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The events of the last 6 years, including the defeat of Bernie Sanders by Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presidential Primary of 2016, the subsequent election of Donald Trump,  the events and political upheavals surrounding Trump's defeat to Biden, the rise of the Corona Virus, and the increasing polarization of our country have lead me to blog to try to clarify my own thoughts about what is happening to us, and why.  

A key element of my blog is to bring forward the idea that populism is not inherently a right wing political philosophy. While in the US a right wing, nativist, and religious populist element has appeared to have grown in power, particularly in the Republican Party, our country has 19th century populist roots that were often progressive in nature, leading to regulation of the banks and the direct election of US Senators.  Populist Democrats and democratic socialists continue to have a voice in many community organizations and civic associations, though they may not always be identified as such. 

The purpose of my blog is to help connect the dots by arguing that a left leaning, progressive populism can address the imbalances of political power and voice, economic insecurity and inequality, and lack of inclusion that trouble so many Americans today.  The right is correct that too much power is concentrated at the top of our society, but they fundamentally misunderstand the mechanisms of control that maintain these imbalances, and their reliance on religious and nativist interpretations of reality lead them to misunderstand who rules our world and why.  Capitalism, sexism, racism and environmental decay are the primary culprits leading to our current malaise, and not the boogeymen of the right (such as evil cabals and foreign invaders).  The enemy of our Common Good is not Satanic or foreign in nature--rather, it is our own political and economic systems which have grown increasingly elitist and out of control of the average person living in the United States. This blog attempts to connect the dots on political inequality, economic oppression and social exclusion, and seeks to explain how progressive populism can make us a fairer, more equal and more inclusive society--one focused on the Common Good.