The Emerging Populist Agenda [View all]
The Emerging Populist Agenda
Originally published Tues May 12, 2015 by The Washington Post
Katrina vanden Heuvel
The most surprising development in our political debate isnt the gaggle of Republican presidential contenders or the ceaseless attacks on Hillary Clinton.
What is stunning is the emergence of a populist reform agenda that is driving the debate inside and outside the Democratic Party.
A range of groups and leaders are putting forward a reform agenda of increasing coherence. Today,
the Roosevelt Institute will present a report by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is to release a
Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality. These follow the
Populism 2015 Platform, released in April by an alliance of grass-roots groups and the Campaign for Americas Future. Also in April, the Center for Community Change (CCC) joined with several grass-roots allies to launch
Putting Families First: Good Jobs for All.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), now contending for the Democratic presidential nomination, released his
Economic Agenda for America last December. And while Hillary Clinton has chosen a slow rollout of her agenda, the Center for American Progress published the report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity headed by former treasury secretary Larry Summers, widely seen as a marker of where Hillary might move.
Not surprisingly, these offerings differ in analysis, emphasis and specific reforms. But more striking is their scope of consensus.
All agree that our extreme inequality is not the inevitable result of globalization or technology. It is the result of policy and power. The rules have been rigged. No one reform offers an answer; broad reforms are needed.
All link growth and inequality. As Stiglitz argues, extreme inequality cripples growth, and full employment is vital to reducing inequality.
The central elements of the emerging populist agenda include:
Please read the central elements & the rest of the article here~
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/05/12/emerging-populist-agenda
(xposted in GD)