After US President Joe Biden’s stumbling and unconvincing performance during the debate with former President Donald Trump last Thursday, it is no exaggeration to say that the future of our planet may depend on a decision he has to make.
Does he want to go down in history as the man responsible for the disastrous consequences of a second Trump presidency? Will he join the ranks of others whose lifelong efforts to do good were undone by their refusal to put the common good first?
To progressives like me, Ralph Nader was once a hero. His first book, Unsafe at Any Speed, was a devastating exposé of how the American auto industry put profits ahead of safety. Nearly 50,000 people died on U.S. roads in 1965, the year it was published. The book sparked a pivotal public debate that led to legislation to improve traffic safety. By 2011, the death toll on U.S. roads had dropped to 35,000 and, per capita, was less than half what it had been 45 years earlier.
