On Monday, perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader called on 20 of his fellow civic-minded billionaire friends to run for president in 2016, because ain’t nobody got the money to run for president outside the two-party system no more.

In an open letter on his website, Nader argued that the only people capable of running for president these days are “modestly enlightened rich people” — or, as he actually calls them, “MERPs” — who “can persuade the mass media and other definers of the public’s attention that they have the resources to overcome, at least initially, many of these obstacles.” Among his fever dream subjects choices: Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Sheryl Sandberg (because Mark Zuckerberg isn’t 35 yet).

Yes, the idea sounds insane, and yes, Nader realizes that he won’t get Oprah to run for President on the platform of giving every American a CAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR. Nevertheless, he hopes that some of his fellow enlightened billionaires could see the merits in mounting a Ross Perot-esque run — even if only to intimidate the GOP or the Democrats into incorporating their policy planks into their platform:

Some of them will probably describe any candidacy by them as absurd, impossible, ridiculous and completely outside their most fanciful imaginations. But it is also possible that a few will recognize the strategy behind their selection, and consider playing a part in opening up a closed, stagnant, deadening system that is grinding our country and its future into the ground and depriving our future generations of a robust, open and functioning democracy. As former President Jimmy Carter recently remarked: “America does not have a functioning democracy at this point in time.”

Considering that the current 2016 presidential forecast calls for a Stage 5 Hillary hurricane — destructive, inevitable, unopposed — maybe a billionaire should run! Let’s face it, a campaign where Hillary steamrolls everyone in her path would be great for women, but so boring.

[Nader.com via The Hill]

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