Populism: The Key to Victory

What we're faced with in the Neocons is a group of people who embrace an ideology that believes that the "free market" can decide economic issues, that anyone who cannot thrive in the "free market" deserves what they get, and that conservative religious "values" should be the driving force behind any political change.

They call themselves conservative, but they did not act to conserve ANYTHING, but, instead, acted to return the United States to a economic state that existed before FDR's New Deal that gave Americans opportunities their grandparents and great grandparents never had. They acted to steal away the hope of those they were elected and appointed to serve to the advantage of a select few.

We all know what the neo-cons represent. They represent the darkest side of American politics. The "I've got mine and fuck everyone else" philosophy. They represent the "we know best and the rest of you are just rabble to scrape off our shoes" ideology.

They believe that the wealthy and powerful should have more access to government, that the guy flipping burgers at the local fast food joint, or the girl cutting hair in the beauty salon, don't have anything to offer in terms of political insight. The construction worker and the secretary are simply votes to harvest, not active minds to call upon for ideas.

And it's not just the neocons that feel this way. We hear echoes of that when the DLC speaks ill of the bloggers, when the corporate media sneers down at those of us on the digital fringes because we have the nerve to raise our voices to assail our "betters."

We are the great unwashed, the unelect, the uninformed. Our views are, at best, suspect. At worse, they're the product of some "class warfare" brainwashing.

But, in fact, we are the "boots on the ground" when it comes to democracy in action. We are those who live and work everyday with the people who make up the largest percentage of Americans--the people who aren't investors, who move the economy by donating their labor, not pure capital. We are the base of the pyramid on which everything else is built.

We're tired of being ignored. We're tired of being used, being lied to, being taken for granted. We're tired of being downsized, watching our jobs being sent overseas to the advantage of the corporations, we're tired of falling ill and having to mortgage our souls to get medical care. We're tired of being played for fools.

We're speaking out, and we're getting louder all the time.

And we're never going away.

There is only one candidate who's speaking to us, who is telling us that we matter, and speaking in such a way that those who have been misled into voting Republican for the past several years can hear and understand. He stands there and says "I have been where you are, and I know you feel as though none of us hear your voice."

They attack his career, which was predicated on facing the giants on behalf of the little people, acting as though the rest of us should feel any sort of protective instinct toward the goliaths that use us and give us as little as possible in return.

They attack his hair, and his home, and make him out to be some kind of fringe lunatic, but his voice speaks to people who don't feel they've been heard by everyone else who's gone up to Washington. Yeah, he's a rich guy. But he comes across as though he is listening to the concerns of those who aren't in his social class. And that's something that a lot of politicians simply cannot and do not do.

Talking to everyday people about their financial concerns, in a way that every single one of them can grasp, is the ONLY thing that can effectively counter the religious wedge issues the Repugs draw out during every election cycle. People NEED hope, need to believe that they're sending someone up to Washington that understands their issues, and will work to resolve them.

When Edwards pulls into a small town and speaks to the crowd, people walk away with the impression that "that guy knows what it's like to be me. To be here."

Despite everything the corporate media is doing to dilute his message, he's getting it out there to the people who most need to hear it. And, with any luck, that will help turn the tide when the general election actually comes. Even if HE is not the candidate.

But the others need to reach out with this message as well. Obama already is, and he's doing a good job of it.

It's not liberalism, as such, the people will embrace first. It's populism. The fact that many of the same ideals drive both ideologies will help in the long run. But first the people have to be told, and actually believe, that THEY matter.

That Everybody Matters.

Here are 5 things the corporatist slimeballs on the right want that most mom and pop conservatives DON'T want:

1) To keep less than minimum wage workers with no rights who can't go to law enforcement if abused (Illegal immigrants)
2) To be able to continue to outsource all of our manufacturing overseas, like to China
3) To disarm the general populous so they are more easily intimidated
4) To keep religion tied to a paradigm of mass consumption and greed, by making the Republican party the only party that supports religion.
5) To put weird moral issues that can never hurt their pocketbook like gay marriage as the subject of debates so substantial issues like healthcare and ending poverty, which can hurt their pocketbook, will never be discussed.

That means there is a huge amount of their base that can belong to us.

And this is probably the MOST vulnerable they've been to a concerted populist campaign since the Great Depression.

The welfare and prosperity of the people, however, is the foundation of any viable, long lived state. A strong and growing middle class is the most stable foundation of our country, of any country. The current "philosophy" embraced by the GOP undermines the possibility for that to be a viable goal. The ideology and resulting policies coming out of the GOP and the corporate think tanks like the Heritage Foundation undermine our democracy, our republic. I think they hate anything democratic, anything of an egalitarian nature.

Edited: I am having some grammar/punctuation issues. Apologies

Please forgive the religious imagery. I just like saying "amen brother". :beer:

I think that Populists are our answer to the Southern Strategy and our DLC/blue dog problem.

Those kinds I suspect we'd both be less comfortable with. For instance, Edwards opposition to gay marriage is clearly also a concession to populism.

... after all, George Wallace is one of the most successful populists of the modern age.

all we need is a candidate to believe in and articulate same . . .

Very nice :D