Populism Isn't Dead, It's O-W-S!

[georgephillip]

"Not so long ago, Americans witnessed the beginning of a mass democratic uprising. Thousands of average people, disgusted by greedy elites and corporate control of government, launched a movement that spread to almost every state in the nation.

"They did it to reject debt.

"They did it to fight foreclosures.

"They did it to topple a world where the 1 percent determined life for the other 99...

"The year? 1877. The people? Dirt-poor farmers who would come to be known as Populists."

Populism Isn't Dead, It's Marching: What 19th Century Farmers Can Teach Occupiers About How to Keep Going | Truthout

Wall Street controlled the US government in 1877 as it does today.
The solution hasn't changed either.

 

[kyzr]

These "populist" agenda items could win or lose the election for BO or Mitt depending upon which side they take:
1. Let the Bush Tax cuts expire
2. Save SS
3. Save Medicare
4. Cut spending by supporting the Simpson-Bowles and the Debt Commission recommendations
5. Crack down on illegal immigration
6. Reduce the cost of energy
7. open up ANWR and other domestic reserves
8. Kill the NLRB and other wacko job killing agencies
9. Crack down on Wall Street and implement a Transaction Tax
10. Reduce "globalism" and protect the US economy via tax incentives

 

[WillowTree]

Only We shit..

 

[Katzndogz]

OWS is struggling for relevancy.

 

[Big Fitz]

Love it. The Occupados are a populist gr-ass roots movement while the Tea Party is corporate astroturf.

mmmmmm-hmmm

 

[georgephillip]

These "populist" agenda items could win or lose the election for BO or Mitt depending upon which side they take:
1. Let the Bush Tax cuts expire
2. Save SS
3. Save Medicare
4. Cut spending by supporting the Simpson-Bowles and the Debt Commission recommendations
5. Crack down on illegal immigration
6. Reduce the cost of energy
7. open up ANWR and other domestic reserves
8. Kill the NLRB and other wacko job killing agencies
9. Crack down on Wall Street and implement a Transaction Tax
10. Reduce "globalism" and protect the US economy via tax incentives

Motivating the 30%-40% of eligible voters who don't usually see anything worth voting for is another possibility. I'm guessing jobs will be issue number one unless war with Iran breaks out If that happens, some regular voters may rally 'round this particular commander-in-chief, or not.

I won't.

 

[georgephillip]

Only We shit..

You don't?

Are you voting for the 99% or the bankers next November?

"It seems to me that the reporting of the collapse of capitalism has reached a new low which even the Middle East cannot surpass for sheer unadulterated obedience to the very institutions and Harvard "experts" who have helped to bring about the whole criminal disaster."

Bankers are the Dictators of the West | Common Dreams

 

[georgephillip]

OWS is struggling for relevancy.

Any thoughts on how to occupy limbo?

"What's the modern anti-corporate equivalent of the Boston Tea Party?"

Populism Isn't Dead, It's Marching: What 19th Century Farmers Can Teach Occupiers About How to Keep Going | Truthout

 

[georgephillip]

Love it. The Occupados are a populist gr-ass roots movement while the Tea Party is corporate astroturf.

mmmmmm-hmmm

Was the Farmer's Alliance populist or corporate?

"The Farmers Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement amongst U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880s. One of the goals of the organization was to end the adverse effects of the crop-lien system on farmers after the American Civil War.[1][2]

"First formed in 1876 in Lampasas, Texas, the Alliance was designed to promote higher commodity prices through collective action by groups of individual farmers.

"The movement was strongest in the South, and was widely popular before it was destroyed by the power of commodity brokers. Despite its failure, it is regarded as the precursor to the Populist Party, which grew out of the ashes of the Alliance in 1892."

Will you be voting for Goldman or Citi next November?

 

[bripat9643]

The only thing you post are horrific lies.

"Not so long ago, Americans witnessed the beginning of a mass democratic uprising. Thousands of average people, disgusted by greedy elites and corporate control of government, launched a movement that spread to almost every state in the nation.

"They did it to reject debt.

"They did it to fight foreclosures.

"They did it to topple a world where the 1 percent determined life for the other 99...

"The year? 1877. The people? Dirt-poor farmers who would come to be known as Populists."

Populism Isn't Dead, It's Marching: What 19th Century Farmers Can Teach Occupiers About How to Keep Going | Truthout

Wall Street controlled the US government in 1877 as it does today.
The solution hasn't changed either.

 

[Sunni Man]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

 

[georgephillip]

The only thing you post are horrific lies.

"Not so long ago, Americans witnessed the beginning of a mass democratic uprising. Thousands of average people, disgusted by greedy elites and corporate control of government, launched a movement that spread to almost every state in the nation.

"They did it to reject debt.

"They did it to fight foreclosures.

"They did it to topple a world where the 1 percent determined life for the other 99...

"The year? 1877. The people? Dirt-poor farmers who would come to be known as Populists."

Populism Isn't Dead, It's Marching: What 19th Century Farmers Can Teach Occupiers About How to Keep Going | Truthout

Wall Street controlled the US government in 1877 as it does today.
The solution hasn't changed either.

The class war is horrific, but it's as real as debt, taxes, and war.

Are you planning to vote for Wall Street next November?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The LMSM is dropping Obama's Marxist anti-Semitic OWS down the memory hole

 

[georgephillip]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

What scares you about direct democracy?

OWS has been in existence for about two months.
It took the Populists twenty years to launch the Progressive era.
Since Wall Street won't stop stealing, I don't see any lack of incentive to occupy.

 

[Sunni Man]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

What scares you about direct democracy?

OWS has been in existence for about two months.
It took the Populists twenty years to launch the Progressive era.
Since Wall Street won't stop stealing, I don't see any lack of incentive to occupy.

Direct democracy is a good thing.

But OWS didn't represent it.

They made it look silly.

 

[georgephillip]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

What scares you about direct democracy?

OWS has been in existence for about two months.
It took the Populists twenty years to launch the Progressive era.
Since Wall Street won't stop stealing, I don't see any lack of incentive to occupy.

Direct democracy is a good thing.

But OWS didn't represent it.

They made it look silly.

Maybe it's a little too early to count them out.

When OWS first took over Zuccotti Park some protestors were asked how long it would take for results to materialize. Their answer was about the same amount of time as between the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the US Constitution.

If the US economy is swirling the same drain in November as it was in 2008, millions of voters will go to the polls with "income inequality" on their minds, and OWS will deserve some credit for that.

 

[samjones]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

True dat. It was never particularly interesting as a vehicle for political philosophy anyway. They didn't have anything to say.

Too bad Bloomberg and his filthy rich friends didn't have the good grace to simply let them sit there in the cold and dark not saying it.

 

[Sunni Man]

If the US economy is swirling the same drain in November as it was in 2008, millions of voters will go to the polls with "income inequality" on their minds, and OWS will deserve some credit for that.

OWS does not deserve credit for anything.

They did nothing but make themselves look retarded and their movement look looney.

 

[georgephillip]

As global capitalism spins out of control, it isn't likely Wall Street will be able to deal with a long term structural crises without making loony look good. The Mubaraks and Ben Alis of Egypt and Tunisia have nothing on Goldman Sachs and the Royal Bank of Scotland when it comes to wielding dictatorial powers. The bankers are the global problem, and OWS is where the solution starts in the US.

 

[georgephillip]

The truth of the matter is that OWS is DOA

True dat. It was never particularly interesting as a vehicle for political philosophy anyway. They didn't have anything to say.

Too bad Bloomberg and his filthy rich friends didn't have the good grace to simply let them sit there in the cold and dark not saying it.

OWS seems more interested in pragmatic responses to the immense structural inequalities of a global political economy than political philosophy. The 1% have lost legitimacy, and we're watching a breakdown of the ruling-class power from Syria to DC. OWS is offering direct democracy as one possible solution. Bloomberg and the filthy rich are offering more war and debt.