“Populism is at its essence just determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government. One big difference between real populism and what the Tea Party thing is, is that real populists understand that government has become a subsidiary of corporations. So you can't say, let's get rid of government. You need to be saying let's take over government.” PeopleNeedsRealHelpingBigsGovernmentAbleEnergyDifferencesPartyEconomyEnvironmentFocusMediaEssenceDeterminedTeaCorporateCorporationsIronOverwhelmingHelping PeopleOur EnvironmentTea PartyPopulistPopulism Author:Jim Hightower
“What created democracy was Thomas Paine and Shays Rebellion, the suffragists and the abolitionists and on down through the populists and the labor movement, including the Wobblies. Tough, in your face people... Mother Jones, Woody Guthrie... Martin Luther King and Caesar Chavez. And now it’s down to us.” PeopleFacesMotherDemocracyMovementKingsToughLaborIncludingRebellionYour FaceLutherWoodyPopulistAbolitionistLabor MovementPaineChavezShaySuffragists Author:Jim Hightower
“Populists have always been out to challenge the orthodoxy of the corporate order and to empower workaday Americans so they can control their own economic and political destinies. This approach distinguishes the movement from classic liberalism, which seeks to live in harmony with concentrated corporate power by trying to regulate excesses.” TryingPoliticalOrderChallengesDestinyEconomicMovementApproachHarmonyCorporateClassicEmpoweringLiberalismExcessOrthodoxyPopulist Author:Jim Hightower
“Liberals want to manage the damage with government programs to take care of those who have fallen between the cracks. Populists want to fix the cracks so that people don't fall in the first place.” PeopleWantFirstsGovernmentCareFallProgramTake CareManageFallenDamageCracksPopulistGovernment Programs Author:Jim Hightower