Three Revolts Are Shaking American Politics

[josephpalazzo]

Conventional wisdom is wrong again. There is not one big populist revolt now sweeping across America. Rather, there are three revolts â€"â€" one from the right, one from the left and one from angry voters across the board.

The first revolt has been percolating for nearly a decade. It is an insurgency targeted against moral compromise and it is being waged within â€"â€" and, in some ways, against â€"â€" the Republican Party. Powered at the grass roots by the Tea Party and on Capitol Hill by the Freedom Caucus, this movement has pulled the Republican Party well to the right of where it was just a few years ago.


These conservative ideologues are tired of GOP candidates who don’t deliver on campaign promises, especially cutting government. They loathe moderate Republicans who make deals with Democrats, and they view legislative bargaining as betrayal. They see Barack Obama’s Washington as a foreign capital, much like Moscow or Beijing. Shutting down government is not just a tactic they use to get what they want â€"â€" it is what they want.

Going into this election, multiple GOP presidential candidates sought to harness this rebellion, but the one who has emerged as its champion, at least for now, is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. In the Iowa caucuses, for example, Cruz beat Donald Trump by more than a 2-to-1 margin among “very conservative” voters, while Trump beat Cruz by nearly 4-to-1 among moderates.

The second revolt is aimed at wealth inequality and corporate corruption. This revolt operates mostly within the Democratic Party, although many disaffected independents â€" especially younger voters â€"â€" find the cause appealing.

While anti-corporate progressives regularly vote for Democrats, they have become frustrated with party leaders who take money from Wall Street billionaires and then shy away from politically risky causes such as redistributing wealth and breaking up big banks. They’re animated by their hatred of big money in politics â€"â€" especially money spent by rich conservatives such as the Koch brothers. (Their concern about the millions spent by labor unions is more muted.)

These ideological insurgents have pulled the Democratic Party far to the left of where it was when Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, and even to the left of where it was when Obama won just eight years ago. To illustrate this shift: A recent national poll found that more Democrats now favor socialism than capitalism.

Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has championed this revolt, which is why many Democrats pushed her to run for president. But when she passed on entering the race against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton â€"â€" a move she may now regret â€"â€" Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders picked up the mantle and has since carried it with unexpected success.

The third revolt is one directed at the political system itself.

While both the left and right share a growing contempt for politics as usual, the impetus for this popular uprising comes mostly from center-right voters upset by government paralysis and incompetence. It is a movement built upon cynicism â€"â€" and anger at dodgy politicians, broken institutions and increasing demands for political correctness. No longer content to just tweak the system, they want to knock it down.

Enter the bulldozer, Donald Trump. In his own inimitable way, the New York real estate developer has loosely become the champion of this third revolt. Recent polls have found that a majority of Republicans view Trump as the one presidential candidate most able to bring needed change to Washington. Whether he’s ultimately successful or not in his first electoral quest, he gives millions of voters what they crave: a nonpolitician who shares their anger and speaks their language.

But unlike the leaders of other change movements, Trump offers himself, and not a laundry list of reform proposals, as the solution. By doing so, he’s asking for a blank check to do whatever he wants as president, and that â€"â€" along with his eyebrow-raising bombast and tough positions on immigration and trade â€"â€" scares the hell out of traditional reformers.

In distinct ways, each of these movements reflects the loss of public confidence in our political system and, more fundamentally, the eroding legitimacy of American democracy.

Three Revolts Are Shaking American Politics

[aitm]

I admit a certain fascination with Trump, ala Teddy Roosevelt"ish". I will let god pick, after all, we all know god approves the authorities.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Funny how the so called anti government pols just can't wait to become the leaders of the idea of no government. The entire concept is rooted in hypocrisy."Elect me so I can get rid of government"  It's like saying come to the desert if you're really thirsty. There isn't any water..

[josephpalazzo]

I admit a certain fascination with Trump, ala Teddy Roosevelt"ish". I will let god pick, after all, we all know god approves the authorities.

God is too busy watching TWD, so there.

As to Trump, either he will be a great president, or one of the worst. There seems to be no middle ground for him. But one thing I noticed about him, regardless that he is bombastic and obnoxious, he does listen to his advisers, even though he pretends he does not. If something doesn't fly, he doesn't hesitate in taking alternative courses. He's got that flexibility that none of the other contenders have.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

The only advice tRump is taking is to always blame someone else for his own failures.  That's not policy,  it's avoidance.

[josephpalazzo]

The worst part that I see in this election is that the far Left is in the process of highjacking the Democratic party. It's not enough that the far Right has already highjacked the Republican party and turned this party into a farce, now we have another bunch of lunatics doing the same to the other party. Who said, if mistakes are not learned they are bounded to be repeated?

[Shiranu]

"Far left"... Aka moderates in any other civilized country that actually cares about their citizens and have higher human right and standard of living ratings than us... and you're scared of them. Right-y o then.

[Baruch]

Unfortunately we are not as W European as we should be, and not nearly as Scandinavian ;-)  We would be much more secular and much more socialist.  The Americans are constantly saying the XXX are coming, the XXX are coming ... one bugbear or another.  It sold in 1775 and still sells.  If it isn't foreigners, it is internal dissidents.  If it isn't the Right, it is the Left.  Americans love being stirred up, like a stadium of rabid college football fans.  If we were more European we would watch more of that other football ... soccer.