Challenge the Establishment: populist

Showing posts with label populist. Show all posts

Saturday, November 13, 2010

An Invitation

My next GDAE Podcast episode, Number 37, starts as follows:

On the previous episode of GDAE Podcast (36) I re-visited my original motivation for people on the political left to reach out to principled people on the political right... a concern that extreme right wing demagogues are stirring up potential violence among uninformed people who are suffering real economic hard times. My "original" motivation was to promote relationships between genuine conservatives and progressives that could either prevent right-wing populism from growing ugly or at least be a mitigating force, a buffer, if society devolves further into darkness as some economists predict is a real possibility in the coming years.

My original motivation grew in early 2010 culminating in my March 31, 2010 Episode 29, which has become the first in a series. In less than 30-minutes, before the audio program shifts to some unusual music, I initiated an exploration that has held my attention for the past eight months and promises to maintain its hold on me for a while.

We could see the dot-com bubble-burst coming. We saw the Iraq war and security state coming after 9/11. We saw the housing and financial economic bubble-bursts coming. Now we can see the potential for the predictably destructive outcomes of right-wing demagoguery coming. This is my small attempt to do something about it, if only to raise awareness. You are invited to join me by listening to the initial Episode 29 and seeing where it leads.

Friday, October 1, 2010

GDAE Podcast - Episode 34

September 30, 2010 Posting Date

Left & Right Common Goals - Part V

Conversation with Vince Tola: Perspectives on the potential of principled people on the left and right to join forces and reassert the power of the people over our democratic institutions. Vince is a public school teacher and Maryland Green Party organizer.

Play Episode 34 from this page:

Click to Download Episode 34.

Listen to Part IV in the series, Episode 33:

Listen to Part III in the series, Episode 32:

Listen to Part II in the series, Episode 31:

Listen to Part I in the series, Episode 30, (20-minute abridged version):

Sunday, July 25, 2010

GDAE Podcast Episode 32

Common Interests on the Left & Right - Part III

Left & Right Populists: The American Populist movement of the 1800s with Jim Hightower (Bill Moyer's Journal).
Left & Right United: The Tenth Amendment with Michael Boldin (Mother Jones Magazine).
Green Economy: Energy efficiency and jobs (Demand Side Podcast).
MUSIC: Brazilita, a sweet little version of the song Brazil.

Play Episode 32 from this page:

Click to Download Episode 32.

Listen to Part II in the series, Episode 31:

Listen to Part I in the series, Episode 30, (20-minute abridged version):

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Combining Forces

How do we challenge the establishment? There are so many ways. Here's another.

First, we need to remind ourselves that there is such a thing as an honest conservative;

Actually, many principled conservatives came out of the woodwork in the later days of the Dubbya Bush administration. Some of them went as far as to write books, like "What Happened," by former Press Secretary Scott McClellan, and "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause," by Reagan era direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie.

Principled right and left wing constituencies, individually, might be too small to change the establishment power structure. However, when they combine forces, they have proven to have the power to overcome the establishment.

Stopping Media Consolidation: An example was, in 2003, when both conservative and liberal organizations combined forces to stop further ownership consolidation of corporate media. The establishment power-grab galvanized the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Pro-choice group NARAL, among others, into a powerful coalition that led to victory.

Auditing the Federal Reserve: Today, right and left populist leaders Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve. The Fed, which is actually a chartered private entity, quasi governmental at best, is supposed to balance wall street and main street economic interests. It has, however, tilted strongly toward the big banking interests, of which it is a part.

Obama's proposed response to the on-going financial industry debacle is to give the Fed more power to oversee the financial industry. With so much at stake, and a Fed history of secrecy, Americans should know have access to the Fed's books before giving this institution more power. The left and right coalition could make an audit a reality, thereby overcoming deep establishment power.

AND, with our voices backing this call for transparency, we could prevail.

Psssst... Do Something

Challenge the Establishment