Poor Ralph Nader.

For years it seemed he was the lone voice of consumer rights in the nation. If someone had a complaint about a shoddy product or unscrupulous corporation, he would be there hammering away at the offender in print and TV.

These days Nader’s stock has dropped considerably.

In the digital age, there are all kinds of ways for folks to instantly lodge a complaint that can be viewed by millions (though more likely thousands). Web sites such as consumerist.com, consumerworld.org and pissedconsumer.com offer a forum for Joe Public to do battle against the mega-companies who are well-versed in tactics aimed at silencing criticism.

But like most aspects of freedom, they come at a price.

Case in point: Randy Taylor.

The avowed Southerner decided to voice a complaint on the Jimmy Dean corporate line after the company reduced the size of its sausage from 16 ounces to 12 ounces while still charging the same price. The now-popular recording of this 2-minute tirade is amusing not only due to Taylor’s choice wordings, but because of what it reveals about the man himself. This is a guy who is really passionate about his sausage.

(Audio of the complete call can be found here.)

“You’ve got three men that weigh over 200 pounds apiece, a woman that’s a little plump Scotch girl, and a daughter who’s 13, and you gonna try to take a 12-ounce roll of sausage and a couple dozen eggs and feed that – it ain’t gonna work,” Taylor says.

While Taylor admits he has “loved” the sausage for 30 years, he is not crazy about all the company’s products.

He says, “As far as your 16-ounce maple and sage (flavor), I don’t eat that. I’m not from the North. I’m a Texas man. Jimmy Dean sausage is for Southern people to eat with their breakfasts, with their fried eggs and T-bone steaks.”

Adding to the whimsy is the fact Taylor apparently concludes the call, but continues talking to his wife unaware that he hasn’t hung up the phone. Here the profanity starts to cascade as he speculates the sausage downsizing was because “some little consumer ‘geek-a-roid’ there thought this (crap) up.”

Also making the Internet rounds is a loving homage to this call (found here) titled “Jimmy Dean Sausage Complaint with Storyboard.” In this video, literal and sardonic images accompany the dialogue. For instance, the “three men that weigh over 200 pounds apiece” line is highlighted by an album cover photo of the rap trio Fat Boys.

Hard to tell what the hungry and angry Taylor would make of all this fuss. Assuming one could locate the man – there are more than 70 Randy Taylors listed in the state of Texas – there’s no guarantee he hasn’t expired from clogged arteries by this point.

The funny thing is, Taylor was in all likelihood completely justified when confronting the company about product whittling.

Ralph Nader would probably applaud.