Sirota: The Democrats' Da Vinci Code

Posting will be light today, so I thought I'd post this article by David Sirota called The Democrats' Da Vinci Code. Sirota discusses the raise of economic populism and discusses how it threatens groups like the DLC.

Here is part of the article...

How does an economic populist Democrat keep winning a congressional seat in what is arguably America’s most Republican district? Why do culturally conservative rural Wisconsin voters keep sending a Vietnam-era anti-war Democrat back to Congress? What does a self-described socialist do to win support from conservative working-class voters in northern New England?

The answers to these and other questions are the Democrats’ very own Da Vinci Code — a road map to political divinity. It is the path Karl Rove fears. He knows his GOP is vulnerable to Democrats who finally follow leaders who have translated a populist economic agenda into powerful cultural and values messages. It also threatens groups like the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), which has pushed the Democratic Party to give up on its working-class roots and embrace big business’ agenda. These New Democrats, backed by huge corporate contributions, say that the party must reduce corporate regulation and embrace a free-trade policy that is wiping out local economies throughout the heartland. They have the nerve to call this agenda “centrist” even though poll after poll shows it is far out of the mainstream. Yet these centrists get slaughtered at the ballot box, and their counterparts — the progressive economic populists — are racking up wins and relegating the DLC argument to the scrap heap.

Sirota wrote the article in 2004 and many of the things he discusses were played out in the 2006 elections.

This is why populism is ultimately the way back for Democrats. Because, as red-region progressives show, having the guts to stand up for middle America — even when it draws the ire of corporate America — is as powerful a statement about morality and authenticity as any of the GOP’s demagoguery on “guns, God, and gays.”