The Presidential Race Round Up: The Rise of Populism

[KamaAina]

http://reportingsandiego.com/2015/07/06/the-presidential-race-round-up-the-rise-of-populism/

We are in the midst of one of the most interesting races for the White House in some time. We have populists rise on both sides of the aisle. In the Iowa polls from Quinnipiac, we have Bernie Sanders at 33 percent and Hillary Clinton at 52 percent.

On the other side Donald Trump is at 13.3 percent, according to the Telegraph in general polling. That is a very large field of candidates.

The campaigns are nowhere near comparable, except in one respect. Both are populist campaigns challenging both party leaders and establishment candidates. With Trump we also have to ask how long he will remain in the race given the losses in real business he has suffered, but he is quite blind to these losses, so far.

What is going on? There is a deep well of anger at the parties, and the lack of a functional government. One way to express this is the outrage we have seen in past elections by witnessing wave elections. This is also the rise of a new brand of confrontational politics, better demonstrated by former Majority Leader Eric Cantor and his group of republicans.

h/t nadinbrzezinski

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. kick, so I can keep tabs

[daleanime]

2. K&R.....

[Vincardog]

3. At last our side is practicing this "new brand of confrontational politics"

I have been waiting years for the LEFT to fight back.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. The problem with this brand though

as Ornstein and his partner point out, is that it is truly not compatible with the US Political system and has led to a crisis of governance which is quite serious. So while it might feel "good" I got no idea if this will be good in the long run... if this makes any sense.

I recommend reading the book... there are a few others that I am wading my way though. And this is why this campaign season will make all others look tame.

[AZ Progressive]

5. The U.S. political system is conservative by nature. But we need dramatic change

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. This goes beyond this

you have a party (increasingly two) but one has the lion share here, acting as a minority in a parliamentary system. This is at the heart of quite a bit of the dysfunction. There is no false equivalency since the Republicans are quire at fault here. But that has led to a system that has no way to produce any kind of government action.

I recommend the book. I highly recommend it.

[Vincardog]

7. Exactly so. The Greedy Oil Party has been fighting hard for their hatefull adgenda

The Democratic party leadership has sold out to the same financial elites.

I am glad Bernie is offering the radical change to the LEFT that we have been needing since the 1990s.