Is progressive populism dead when it comes to running for President?

[zulchzulu]

Imagine a real progressive like Fighting Bob La Follette or Huey Long trying to run for president these days.

Imagine how they would be portrayed and distorted, mowed down and character assassinated...

Imagine someone like MLK or Malcolm X these days...deeper and wider than Al or Jesse could ever be.

In order to be a real progressive, you have to be stealthy and appeal to all, yet be bought out by none.

[alittlelark]

1. You must have a free press....

to give you space.

[Mist]

7. Not to mention actual verifiable voting

[kentuck]

2. Imagine Joe Lieberman defeaating them ??

I'd like to see it.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Huey Long was also a corrupt asshole...

His policies were very socialist nonetheless, but when somebody is corrupt as that guy was, I can't help wonder if he just used populism to stay in power.

[angee_is_mad]

4. basically

yep, basically

[UpsideDownFlag]

5. in a word? yes. nt

[OneBlueSky]

6. progressive populism hasn't been tried yet . . .

at least by a major party . . . if it's well articulated and properly marketed, it has great appeal and could very well be a winning ideology . . . I just don't see the right people out there who favor progressive populism and would be willing to take it to the people as a viable alternative to fascism . . . it ain't gonna be Kerry, or Gore, or Clark, or Clinton, or even Dean for that matter . . . maybe Kucinich, but he has other deficits that make him a less than viable candidate . . . the perfect candidate would have been Paul Wellstone, but they made sure that's not gonna happen . . .

[Radical Activist]

8. Wellstone is right

I think he would have won if he had survived to run for President. The next best chance could come from Illinois. Durbin and Obama are both great progressive populists.

[Radical Activist]

9. Notice how most of the good people you named were killed

along with Paul Wellstone, RFK, JFK...why is it that only the progressives who might bring power to the average person get killed?

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. It is until we get ranked voting in primaries and general elections

------------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/

[rman]

11. it has hardly any chance in a society that is dominated

by corporate media.
no matter how good the message of a progressive candidate, it will be suppressed and spun by the mainstream media so that hardly anyone knows what it's actually about.

[sadiesworld]

12. Perhaps the moment will find the man (or woman).

I have a sneaking suspicion that things are going to look pretty ugly here in the ole' USofA by 2008. I believe MOST will be ready for a drastic change by then. Yet I worry that, even assuming a draft and depression here at home, the powers-that-be are too firmly entrenched to be defeated. At least peacefully.

I don't really even see the problem as being limited to the US. The lesser-of-two-evils scenario is being played out in the UK, India, etc. Europeans are being encouraged to privatize (eliminate) their social safety nets. Corporate media are making increased inroads in Canada (and oh yeah--free healthcare is not a right).

Maybe Hugo Chavez and the global left will save us yet.