What I Learned on My Red State Book Tour ROBERT REICH

[Demeter]

http://robertreich.org/post/132819483625

I’ve just returned from three weeks in “red” America. It was ostensibly a book tour but I wanted to talk with conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers. I intended to put into practice what I tell my students – that the best way to learn is to talk with people who disagree you. I wanted to learn from red America, and hoped they’d also learn a bit from me (and perhaps also buy my book).

But something odd happened. It turned out that many of the conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers I met agreed with much of what I had to say, and I agreed with them.

For example, most condemned what they called “crony capitalism,” by which they mean big corporations getting sweetheart deals from the government because of lobbying and campaign contributions. I met with group of small farmers in Missouri who were livid about growth of “factory farms” owned and run by big corporations, that abused land and cattle, damaged the environment, and ultimately harmed consumers. They claimed giant food processors were using their monopoly power to squeeze the farmers dry, and the government was doing squat about it because of Big Agriculture’s money.

I met in Cincinnati with Republican small-business owners who are still hurting from the bursting of the housing bubble and the bailout of Wall Street. “Why didn’t underwater homeowners get any help?” one of them asked rhetorically. “Because Wall Street has all the power.” Others nodded in agreement. Whenever I suggested that big Wall Street banks be busted up – “any bank that’s too big to fail is too big, period” – I got loud applause.

In Kansas City I met with Tea Partiers who were angry that hedge-fund managers had wangled their own special “carried interest” tax deal. “No reason for it,” said one. “They’re not investing a dime of their own money. But they’ve paid off the politicians.”

In Raleigh, I heard from local bankers who thought Bill Clinton should never have repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. “Clinton was in the pockets of Wall Street just like George W. Bush was,” said one.

Most of the people I met in America’s heartland want big money out of politics, and think the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision was shameful.

Most are also dead-set against the Trans Pacific Partnership. In fact, they’re opposed to trade agreements, including NAFTA, that they believe have made it easier for corporations to outsource American jobs abroad.

A surprising number think the economic system is biased in favor of the rich. (That’s consistent with a recent Quinnipiac poll in which 46 percent of Republicans believe “the system favors the wealthy.”)

The more conversations I had, the more I understood the connection between their view of “crony capitalism” and their dislike of government. They don’t oppose government per se. In fact, as the Pew Research Center has found, more Republicans favor additional spending on Social Security, Medicare, education, and infrastructure than want to cut those programs. Rather, they see government as the vehicle for big corporations and Wall Street to exert their power in ways that hurt the little guy. They call themselves Republicans but many of the inhabitants of America’s heartland are populists in the tradition of William Jennings Brian.

I also began to understand why many of them are attracted to Donald Trump. I had assumed they were attracted by Trump’s blunderbuss and his scapegoating of immigrants. That’s part of it. But mostly, I think, they see Trump as someone who’ll stand up for them – a countervailing power against the perceived conspiracy of big corporations, Wall Street, and big government. Trump isn’t saying what the moneyed interests in the GOP want to hear.

He’d impose tariffs on American companies that send manufacturing overseas, for example.

He’d raise taxes on hedge-fund managers. (“The hedge-fund guys didn’t build this country,” Trump says. “They’re “getting away with murder.”)

He’d protect Social Security and Medicare.

I kept hearing “Trump is so rich he can’t be bought.”

Heartland Republicans and progressive Democrats remain wide apart on social and cultural issues. But there’s a growing overlap on economics. The populist upsurge is real. I sincerely hope Donald Trump doesn’t become president. He’s a divider and a buffoon.

But I do hope the economic populists in both parties come together.

That’s the only way we’re going to reform a system that’s now rigged against most of us.

[cantbeserious]

1. Thank You For Validating Bernie Sanders Crossover Appeal

eom

[JDPriestly]

2. Thanks for posting. This rings really true.

The Tea Partiers are angry abou some of the same things we are angry about.

Feel the Bern!

Bernie is likely to appoint Reich to a cabinet or high level post. I certainly hope he will.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. Seriously, Trump?

He's the last person who will look out for their interests.

He can't be bought? Not sure that's true, regardless, how is Trump not Wall Street?

[LiberalArkie]

17. Guess who Trumps bankruptcies affected the most - the bankers

[Sherman A1]

4. Read this article yesterday

and found it not only to be very interesting, but spot on from what I have found in my conversations along the way. Social issues do tend to make a split between folks, but on economics there is likemindedness in general.

[Enthusiast]

5. Kicked and recommended! Go, Bernie!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. These idiots voted for a bunch of oil men and cheered during "Shock & Awe" hoping for 39¢ gas.

[cantbeserious]

7. Yes - Probably True - Calling Them Idiots Won't Help Though - Focus On The Common Ground

eom

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. I've met some that are waiting for the "go" order to start executing non-conservatives.

[cantbeserious]

9. Yes - All True One Suspects - Those Were Probably Not The Ones Interviewed By Reich

eom

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. I'm old enough to remember Willie Nelson and "Farm Aid"....

Liberals used the "F-Word" as in "Farm". We actually were trying to save family farms.

That was before the corporate media painted every rural area in this country bright red and told Liberals they weren't welcome.

[cantbeserious]

11. Yep - I Am That Old As Well - When History Is Written - The DLC Third-Way Will Be Villified

eom

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Conservatives in general will eventually be universally rejected....

The Republican Party will go down with it.

At this point they're looking for someone to be their Troll In Chief.

[starroute]

16. Remember? Willie's still at it

There was a 30th Annual Farm Aid concert this September: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/farm-aid-30-willie-nelson-neil-young-headline-30th-anniversary-show-20150728

And here's something Willie wrote last March criticizing the Republican candidates for sucking up to Big Ag.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/willie-nelson-iowa-agriculture-115815

On Saturday, a cast of Republican presidential hopefuls will take the stage at the first-ever Iowa Ag Summit.

The event—organized by Iowa native and Big Ag operator Bruce Rastetter—promises to be a conversation about modern agriculture, renewable fuels, biosciences, GMOs, grain and livestock markets, land conservation and federal subsidies. Over the course of the day, Rastetter will sit down on stage with Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and more.

Often, conversations like these become about “feeding the world,” a slogan that industrial agriculture uses to justify its existence. But family farmers are adamant that the focus should be on feeding all of us, rather than feeding corporate interests. People, not profits, should come first. The truth is, while the motivation to feed the world sounds noble, it’s often a front for corporate consolidation and power.

Industrial agriculture displaces the people who farm and steward the land. It produces cheap food that damages our health. It pollutes the soil and water. And it makes it harder and harder for small- and mid-sized farmers to access the credit, markets and fair prices they need to make an honest living. Yet, it’s these very farmers who show up in report after report as the ones who will actually feed the world, while also diminishing climate change and alleviating rural poverty.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. The biggest secret of GMOs is they have the same yields....

The whole point of GMOs is to make seeds from the resulting crops worthless forcing farmers to buy seeds every year.

[Martin Eden]

13. I've been saying for years we should be allies on economic issues

Perhaps some tepartiers are more aware than we give them credit for, but they're still being manipulated into voting against their own interests when Rethug politicians thump the bible and drape themselves in the flag.

[Doctor_J]

14. however. I have found that most dittiots and Fox addicts believe that

only dems are guilty of these transgressions. That's the way their propaganda works

[Demeter]

15. Thre aren't as many of them as they'd like (us) to believe

and ratings are way down, meaning there really aren't as many as there used to be.

Reality, after all, has a definitely liberal bias, and Reality has been catching up with the Joe SixPacks and their female counter parts. The pendulum is finally swinging back our way.

[MisterP]

19. I'd also add that it's not a very tightly-held blame against Dems--if there's a "new sort of Dem"

they might think twice in the polling booth

much of it is bluster to cover up "ego-injuries" like our winner-and-loser economy