This
is a provocative, must-read
article by Barry C. Lynn of the New America Foundation and
Phillip Longman, a senior editor at the Washington Monthly.
They review the history of Populism and import its essential ideas into the
present era.
The…
first Populists drew upon a political philosophy with roots back to the
American Revolution. Part of this tradition is familiar—a belief that
government must be run by the people. Populists called for direct election of
senators and led the push for referendums and initiatives to bypass corrupt
legislatures. But another part is largely forgotten—that the people are
sovereign over the economy and have a responsibility to structure markets to
promote the common good.
This
was the “democratic republicanism” of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. It
holds that, just like political power, economic power must be distributed as
widely as possible. Thus, the Populists focused much of their energy on
combating efforts to monopolize commerce and natural resources, especially
land. They also closely studied how to govern large corporations, and strongly
supported unionization of workers and farmers to counter the power of concentrated
capital.
This
is one I like a lot, and I would add charter schools to their list:
What
would a True Populist do today? Insist that the managers of any corporation
receiving more than a quarter of its revenues from taxpayers—including defense
contractors, universities, and hospitals—work at government wages. And require
that the bosses of local public utilities earn no more than the public servants
who regulate them.
They
also propose breaking up the giant monopolies of Google, Amazon, and Facebook,
and localizing retail, banking and other services.
Since
the 1970s, both Democrats and Republicans have undone almost all these laws.
The result has been a concentration of power and wealth that would have
horrified True Populists. In groceries, pharmacies, hardware, and office
supply, control has been consolidated in as few as one or two giants. So, too,
wealth—the Walton family alone is now as rich as 140 million other Americans
combined. And with the rise of online goliaths like Amazon, which aims to be
the “Everything Store,” control will only be yet further concentrated.
What
would a True Populist do today? Besides neutralizing large online retailers, a
True Populist would revive the laws Americans used to localize banking,
farming, and retail through the heart of the twentieth century.
About
fifteen years ago, the Bush administration dropped the guard against vertical
integration. Since then Comcast, which distributes television shows, has been
allowed to merge with NBC, which produces shows. Amazon, the dominant retail
marketplace for books, has been allowed to go big time into publishing books.
And Google, which dominates search, has been allowed to compete directly with
companies like Yelp, which rely on Google’s search engine.
What
would a True Populist do today? Break up Amazon, Facebook, Google, Comcast, and
any other essential network monopoly by banning them from owning companies that
depend on their services.
Wow!
Now here is some fresh thinking.