Of course, Mr. Nader has not lost his distrust of corporations in general. He believes that their very “DNA commands them to control, undermine or eliminate any force, tradition, or institution that impedes their expansion of sales, profits, and executive compensation.” He doesn’t suggest a wholesale dismantling of the corporation as a legal entity, but he proposes several measures to limit corporate power. Many of these, alas, would empower the government overbroadly and do little to help the individual.

Mr. Nader is furious, for example, at the Citizens United decision of 2010 that allows corporations to freely spend money on political advocacy. He cites the conservative author Russell Kirk calling for “prudent restraints upon power” as a statement of principle that would justify reversing Citizens United, without realizing that Kirk would never have endorsed the kind of restraints on speech that such a reversal would dictate.

Then there is Mr. Nader’s view of corporate shareholders, whom he views as helpless pawns. It is their helplessness, he says, that exposes “the farce of ‘people’s capitalism.’ ” In lavish executive-pay packages endorsed by compliant “buddy boards,” and in other arrangements, he sees “the dire consequences of the separation of formal ownership from executive control.”