Consumer advocate and part-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader says it’s time to shake things up in politcs again. This week, he pushed the idea of a MERP running for president. That is, Moderately Enlightened Rich Person. Nader figures they can use their own money to get noticed, and cause some ripples in a 2-party system that’s looking less and less differentiated.
Nader even put out a list of 20 people he thinks would be able to pull off a run. The most recognizable are Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Ted Turner. And while they’re all able, none are likely to be very willing, with the possible exception of Turner, who has floated the idea in the past. But he’d be 77 by the time he took office in 2017.
But that still leaves 17 other people on Nader’s list. And it doesn’t even scratch the surface of rich people who are available. Our Man on the Edge, Robert Wilder, will not serve if elected… but who should?
