Yep.

I'm with Goldy.

Given enough money one could get absolutely anything on the ballot. Anything. I guess, if you have the money, that’s your right under the current rules, but it sure ain’t populism, and it’s high time our political and media elite pulled the bags off their heads and stopped revering as sacred an instrument of so-called “direct democracy” that isn’t partcularly direct, or democratic.

The initiative process, whatever its original merits, has been corrupted beyond repair. That's why my practice is to vote against all of 'em. If an idea is good enough to merit legislation, it's good enough to work it's way through the legislative process.

That's the theory. Then an I-1000 comes along to provide the proverbial exception that proves the rule.

Doesn't happen often, though. Not often enough to maintain the process as it has come to be.

Good question…

...from Robert Oak at The Economic Populist.

How did the concept of protecting the United States economy and national interest end up being a dirty word?

And now...

...it's time to turn from the lessons of William Jennings Bryan to those of another representative of the populist tradition in the Democratic Party, though he's not often thought of in those terms these days.

From his time as a country schoolteacher through his political career as a staffer, Congressman, Senator and Presienent of these United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson was called many things. I've always called him the greatest Democratic President of my lifetime (and, thus, the greatest President of my lifetime, period), the ugly war he inherited and foolishly expanded notwithstanding. He always called himself a populist.

This week I'll be listing some of the reasons I hold him in such esteem. Meanwhile, we'll kick off our series of Lessons From Lyndon with this still timely statement, issued in response to the nomination of John Kennedy in 1960...

"Now let our party unite behind our candidate - let us sweep the country this November, so that in January Democratic leadership may be restored to America in what promise to be the most challenging and difficult days in our history."

Lyndon Baines Johnson,
Democrat

A dip into the memory hole…

…by Paul Krugman.

I like to remind people who long for bipartisanship that FDR's drive to create Social Security was as divisive as Bush's attempt to dismantle it. And we got Social Security because FDR wasn't afraid of division. In his great Madison Square Garden speech, he declared of the forces of "organized money": "Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me-and I welcome their hatred."

Sounds familiar.

My Man John…

…fights back. From an Edwards press release, via Ezra Klein...

"Mitt Romney thinks he and his insider friends helped make America great, I think it’s the hundreds of millions of Americans in the working class and middle class who make America great. It’s these hard-working families who deserve a break and a chance to live the same American Dream as I have. That’s what I’m fighting for, and that’s what people like Mitt Romney have spent a lifetime fighting against.”

Refreshing to see a Democrat taking on a Republican instead of Democrats fighting each other, isn't it?

On the other hand…

…more of this, please. my man John...

My party and the Democratic party that I believe in stands up for ordinary people, stands up for the little guy, stands up for people who don't have health insurance, who live in poverty and who don't go to fundraisers. That's what the heart and soul of the Democratic Party is and we can never lose that because if we lose it we lose our soul. And it's gonna require us to have a little backbone and stand up for what we believe is right regardless of who's affected by it.

Mine too.

Don't take my word for it.

Ruth Conniff is the Political Editor of The Progressive Magazine, where they know a few things about progressive populism...

With Edwards the deeds match the words. He has earned the right to claim he speaks for the have-nots.

In his life, work, politics and charity (his giving is focused on making college more attainable for the working poor), Edwards is the only candidate whose central issue is the great divide between rich and poor…

...it would be a shame if Edwards were done in by his haircut. Because despite all the focus on style, he may well be the most substantial candidate in the race.

As I recall...

...they were called the Robber Barons. The NYT talks about the "new tycoons"...

Those earlier barons disappeared by the 1920s and, constrained by the Depression and by the greater government oversight and high income tax rates that followed, no one really took their place. Then, starting in the late 1970s, as the constraints receded, new tycoons gradually emerged, and now their concentrated wealth has made the early years of the 21st century truly another Gilded Age.

They make note, too, of Bill Clinton's role in polishing the gilded goose. It's worth taking in the whole thing.

And now...

A 111 year cycle?

112, maybe. A comment from Terry reminds us of a happy anniversary…

Chicago, July 9 (1896) -- The Democratic National Convention to-day repudiated the past record of the party, and by its utterances went over to the Populist camp bag and baggage.

Back when the Prairie Populist was still the Boy Orator of the Platte.

Don't worry, Jim…

…endorse. David Ignatius, on Senator Webb...

...populist anger is part of the Democrats' past, and Webb argues that it's the party's future as well. But he worries that "the people at the top of the party don't comprehend the power of that message" and that as a result the Democrats may miss their best chance in a generation to reconnect with the American middle class.

The obvious solution is to put someone who comprehends the power of that message at the top of the ticket.

You don't need me to tell you who, do you?

And now...

Dangerous words…

…if you think 'economic populism are dangerous words.

"The engine of our economy is not Washington, D.C., or Wall Street. It is the tens of millions of men and women in offices, factories, and fields across America who go to work every day. When we stand up for them, our middle class grows and our economy grows."

Powerful ideas to back them up, too.

Sorry, Chris, the fence has crumbled.