical records of that going back 200 years. why don't we learn from that? because of we sit down as spectators -- watching the debate -- what an absurdity. every city in this country is full of people wanting to debate. why not organize? the chamber of commerce, neighborhood groups in every city, seattle, los angeles, new york and say, the heck with this corporation that limits debates, we want the candidates to come to our city. there's nothing thahat can stop that. why are we rusushing debate? we don't ration cosmetics. we don't ration trivia. why are we rationing debates? because we are told "shut up and shop and once in a while look at politics because it is now entertainment." trump has turned it from a circus to burlesque. it is making money for these corporations -- cnn, f fox, and others. we're sitting around watching it when we have the sovereign power under the constitution? corporation is an even mentioned in the constitution. political parties are not mention. why are they controlling us? we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and grab the reins of our country for ourselves and our posterity. there's nothing stopping us from doing this, it is just sort of the, you know, resignation, whatever will be will be, let's go back to our private lives and not be public citizens. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. we're talking to ralph nader longtime consumer advocate, presidential candidate. his new book is headline or titled "breaking through power: , it's easier than we think." this is democracy now! back in a minute. ♪ [music break] amy: "the book of love." congratulations to michelle burke and mike burke. that was the music for the first and saturday night when they got married. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our guest for the hour is ralph nader, consumer advocate, four-time presidential candidate . in july, former democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders formally endorsed hillary clinton. he has consistently argued against voting for a third party candidate. in an interview with the "washington post" last week, sanders said -- "this is not the time for a protest vote, in terms of a presidential campaign. i ran as a third-party candidate. i'm the longest-serving independent in the history of the united states congress. i know more about third-party politics than anyone else in the congress." in an interview with msnbc's chris hayes, sanders explained his oppositionon to a prest vote. mr. sanders: youou disagree with hillary clinton on this or that, you may not rely -- like her on every aspect, but looook at the real issssues that impact your lives, your children's lives, the future of this country and you will end up concluding that right now is not the time to be supporting a protest vote. right now we have to make sure that trump does that become president. amy: that a senator sanders. ralph nader, your response? >> it is the time for senator sanders to mobilizize as he can all of his supporters around the country with mass rallies to put the heat on both candidates. is there anything wrong with that? he should have a mass rally in the mall and spread it all over the country. so you have civic pressure, citizen pressure coming on all ofof the candidates to further e just pathways in our society. why doesn't he? bernie sanders hasn't returned a call from me in 18 years. he is a lone ranger. he doesn't like to be pushed into more progressive action than he is willing to it here too. as a result, millions of his voters now are in disarray. they don't know where to go. they're cynical. some will vote democrat, some will support libertarian, green, some will stay home. so this huhuge wonderful effort that he launched is now aborted. it is dissipating. it is in a matter of either or, it is a matter of him cutting accolades to hillary, which he doesn't like to do, he doesn't like to be a robot were run around the country that way, and mobilize the citizenry which will transcend the election and start something effective after the election. -- i want to go through the records of donald trump and hillary clinton. how would you characterize donald trump and what he represents from foreign policy to domestic politics -- specifically, what he is saying that he would do as president of the united states? >> you don't know what is going to do and he doesn't know. he's basically wondering how you ever got to the top of the republican party and turn it into the trump.. he has no in full's control. just a factual content in his head. he doesn't know anything of other than being a gambling devastationbelieves to the workers and the creditors in the small business suppliers. donald trump has cheated everybody he is been able to cheat. he is treated workers, small businesses, taxpayers -- creditors. almost everything he attacks people for, he has done in spades. he refuses to release his tax returns because natalie shows he really pays any taxes and his support welfare king getting all kinds of freebies from the taxpayers, but he has entanglements with his partnerships all over the country and the world that may prove very embarrassing to him. so this is what the republican party hass reaped byby allowinge elect for a process to be commercialized and corporatized. if you say, what is he going to do? the one thing we know is if anybody dares offend his ego, their one to get a lash back. when you have your hands on the nuclear button and you have the kind of power you have in the white house, that is a very dangerous option. amy: talk about some of his to messick policies. for example, "new york times" investigation has found donald trump has received at least $885 million in new york city tax breaks for his real estate projects since 1980. hetimes also reports successfully sued three mayoral administrations when the city sought to deny him tax breaks for a pair of trump skyscrapers. you must have read that front page story. for his supporters they may say, the man uses a l loopholes, whih means he knows the loopholes, and then he will close the loopholes. is that true? >> millions of his supporters would be very, very critical of a neighbor that worked the welfare system unfairly. and he is a corporate welfare king, freeloader, a freeloader on the backs of taxpayers who have to make up the difference for the taxes he doesn't pay or get less public services. trump supporters were believed to take any criticism of trump personally to them, i say, reduce trump to a neighbor and see if you would really want to live next to that man who is a boastful, pontificating, empty suit and who lives as a matter of conviction rather than just principle. amy: last week the trump , campaign proposed cutting back on food safety regulations, arguing they are burdensome to farmers and "overkill." but the campaign later deleted the proposal from its website and offered no explanation. in the fact sheet, the campaign said -- "the fda food police, which dictate how the federal government expects farmers to produce fruits and vegetables and even dictates the nutritional content of dog food." the statement went on to say -- "the rules govern the soil farmers use, farm and food production hygiene, food packaging, food temperatures and even what animals may roam which fields and when. it also greatly increased inspections of food 'facilities,' and levies new taxes to pay for this inspection overkill." that was the fact sheet that is no longer on the web seat -- website. >> maybe so and who runs trump haves as you must food security or people will get sick and your hotels. the trump campaign tells a lot about the failure of our educational system were millions of people come out of schools and either unwilling or unable to separate truth from fiction and lies from propaganda. it also, the trump campaign tells us, there's no level off degradatatn that thehe mass meda will not descend to in order to make a profit with high ratings covering his bombastic wild statements against people. it is interesting. he keeps saying "crooked hillary." where are the democrats to give him his name? "cheating donald." he has cheated everything he has touched over the years. amy: be specific. >> he is gone bankrupt iniberately for five times his atlantic and other casinos. he gets rid of his debt. so he is cheating is creditors, cheating is workersrs who are lt on the street. university, he has cheated his students. that is now in litigation. he has cheated the taxpayers because anybody who is a corporate welfare king is a freeloader on the backs of middle-class taxpayers who have to pay their taxes. he is boastfully cheated on matrimony. imagine a guy boasting about cheating in the past on his own matrimony? he has evangelicals supporting him? he is doing us a favor by showing us the degree of disintegration in our society civic lease and otherwise. that is why we're holding this four days, case and in washington, two at constitution hall called d "breaking througuh power" in washington, d.c., september 26-29. it is basically a remobilization of the civic society with the major civic leaders of our times, some of them starting back in the e late 1960's and 1970's that helped transform our country in terms of nutrition and food such as dr. michael jacobson, or transforming our energy options into sustainable energy efficiency like david freeman who ran for public utilities like the tva, real expert. this is a mobilization that we want people to come to. you can go to breath callthroughpower.org g or ticketmaster. only $10 a day and you can get scholarships. there is no barrier to entry. amy: let's talk about some of the issues like the transpacific partnership. i want to get your views on both donald trump and hillary clinton. before i do, who will you be voting for? >> i never say who i vote for. and sadly not going to vote for hillary or trump. -- i'm certainly not going to vote for hillary or trump. i will never vote for someone who is going to engage in illegal armed force them unconstitutional killing innocent people, selling washington to wawall street, and driving our country into the ground while sugarcoating the american people on tv with rhetoric. and because of the idea that some people have that are pushed about swing state strategy, you don't agree with? >> no, because it is easy -- you figure in a swing state and using the least worst candidate is hillary. what you do is you go with a trump voter who thinks the trump voter is a least and you trade off. you say, look, you won't vote for trump and i will vote for hillary, let's make a deal and then we will vote for whoever we want to in terms of our conscience -- third party or whatever. systemse computerized for this underway. you can actually join a network. about sanders never talks if we had proportional representation, instant runoff voting, all l of the spoiler stf would not be around. the idea of calling a third-party spoiler, using the first amendment right to run for office as a politically bigoted word, and should never be tolerated by the american people because everyone has any more right to run for office. everyone is going to get votes for one another. onehe either spoiler another or neither are spoilers. amy: people refer to your presidential candidacy in the midst of the outdoor/george w. bush race back in 2000. talk about you as a spoiler. you always said this is absolutely wrong. why? >> it is wrong from the first amendment popot of view.w. first of all, you should never tell anybody to shut up stop when you run for office, it is free speech, petition, and assembly. is a scapegoating. the democrats could never get over it. they could not be this bumbling governor from texas who could not put a paragraph together. has a horrrrible record. children and women and pollution, etc., policy, right? amy: you're talking about george bush. >> george w. bush. 300,000 registered democrats in 2000 and floated voted for bush, blame the greens. thousands of people were misidentified as excellence by bush, blame the greens. the butterfly ballot which got people to vote for exactly the opposite candidate in south florida, blame the greens. scully is political 54 decision which block the florida supreme court's full recount in florida, blame the greens. the electoral college took the victory in the popular vote from gore, blame the greens. gore loses his tennessee state where he represented congress for years, blame the greens. itit is total scapegoating. it is disgusting that extremely smart people who happen to be democratic party apparatus like our gene who is now in a corporate from the lobbies for the health care and drug industry, by the way, never identified as such by "the new york times" and others who quoted him, he is now reviving this 2000 nonsense. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. ralph nader longtime consumer , advocate, corporate critic and ever president four times. he is a new book out called "breaking through power: it's , easier than we t think." yes a four-day confererence next week. stay with us. amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. our guest for the hour is ralph nader, four-time former presidential candidate, consumer advocate. i want to talk about transpacific partnership, or tpp. nafta undergainst president clinton, now the tpp. hillary clinton initially supported the deal but then spoke out against it when she was running in the democratic primary against bernie sanders. meanwhile, donald trump has lambasted trade deals. at the g20 summit earlier this month, president obama tried to assure asian nations that the u.s. would ratify the tppp despite mounting opposition. pres. obama: on the merits, it is s smart for amemerica to do . and i have yet to o hear a persrssive argumenent from the left othe right as to why we would not want to create a trade raises labort standards, raises envirironmentl standardrds, protects intellectl the playingvel field for u.s. businesses, brings down terrorists. it is indisputable it would create a betterr deal for us thn the status quo. amy: that was ralph nader -- that was president obama. ralph nader, talk about donald trump and hillary clinton's stances on the tpp a what they mean. >> trump says he is against it, but you can't believe anything he says. he will back down. amy: do you think he has a chance? >> i don't think so, but it all depends on whether bernie sanders and hillary clinton start advancing authentic majoritarian issues before people and workers in this country. hillary clinton is gogoing quiet now after she vanquished bernie sanders at the convention. she is not speaking that much against the transpacific partnership, which empties jobs from this country. why? because barack obama is going to make a major move in december and a lame-duck session, she doesn't want to embarrass him. so she is going quiet. you knknow, the usual reversal from rhetoric the clintons have been known for. but why is there a position on the ground against tpp? because building civic skills. next monday, tuesday, with sikkim and thursday in washington, if you'll let me, illustrate the first day -- these are from major civic leaders and doers. building civic skills and breaking through apathy. wouldn't people want to be in the auditorium for that? controlling what we own, shifting the power. people don't realize that we own the greatest wealth in the country, the public lands, onshore, offshore, the public airways, trains of dollars of government research and development, not to mention all caps of intellectual property -- but we don't control it. we will have a whole day by the experts on how you shift power so we control what we own. we have her own audience networks. we controlled the public lands. we deal with things are assets are involved in. the third ills with citizen models best deals with citizen models. in the fourth, the law of torts, the law wrongful injury. in the law contracts which we have given up with the fine print contracts. i don't know anyone who is sign on the dotted line and given away their rights to these -- so do contact breakingthroughpo wer.org or ticketmaster. amy: i want to talk about the theme of the conference and also the fact that it is the 50th anniversary of your book "unsafe at any speed," which prompted congress to enact the most sweeping auto safety law in u.s. history. the 50th anniversary of the signing of the national traffic and motor vehicle safety act and the highway safety act. president lyndon johnson signed the landmark legislation on september 9, 1966, greatly reducing the annual number of traffic fatalities. it set mandatory federal safety standards for vehicles and drivers, and established the national highway traffic safety administration. our guest today, ralph nader went on to win a major , settlement against gm for spying on him and trying to discredit him and used the lawsuit's proceeds to start the center for the study of responsive law. this is ralph pointing out the safetyty flaws of general l mo'' evrorolecorvaiai >> what aggravas s is that t the rear wheels begin to tuck under. -- theydo, the angle can go from three or four degrees to 11 degrees almost in an instant. when that happens, nobody cacan control -- > t they found out t there ws someththing wrong anand fixed i. >> the queuestion is, why did it take them for years this is my point. it is either sure callousness or indifference or they don't bother to find out how their cars behave. a makeup >amy: ralph, what has happened n these 50 years? >> less than 1% around the people in very's congressional publicts supported by opinion, whether it is food safety, cleaner air, cleaner water, improved information flows, freedom of information law. people have to realize, that is why it is called "breaking through power: it is easier than we think care go a few people started the ball rolling. against totoxic contamination of people's homes and neighborhoods, she had no power at all but she built how are. amy: compare the number of people who die in terrorist attacks to the number of people who die -- - well, in very different situations, but you have been taking on for years. >> a study by johns hopkins university medical school last march. break it down. in the period when these bombs are being discovered in trash cans in new york, 25 people have died in the new york area from mishaps in hospitals. infection, baded drugs. 700 a day. this is the silent violence from corporate negligence that include air pollution, includes a lot of other hazards from negligent or criminal corporations. but silent violence doesn't get on tv. it is overt violence against on tv, which is more like street crime or violent attacks. greatest number of americans who are dying from preventable causes are from corporate misbehavior -- whether it is air pollution, water pollution, contaminated water, hospital hazards, you name it. it is all document by groups like harvard medical school, harvard school of public health, johns hopkins. it very little, if any, is done about it because it emanates from profit-making corporations that put money into political campaigns. but it doesn't stop the book from organizing in each congressional district. you can transform this country with congress watchdog groupss n each congressional district representing majority opinions. a lot of left/right support for change in this country. amy: a lotta progressives who don't want to go the major party route, who are deciding perhaps between jill stein and gary johnson, libertarian party known pro-choice, oh, what are the other anti-interventioionist. but when he talked about issues of regulations that are so close to your heart, were you talk about saving so many lives, where does the libertarian party come down? >> terrible. there against health and safety revelation, against medicare, full medicare for all. that is their very serious weak point. they can't back it up with many facts, unfortunately. but as you cite, there against empire, they are f for civil liliberties and therefore civil rights. during complete -- amy: what would know corporate regulation look like? >> you would repeal -- they would actually get rid of the federal regulatory agency. some of them want to get rid of the irs -- i don't know how they're going to collect taxes. they are really a strange from reality in that way. what they are.or they're good on civil liberties and good against empire. and they don't like the bloated military budget. but they are very incomplete. they haven't figured out, how do you build all of these public works these everyy day comome al of these public services? amy: this is the 50th anniversary of unsafe at any speed. of you watching the many different groups to push the country -- the government to make people safer. what do you think has been accomplished? what are you proudest of? >> the air and water is cleaner. that is one. much safer in cars. 1/5 the risk of getting killed in a car given 100 vehicle miles. -- one hundred million vehicle miles. we have the best freedom of information act in the world. we have to use it more. we of civil rights laws we don't use enough of. we of the law of wrongful injury that is very underutilized. most people wrongfully injured are not finding their way to a lawyer against the perpetrator so they can get, cited editoror other unsafe characteristics. but in the foreign and military area, it has been very, very regressive. it has been worse. more risky, more e empire, more illegal actions -- amy: what do you think will change that? >> congress. .ommerce watchdog groups and it is doing me a favor, folks, by showing up at constitution hall and calling ticketmaster for the next four be there. amy: ralph nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic, four-time presidential candidate. his new book, "breaking through power." he will be speaking and doing a book signing tonight at the barnes & nobles at union square at 7:00 p.m. then from september 26 to 29, nader will be hosting a conference called "breaking through power care go -- through power" conference. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. 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