Get Huey on the phone

[Bgno64]

Smart Remarks:

After seeing it referenced on some blog somewhere, I recently picked up and am about halfway through “Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression,” and let me tell you, Huey Long is just an amazing character. An insistent proponent of wealth “redistribution,” he could have gone toe-to-toe with Glenn Beck and shouted him down.

Long, of course, is remembered now for his near-dictatorial control over Louisiana in the 1920s and early 1930s, prior to his assassination in 1935. And some of his methods, shall we say, make the machine politics in places like Chicago seem demure by comparison. But he was pure, unapologetic progressivism; he founded the “Share Our Wealth” societies, advocated a hard cap on individual fortunes and a guaranteed annual family income.

And people loved it; FDR, who was nowhere near as radical, considered him a threat. As he was.

The character of populism changed in the mid 20th century with the Joseph McCarthy era; populism became, and has remained, more right-wing in nature. But I reference Long in particular because I really, really think your modern-day Democratic Party could learn a lot from him - not in the way he used and abused power, but in his unapologetic advocacy of what he believed, his willingness to fight viciously for it, and in his insistence that his principles represented a better deal for the common man. ...

<snip>

Good God, the likes of Long would have made mincemeat of the Republican effort to extend tax cuts for the wealthy at a time of economic crisis. He would have leapt into the fray practically frothing at the mouth, eager to destroy the Republicans on the issue, as they can be destroyed on this issue.

Why is it the Republican Party seeks to pour even more money into the coffers of the nation’s rich at a time when the middle class and poor are suffering so? There is enough wealth in this great land to sustain all American families, but some families and the politicians who serve them insist it is in your best interests to allow great wealth to accumulate in the hands of the few! Give them millions more, for they don’t have enough; they shall never have enough, while the rest of the nation gets down upon its collective knees and begs for alms, for jobs, pleads with the plutocrats for sustenance, shedding its dignity in the process.

I mean, the arguments are simple - and, I’m convinced, would be every bit as effective today as they were then.

[formercia]

1. Wealth is Power

and more power to shape society the way they see fit is the goal. Not necessarily a bad thing if used with good intent, but some use it as a tool of Class Warfare.

[izquierdista]

2. He needs to be remembered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIMi7fBA6e4&feature=related
Come back 'n bring back some of that grub!

[Demoiselle]

3. I have always really really liked Huey Long.

And I've always thought that his political machine couldn't have been any worse than most political machines.
Let's hear it for an unapologetic progressive populist!

[OHdem10]

4. Have you ever noticed that those ocassional times we have

just a strong Democrat who is able to stick their
neck out and speak up---they get squelched real fast.
Especailly a Democrat who can draw crowds.

Here is an example: Howard Dean. The crowds
scared the Party: they were responding to the
"I am from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic
Party". He was the first to show what could be done
with On Line Contributions to Campaigns.

This has happened over and again.

Howard Dean was no Huey Long. Dean is not really a Liberal
but has character and understanding of what is a Democratic
position as opposed to a Republican Position. His popularity
and the crowds frighten the Centrist types.

Of course, on the Right Beck and Palin, who do remind us
of an uglier time, the Dems are silent.

When you hear populism disdained. This comes as the result
of Huey.

Another point. Conservatives were afraid the south would
go Socialist, Communist. Huey had made Government something
the people liked. They have been fighting ever sense
to turn people against government.

I know, sometimes I say--Where is Huey when I need him???

[Recursion]

5. Hm. I've always thought of him as a proto-fascist

Maybe I'm just a pessimist though