Article - Populism Rising

[iris5426]

Interesting...

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=populism_rising


Edited cause I can't spell :P

[raincity_calling]

1. If all Democrats started taking a populist

view I think it would be very powerful. I think they should begin talking about corporate welfare. I have independent, Republican (two) and Libertarian (one) friends who always complain about handouts to people who just need to get a job, and take personal responsibility, blah blah blah. The Dems need to begin pointing out how major corporations get far bigger handouts from the government than the people, including the people like Warren Buffet. Dems need to show how the bail out of Bear Stearns illustrates how this country privatizes profit and socializes risk - the corporations get to keep make huge profits from reckless, unethical business practices, and when those practices fail, the taxpayers are required to pay for their losses. The corporations need to take personal responsibility and pull themselves up by their bootstraps without bailouts from taxpayers.

[LiveLiberally]

2. Thanks for posting this....

Very interesting. Populism -- by definition :) -- amounts to little if it isn't popular and it definitely seems to be the ideology in vogue this election cycle (thanks to Edwards!) Let's just hope that whomever wins the nomination will actually practice what they are now preaching....

[waiting for hope]

3. This is telling:

The limits of Clinton's and Obama's progressive populism are apparent; Dennis Kucinich they aren't. Many wonder what portions of this agenda they would actually fight for if elected. Their top-end tax increases merely roll back the Bush cuts, falling short of the level of progressive taxes we'll need to rebuild the middle class. Their investment agenda is still timid in comparison to the need. Both enjoy substantial support from the financial industry and have not ventured close to the big Kahuna -- reregulating Wall Street, getting the destabilizing speculative global financial flows under control. Neither has suggested slapping a 30 percent tariff on China to force a negotiation about currency and trade policies.

I smell "Buyer Beware" all over.

[iris5426]

4. Yup.

I've been smelling "buyer beware" from the start though...

[Two Americas]

5. "populism" and "progressive"

The problem with populism is that it is not very well defined politically. Fascism in Europe was a populist movement, for example, so have been many nationalist movements.

"Progressive" is just as bad - even more vague than "populist." What does it mean? For many liberals it means "better and more intelligent and effective management of the same corrupt system."

It is amazing the convolutions people will go through to avoid being seen as leftists or promoting the political left. All of this is a way to avoid facing the truth - to make things seem more "positive" and friendly so we can feel better. Modern liberalism is all about each little "progressed" and "enlightened" individual feeling better, after all.

This obsession over labels is a reflection of our thoroughly commercialized culture. Everything has to have a brand name.

[asdjrocky]

6. But you are good at math.