The Populist Moment

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The Populist Moment

Tuesday, 04 February 2014 11:24
By Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed


Of all the myths that circulate in Washington, perhaps none is more prevalent or intractable than the one that says that the United States is a "moderate" nation – and that the "center" of public opinion lies somewhere between the views of conservative Democrats and those of less extreme Republicans (a relative term at best). The polling data shows conclusively that this is wrong, but the mythology refuses to die.

According to the myth, the rise of populism is to be condemned as "polarization," a situation that the capital's insider subculture routinely laments – even when it involves something that in other historical moments would be described as "a debate."

In this worldview, "populists" are as extreme as Tea Party radicals and are to be treated with equal disdain. At best they're useful naïfs who can be trotted out to stir up the base at election time, then to be conveniently sidelined again for the next four years. And that worst they're childlike ideologues, to be condescended to and dismissed.

In this worldview, anyone who labels himself a "liberal" or "progressive" is pushing a hopelessly sentimental ideology that has been thoroughly rejected by an increasingly conservative public. If only these "extremists" on both sides would get out of the way, so the legend goes, then conservatively inclined Democrats could get together with their more pragmatic Republican colleagues to carry out the kinds of policies the American people want: deficit reduction, cuts to Social Security and Medicare, privatization, and other grown-up initiatives. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/21649-the-populist-moment