By Robert Reich
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| Red and blue if the map was based on population |
It was ostensibly a book tour but I wanted to talk with
conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers.
I intended to put into practice what I tell my students –
that the best way to learn is to talk with people who disagree you. I wanted to
learn from red America, and hoped they’d also learn a bit from me (and perhaps
also buy my book).
But something odd happened. It turned out that many of
the conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers I met agreed with much of what I
had to say, and I agreed with them.
I met with group of small farmers in Missouri who were
livid about growth of “factory farms” owned and run by big corporations, that
abused land and cattle, damaged the environment, and ultimately harmed
consumers.
They claimed giant food processors were using their monopoly
power to squeeze the farmers dry, and the government was doing squat about it
because of Big Agriculture’s money.
I met in Cincinnati with Republican small-business owners
who are still hurting from the bursting of the housing bubble and the bailout of
Wall Street.
“Why didn’t underwater homeowners get any help?” one of
them asked rhetorically. “Because Wall Street has all the power.” Others nodded
in agreement.
Whenever I suggested that big Wall Street banks be busted
up – “any bank that’s too big to fail is too big, period” – I got loud
applause.
In Kansas City I met with Tea Partiers who were angry
that hedge-fund managers had wangled their own special “carried interest” tax
deal.
“No reason for it,” said one. “They’re not investing a
dime of their own money. But they’ve paid off the politicians.”
In Raleigh, I heard from local bankers who thought Bill
Clinton should never have repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. “Clinton was in the
pockets of Wall Street just like George W. Bush was,” said one.
Most of the people I met in America’s heartland want big
money out of politics, and think the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United”
decision was shameful.
Most are also dead-set against the Trans Pacific
Partnership. In fact, they’re opposed to trade agreements, including NAFTA,
that they believe have made it easier for corporations to outsource American
jobs abroad.
A surprising number think the economic system is biased
in favor of the rich. (That’s consistent with a recent Quinnipiac poll in
which 46 percent of
Republicans believe “the system favors the wealthy.”)
The more conversations I had, the more I understood the
connection between their view of “crony capitalism” and their dislike of
government.
They don’t oppose government per se. In fact, as the Pew
Research Center has found, more
Republicans favor additional spending on Social Security, Medicare, education,
and infrastructure than want to cut those programs.
Rather, they see government as the vehicle for big
corporations and Wall Street to exert their power in ways that hurt the little
guy.
They call themselves Republicans but many of the
inhabitants of America’s heartland are populists in the tradition of William
Jennings Bryan.
I also began to understand why many of them are attracted
to Donald Trump. I had assumed they were attracted by Trump’s blunderbuss and
his scapegoating of immigrants.
That’s part of it. But mostly, I think, they see
Trump as someone who’ll stand up for them – a countervailing power against the
perceived conspiracy of big corporations, Wall Street, and big government.
Trump isn’t saying what the moneyed interests in the GOP
want to hear. He’d impose tariffs on American companies that send manufacturing
overseas, for example.
He’d raise taxes on hedge-fund managers. (“The hedge-fund
guys didn’t build this country,” Trump says. “They’re
“getting away with murder.”)
He’d protect Social Security and Medicare.
I kept hearing “Trump is so rich he can’t be bought.”
Heartland Republicans and progressive Democrats remain
wide apart on social and cultural issues.
But there’s a growing overlap on economics. The
populist upsurge is real.
I sincerely hope Donald Trump doesn’t become president.
He’s a divider and a buffoon.
But I do hope the economic populists in both parties come
together.
That’s the only way we’re going to reform a system that’s
now rigged against most of us.
ROBERT B.
REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California
at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, was
Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one
of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has
written fourteen books, including the best sellers “Aftershock, “The Work of
Nations," and"Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of
the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. His film,
INEQUALITY FOR ALL is available on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon. His new book,
"SAVING CAPITALISM: For the Many, Not the Few" is out 9/29.
