The rise of figures like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump isn't the
cause; it's the symptom
Step back from the campaign fray for just a moment and consider
the enormity of what’s already occurred.
A 74-year-old Jew from Vermont who describes himself as a
democratic socialist, who wasn’t even a Democrat until recently, has come
within a whisker of beating Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus, routed her in
the New Hampshire primary, and garnered over 47 percent of the caucus-goers in
Nevada, of all places.
And a 69-year-old billionaire who has never held elective office
or had anything to do with the Republican Party has taken a commanding lead in
the Republican primaries.
Something very big has
happened, and it’s not due to Bernie Sanders’ magnetism or Donald Trump’s
likeability.
It’s a rebellion against
the establishment.
The question is why the
establishment has been so slow to see this. A year ago – which now seems like
an eternity – it proclaimed Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush shoe-ins.
Both had all the advantages –
deep bases of funders, well-established networks of political insiders,
experienced political advisors, all the name recognition you could want.
But even now that Bush is out and Hillary is still leading but
vulnerable, the establishment still doesn’t see what’s occurred. They explain
everything by pointing to weaknesses: Bush, they now say, “never connected”
and Hillary “has a trust problem.”
A respected political insider recently told me most Americans are
largely content. “The economy is in good shape,” he said. “Most Americans are
better off than they’ve been in years. The problem has been the major
candidates themselves.”
I beg to differ.
Economic indicators may be up
but they don’t reflect the economic insecurity most Americans still feel, nor
the seeming arbitrariness and unfairness they experience.
Nor do the major indicators
show the linkages Americans see between wealth and power, crony capitalism,
declining real wages, soaring CEO pay, and a billionaire class that’s turning
our democracy into an oligarchy.
Median family income lower now
than it was sixteen years ago, adjusted for inflation.
Most economic
gains, meanwhile, have gone to top.
These gains have translated into political power to rig the system
with bank bailouts, corporate subsidies, special tax loopholes, trade deals,
and increasing market power – all of which have further pushed down wages
pulled up profits.
Full
yext at: http://www.salon.com/2016/02/24/robert_reich_2016_is_the_beginning_of_the_end_of_the_establishment_partner/
