populism

Francis Carr Begbie | September 13, 2015http://bit.ly/1MmvVF4 With an Afterword by Michael Hoffman“What was not so long ago unthinkable has come to pass.” Thus the Jewish Chronicle‘s verdict on the election of hard-left pro-Palestinian Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain’s Labor Party.

Over the weekend Trump was in Nashville, where he promised his cheering fans that he would protect their Social Security and Medicare without cutting benefits. That isn't as powerful as Bernie Sanders' laying out the details of how he plans to expand benefits...

Trump has made noises about taxing the rich and ending all the nonsense about trickle-down economics and how job creators shouldn't be taxed.

Does Donald Trump have an Achilles heel? by Gaius PubliusThe Trump phenomenon is taking off and shows every sign of "having wings," to not mix a metaphor. According to this excellent analysis by Lee Drutman, "What Donald Trump gets about the electorate," Trump has found a policy sweet spot with Republican voters (as opposed to the party's money-bought leaders):

"People are sick of the status quo and they will take a chance with anyone who is willing to actually bloody well try something different than the usual. And because most people don’t parse just on policy positions (nor should they, since politicians lie), what they are looking for are candidates who don’t act like the normal candidates and who therefore might actually do something different."-- Ian Welsh, in a post yesterday, "

"You’re looking at the undermining of American democracy, okay?" said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to a group of writers and editors at the Washington Post.by Ken"Bernie Sanders is in his natural state -- of agitation." And at 9am.

Yesterday there was a 5 minute internet buzz when Jonathan Martin reported in the NY Times that perennial Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was out bashing fellow right-wing extremists Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee.

The old line Republican big money Establishment has been lining up firmly behind Jeb Bush. And when he launched his new PAC-- The Right To Rise-- yesterday, it was a play for that kind of concentrated wealth. Although Bush comes from a wealthy family, his net worth when he left the Florida's governor's mansion was only $1.3 million.

John Tsitirian, a blogger South Dakota's Constant Commoner, missed the boat, in his own words, on the ideas inherent in regard to the dangers of oligarchy in America. His claim that oligarchy doesn't exist in America is just plain wrong.

The Republican civil war is pretty front and center and getting quite a lot of media attention. There is also something of a Democratic civil war brewing, a more ideological/less careerist based one. You may have seen sparks of it last week when the Wall Street owned ConservaDem group, Third Way, went on the attack against Elizabeth Warren and the progressive populism she espouses. Third Way, the Blue Dogs and the New Dems are the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.