In an article in MSNBC, New York Times reporters James M. Broder and Jeff Zeleny attempt to stic...

1. DEMOCRATS ACCUSED OF MAKING POPULIST APPEALS
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In an article in MSNBC, New York Times reporters James M. Broder and Jeff Zeleny attempt to stick
the nasty label of "populism" to the Democrats, stating that Senators Obama and Clinton are
attempting to appeal to the majority of the population though promises of programs that will benefit
the blue collar and middle class voters and tax increases aimed at the highest earners in out country.
A link to the Times article is posted below.
Populism is defined as a political philosophy supporting the rights and powers of the people in their
struggle against the privileged elite. The leaders and participants in the American Revolution viewed
themselves in exactly that light; they were in a struggle to obtain their personal, political and
economic freedom from King George III and the privileged elite of England. That goal accomplished,
our nation set out to create it's own political and economic aristocracy, initially limiting the vote to
white men with a certain degree of wealth and assets. Now that we have established a privileged
elite in America, they resist any changes to the new order of economic and political control just as
King George and the British elite did.Â
Of course, in the "old country" the class lines were strictly drawn based on ancestry, family name,
title, and social position, but there were plenty of poor gentry who struggled to maintain their place
by marrying into wealth. In the new world the path to high social status has developed more
strongly along economic lines, but we had a whole continent to exploit once the indigenous peoples
had been subdued and millions of African slaves had been kidnapped and brought to North America
to work the plantations in the South.
Embedded in the derision and criticism directed at the very concept of populism in the media is an
unspoken social Darwinist belief that our economic and political leaders are somehow destined by
Devine Providence to lead while the rest of us follow with caps in respectful hands, thankful for what
our leaders toss our way. Unfortunately, the middle class and blue-collar workers in America have
placed their stamp of approval of the current economic structure by default, not bothering to
register and vote to elect representatives that will look out for their interests.
A CNN feature today demonstrates this bias very clearly. They were running a feature on why
most middle and blue-collar families will never be able to purchase a home and used Cleveland Ohio
as an example. The median home price in Cleveland is $121,000, but to be able to qualify for a
home loan to buy a home of this value you would need an income of $40,000, but the vast majority of
families in Cleveland have income below that level, preventing them from ever qualifying for a home
mortgage. The CNN presenters, all of whom are in the top 10% of earners, discussed the problem,
noting that middle class and blue-collar incomes have been stagnating or falling for decades while
home, and all other prices, have been rising. Not once during their discussion did they ever present
increasing family incomes as a solution to the problem. They simply cannot conceive that
increasing family incomes would solve many of the financial problems facing Americans today.
The good news is that, based on voter turnouts in the primaries, it appears that the tide may be

2. turning in the favor of the majority. In the twenty-five years since 1980 when income tax cuts
favoring the top 10% were first passed there has been a well documented increase in the
concentration of income and wealth in the top 10%, with the top 1% gaining the most, while incomes
of the bottom 70% of earners steadily losing real, inflation adjusted, income.