A day after speaking in Orem as the alternative to Vice President Dick Cheney, consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader railed against America's "corporate democracy" and urged University of Utah students to wrest control of the political landscape away from big money and business interests.

Nader's hourlong speech to an overflowing caucus room at the Hinckley Institute of Politics focused on the expansion and dominance of corporations in the United States.

"We've allowed this to happen without a rigorous, scholarly examination," he said. "It is now a distinct threat to our struggling democracy."

Despite the sometimes explosive rhetoric, Nader's speech was less political rally than academic lecture, including a summary of corporate evolution from their genesis in 19th century Massachusetts to their modern-day, multinational presences. He also sprinkled in multiple jokes, ranging from old law school humor to satirical takes on his candidacies, especially when he ran as the Green Party nominee for president.

As for the future, he said that today's world offers so many options for entertainment that much of the middle class has become too "contented" and have convinced themselves that life is great. But doing that has required them to ignore things like Third World poverty, children living without health insurance and global warming.

He also said that computers, despite their initial promise, have become a way to distract the public and numb them into inaction.

"If Marx were alive today, he would say the Internet is the opiate of the masses," Nader said. "It could have some very powerful uses, but it hasn't been used for them. Instead, it's been commercialized, trivialized and marginalized."

He only briefly touched on politics, saying that President Bush was playing with a "hornet's nest" in the Middle East and that the worst thing for the country was to have a "hot-headed outlaw in the White House."

As for the 2000 election and his role in Bush's victory, he said that there were so many factors — from disenfranchised voters to the Supreme Court ruling that ultimately installed Bush as the president — that he does not feel any regrets for his campaign. Additionally, polls have since shown that even without him, the electoral college vote would have been the same.

More importantly, it should not be a problem for the country's voters that they have more choices.

"We have a two-party elected dictatorship, but if you fight it, you get in trouble," he said. "We all have the right to run for president. If you want to blame somebody, blame Bush because he took more votes away from (Democratic nominee Al) Gore than I did."

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