An Open Letter to Ralph Nader: Please, Please, Please!

Resilience in No-Man’s Land: Float Like a Butterfly

Been thinkin’ about you, Ralph. You gotta’ run, you really do. For the frogs, yes, and for the kids.

Let me tell you about some kids. I’ve only met them once, only talked to one of them. But I know they’re resilient because I’ve seen what they’ve built. Though they’re probably not old enough to vote for anyone, and they know the world’s stacked against them, I figure they’d vote for someone like you because they know you’ve done something to change the country, to make it safer—though they can be a bit reckless, these kids.

So, anyhow, they like to skateboard (they spell it sk8, fewer characters, you know?) and to ride BMX bikes. But there’s no place for them to do it. The city’s too busy handing out construction contracts to friends and friends of friends so they can build high-rise apartment complexes for wannabe bankers and gofers to bankers, because, YOU know Ralph, that those bankers are swimming in so much cash that even the gofers and wannabes can afford to live in luxury.

But these kids can’t get one freakin’ recreation facility. So you know what they did, Ralph, they built it themselves. Here it is:

Notice the URL painted into the concrete for all to see; for you to see, Ralph. Check it out.

Anyhow, they hauled concrete and metal bar back there and built some obstacles. And I’ll bet they can do amazing things with this hump, Ralph:

That’s what you gotta’ do, Ralph, you gotta’ hump your behind on the electoral trail and run for Congress. Show the flag, be a pain in the assets. You know, as a great man once said, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. You gotta’ float over their heads and sting ‘em where it hurts.

If the kids can do this all on their own, without two dimes to rub together, think what you can do with your rich friends. It boggles the mind. Boggles.

See, here’s their clubhouse:

Built it from an old shipping container. Repurposed it, as they say. Well, Ralph, you have to get in Congress and start repurposing it. Get it to govern for We the People, not for Them the Bankers.

Who’s Hoder? you’re asking. Mike Hoder, professional BMXer. He came to this park, Ralph, and rode with the kids. Signed his name on the clubhouse for them too.

You could do that, Ralph. If you come here, I’ll give you an aerosol can myself. Nice silver. You can sign the clubhouse wall, too: Ralph Nader, Congressman! I like that, it becomes you.

The door’s wide open.

Where is this place, you ask? It’s between a high place and wet one. It’s in no man’s land. It’s on the margin. That’s where the action is, the creativity, the fire. That's where change starts, on the margin.

Resilience: on the margin.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.