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The populist uprising; Sirota radio interview
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Traven
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Jun 06, 2008 13:55 PDT
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The populist uprisingBy David Sirota
06/05/2008
Hear David's interview on Equal Time
Radio
American history is the history of populist
uprisings. From the Revolutionary War to the coalfield wars, from labor
organizers to anti-tax crusaders, from the New Deal to the current
conservative era, backlashes to the status quo have defined every major
political era.
These uprisings have given us candidates from Goldwater to Dean, and
presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan and the populist uprising that
delivered Barack Obama the Democratic presidential nomination means
history could be forged once again.
What are populist uprisings? Loosely defined, they are a welling up of
anger toward the established order revolts that are often the precursor
to a full-fledged social movement. The uprising against inequality during
the Great Depression fueled the labor movement and the New Deal, which
raised wages and created the middle class. The uprising against Jim Crow
laws in the 1960s became the civil rights movement, which made America
more equal. The uprising against liberalism during the late 1970s became
the conservative movement of the 1980s, which deregulated the economy and
fed the military-industrial complex.
It is that rebellion three decades ago that tells us we are indeed
experiencing another uprising. America again faces the telltale signs of
all insurrections: an economic emergency, a financial meltdown, an energy
crisis and a national security quagmire.
Analysts say this is bad news for the right because George W. Bush sits
atop today's mess, and conservatives have responded by running away from
the president and by attempting to channel the outrage into their old
anti-tax, anti-immigrant, anti-government agenda. But that misunderstands
what has changed.
According to Gallup's survey data, the public has not only lost
confidence in the political system, but also in corporations. In 1979,
one in three Americans told Gallup's pollsters they had confidence in big
business. By 2007, a little less than one in five expressed the same
confidence. In 1979, almost two out of three citizens said they had faith
in banks. Today, only two out of five do.
This is the real problem for a conservative movement that has become a
wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America. Unlike 1980, when Ronald
Reagan rode the conservative uprising to a landslide victory, the country
is not looking for a movement that gets the government to back off big
business, nor are we looking for politicians who pretend the Enrons and
Bear Stearnses are victims.
This uprising is searching for a movement that gets big business back
under control and leaders who are serious about aiming "law and
order" rhetoric not at dark-skinned people, but at the royalists
whose greed is driving the economy into the ground.
Some already recognize this new political topography. For instance, New
York's Working Families Party has become a powerful grassroots force for
economic justice in Wall Street's backyard. Unions have boosted their
membership by the largest margin in a quarter-century. Shareholder
activists are finding more support for initiatives that challenge
corporate misbehavior. Even some Republicans like Mike Huckabee have
bashed CEOs and berated lobbyist-written trade policies.
Whether this ferment becomes a transpartisan social movement will depend
on a number of questions. Will the Democratic Party stop demoralizing its
grassroots base and break free of its moneyed faction that gave us
travesties like NAFTA? Will mavericks like Huckabee reshape the GOP? And
most importantly, is the presidential election hype going to trick
Americans into believing candidates are social movements, rather than one
of many vehicles for them? The answers will determine whether this is a
fleeting uprising of ineffective protest or a movement about wielding
power yet another forgotten moment or, finally, a historic one.
Denver political analyst David Sirota
(
www.credoaction.com/sirota) is author of "The Uprising," to
be published in June. He is a fellow at the Campaign for America's Future
and a board member of the Progressive States Network.
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Equal Time Radio
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Traven Leyshon
55 E. Bear Swamp Rd.
Middlesex, VT 05602
tel: 802- 223-4172; 802-522-3484 (cell)
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