Populism Hurts Both Parties

Naftali Bendavid [picture] writes for the Wall Street Journal, but was until recently the Chicago Tribune’s #2 in Washington and its White House correspondent. He wrote a book about how Rahm Emanuel and Democrats “thumped” Republicans in 2006.

You should read Bendavid’s latest article, which argues that populism—strong negative feelings about both big business and big government or elites in general—is dominating current politics. That’s bad for both Republicans (big business) and Democrats (big government). Bendavid cites poll numbers to make his point: 43% don’t like Republicans, 39% don’t like Democrats; 45% say the stimulus was a bad idea; 49% feel government tries to do too much; and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout is “especially unpopular”.

Bendavid writes:

➢ With voters simultaneously recoiling at laissez-faire policies and a big-government approach neither party in Washington seems capable of corralling an angry public. . . [There’s] an angry distrust of government, and politicians of all stripes, that is palpable . . .

➢ Some don't see government and business as opposing forces. They see a unified elite pursuing one big swindle, as government takes taxpayers' money and bails out powerful companies such as banks and auto makers. . .People on both sides . . . share a frustration with larger forces.

➢ "They're mad at institutions -- all institutions," said Karin Johanson, a Democratic strategist. "Nobody can underestimate the angst, or even fear, of the American voter right now...The institutions they were relying on which were assuring them of their security were not there."

➢ Episodes of populism in U.S. history are marked by "people being fearful of and opposing concentrated power of any kind," said Michael Kazin, a Georgetown University historian and author of The Populist Persuasion. "Big corporations and big government can be seen as parts of the same problem."