I agree with what David Goodman says, and I have reproduced his opinion piece below.
I have been implementing the concept in my own ways. Right at the moment I am using the @BHAMBizAlliance followers page to tweet to small businesses in Birmingham, Alabama, a link to this More on Congress failing small business.
Opinion: A new populist alliance: Why progressives and the Tea Party should work together
By David Goodman
The idea that progressives and the Tea Party should work together may sound crazy. After all, don’t they look upon each other with great suspicion? But, if such an alliance were achieved at grass roots levels, it could have a powerful effect on both our politics and our economy.
The hyper-partisanship in Washington would seem to leave little room for such compromise. The 2014 year-end, 1,600-page financial bill, known as “Cromnibus,” highlighted this. Members of the Tea Party hated the budget bill. Their preference would have been to shut down the government; in fact, they voted as a bloc to do so.
The Tea Party members of Congress were outraged by President Obama’s use of executive authority in areas ranging from health care to climate change to immigration. For them, approving the fiscal year budget and restoring regular order were akin to sanctioning illegal and unconstitutional actions. Even the bill’s provision to limit funding of Homeland Security, which has authority over immigration, did not mollify these partisans. Expect more drama and confrontation with the 114th Congress.
Progressives were equally unhappy with the budget bill. They objected to cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, which would slow climate regulations. Their fury was especially heated on the rider that weakens the Dodd-Frank Act. Its effect rolls back measures that protect taxpayers from Wall Street’s excesses. Complaining loudly, progressives claimed that Citigroup’s lobbyists had written 70 of the 85 lines of this rollback provision. If Tea Party members shared this concern, and some may have, it was muted.
So, where is the common ground on which to stage alliances between progressives and the Tea Party? The answer may lie in the latest blow to campaign finance law and regulation. Buried at the end of the 1,600-page Cromnibus Bill are provisions that allow wealthy donors to pour even more money into elections, campaigns and political conventions. While progressives, since Citizen United, have cried foul over the powers of crony capitalism and dark money to corrupt our democracy, Tea Party members have largely been silent. Until now.
What ignited the Tea Party’s anger over this latest assault on campaign finance law was a calculated decision by establishment Republicans to marginalize them. The bill encourages wealthy donors to contribute big dollars to the two main political parties and their conventions. The Tea Party, until now, has relied on these independent sources to challenge the Republican Party. Republican leaders now have pushed back to regain control.
In short, new populist alliances have little appeal to the Washington establishment, on either the left or the right, and least of all to financial barons like the Koch brothers. They prefer to build their own power bases. Instead, we need to look to the foot soldiers in the progressive and Tea Party camps. If there is light at the end of this tunnel, it is not on Capitol Hill but in our towns and cities.
In 1932, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis referred to the states as “laboratories of democracy” for experimenting with social legislation that became models for FDR’s New Deal. In the second decade of the 21st century, cities and towns are the laboratories of our democracy. Unsung heroes on both the right and the left, despite their differences, are finding common ground in anti-corruption laws and campaign finance reform to restore democracy in their own back yards.
The best example to date is Tallahassee, Fla. There, a broad-based grass roots coalition, including Common Cause Florida, the Tea Party Network, the League of Women Voters and the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans, came together and turned the American Anti-Corruption Act into a municipal proposal for voter approval in 2014. The problem? The coalition found that less than 1 percent of Tallahassee’s population contributed to candidates for the city commission. The rest came from outside groups and individuals with significant financial stake in the commission’s decisions.
To end this corruption, the proposed law would lower contribution limits from $1,000 to $250; establish a $25 tax rebate for all Tallahassee voters to become potential political campaign donors, making the commission accountable to them, and create an independent ethics officer to oversee the process. On Election Day, the voters responded by approving the charter change by a 2:1 margin.
For this to spread across the nation and succeed, populist alliances need to add economic issues to their anti-corruption campaigns. The reality is that most rank-and-file progressives and Tea Party members are everyday citizens. The challenge is to suspend political differences and unite in opposition to dark money and corporate control of our government. The special-interest lobbies in finance, energy and other industries have not only distorted our politics but accelerated economic inequality and the loss of middle-class jobs. Low-wage jobs increase corporate profits — and Wall Street loves them — but democracy will not last without a strong middle class. If politicians will not represent us, we risk a steady rise in oligarchy, regardless of our politics.
For this to spread across the nation and succeed, populist alliances need to add economic issues to their anti-corruption campaigns. The reality is that most rank-and-file progressives and Tea Party members are everyday citizens. The challenge is to suspend political differences and unite in opposition to dark money and corporate control of our government. The special-interest lobbies in finance, energy and other industries have not only distorted our politics but accelerated economic inequality and the loss of middle-class jobs. Low-wage jobs increase corporate profits — and Wall Street loves them — but democracy will not last without a strong middle class. If politicians will not represent us, we risk a steady rise in oligarchy, regardless of our politics.
David Goodman, Ph.D., is a team leader of the Central New Jersey Committee of Represent.Us.
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