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Jim Hightower is an American populist, spreading his message of democratic hope via national radio commentaries, columns, books, his award-winning monthly newsletter (The Hightower Lowdown) and barnstorming tours all across America.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 In the Constitution, "Security" Means Protection From Our Law Enforcers, Not By Them
A blitz of warrantless surveillance and imprisonments without trial. The core of too many of today's prominent political leaders consists almost entirely of unintended irony, which tends to make them go all wobbly on their political stands. This might be comical were it not so destructive for our nation.
Saturday, February 4, 2012 Newt Gingrich: the spawn of Citizens United
Justice Kennedy, meet Sheldon Adelson -- a product of your cluelessness about how real politics work. For years, this casino baron has spent lavishly on right-wing front groups to advance his personal agenda, including pouring money into Newt Gingrich.
Monday, January 2, 2012 Declare Independence From Corporate Power!
A year from now, Americans will be caught in an unprecedented blizzard of campaign ads. Most of this ad blizzard will not come from the candidates, but from ads secretly funded by huge corporations. This is because a five-man cabal on the Supreme Court issued an edict that perverts nature itself.
Friday, December 30, 2011 The Disuniting of America
At the tippy-top of America's wealth pyramid are the multimillionaire CEOs and billionaire Wall Streeters. They are the richest one-one-hundreth of the one-percenters (a mere 14,836 households). These few now take six percent of all U.S. income -- the biggest piece ever consumed by America's mega-rich.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 Rick-the-regular-guy
Rick-the-regular-guy says that he deserves his double-dip into the public treasury, calling it "just kind of good estate planning in my opinion."
Saturday, December 24, 2011 The Poor Rich and the Scrooginess of Congress
Congressional Republicans continue to protect nonsensical tax breaks for Wall Street billionaires and Big Oil, while demanding that programs to aid America's growing number of poor people either be slashed or eliminated. The Obama White House is fighting most of this absurdity, but it keeps trying to appease the GOP by offering to sacrifice programs that ordinary people really need.
Thursday, December 15, 2011 Corporate Elites and Their Small-Minded Political Servants are Creating the Incredibly Shrinking America (2 comments)
There's hope in the Occupy protest that is so big and so deeply felt by so many angry/hopeful people that even such forces of autocracy as Mayor Mike Bloomberg cannot make it go away. You've probably seen this bumper sticker: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." I find that the thing we Americans have the most of is the very thing our failed leaders have the least of: bigness of spirit.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 From Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Nation in Just Two Months (2 comments)
The occupiers are saying what's demonstrably true: America's bankers, bosses, big shots, and BSers don't give a damn about working people, fairness, and justice, or America itself. The moneyed and political elites are out for themselves, everyone else be damned.
Friday, November 11, 2011 Don't Just Salute Veterans, Rally With Them
The penthouse swells can unleash their police to break up protests, but that only fuels the fury. Now they're cracking down on veterans -- people who know how to use guns. It's time to deal with the growing crisis of joblessness and inequality in America.
Sunday, October 23, 2011 Citizens United Against Citizens United: A Grassroots Campaign to Restore Democracy (5 comments)
The rising supremacy of America's corporate plutocracy is based on courts and politicians having blind faith in the legitimacy of the corporations-are-people idolatry. It is not, however, something that its disciples wish to take to the people as an election issue, because... well, because it's poppycock, and it would be resoundingly rejected if it were ever put to a direct vote.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 It's time to name the tea party politicians (and their sponsors)--and call them out (1 comments)
America has BIG needs right now -- a jobs crisis, housing crisis, infrastructure crisis, energy crisis, climate crisis, middle-class crisis, democracy crisis. But they can't even be addressed because tea party ravers in the House, joined there by a gaggle of old school right-wingers, keep throwing hissy fits over far-out ideological gimcrackery.
Monday, September 26, 2011 It's time to name the tea party politicians (and their sponsors)--and call them out (7 comments)
The tea party insurgency was not sparked by a hatred of government, but by raw fury at Republicans and Democrats alike for coddling the Wall Street banksters who crashed their casino emporiums into our economy.
Monday, September 5, 2011 Why are we letting corporate Supremists steal our democracy from us? (9 comments)
The Roberts Five are not objective and reasoned judges. They are crass political operatives disguised in robes of authority, deliberately contorting the law to transfer huge chunks of the people's power to corporate suites. Roberts. Alito. Kennedy. Scalia. Thomas. Memorize these names, for they are thieves.
Monday, May 16, 2011 A battery of elected ideologues opens fire on those who serve the public (1 comments)
The Powers That Be don't like us thinking in terms of class war, or even using the phrase. But from the ever-expanding wealth gap to the relentless downsizing and offshoring of American jobs, from the Supreme Court's enthronement of corporate political money to the state-by-state offensive on worker power--what else can it be called?
Saturday, April 30, 2011 RUN, DONNIE, RUN! (1 comments)
While Trump is not a successful businessman by a long shot, he does play one on television. And now, he wants you to help him take his cheesy act to the White House.
Thursday, January 27, 2011 Obama Inc. (6 comments)
America's working families -- our endangered middle class -- have a right to expect Obama to fight for rules that are fair to them and our country, not meekly accept rules that have been skewed by an elite corporate class to profit them alone. Instead, our president is waltzing with the devil.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011 AIRPORTS: SURRENDER ALL LIBERTY, YE WHO ENTER BY ME (4 comments)
The chief flaw in our present technology-based security scheme is that it doesn't do any good. Hundreds of millions of passengers have been searched, and the system has yet to catch even one terrorist.
Thursday, November 4, 2010 Who's That Hiding Behind the Tea Party?
Sadly, however, neither the confused Democrats nor the fused tea party-Republicans even addressed the economic source of the people's anger and anxiety. Dems mostly said, "Stick with us, for they're worse," and Repubs merely retorted, "We're not them."
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Bleeding in Afghanistan
We continue to go about our daily routines -- go to work, go to the mall, go out to eat, go golfing, go to church, go on vacation, go dancing and drinking. War? Americans will pay far more attention to the World Series than they will to the ongoing carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 Two Multibillionaire Brothers Are Remaking America for Their Own Benefit (4 comments)
Charles and David have used the wealth they draw from Koch Industries to fuel a network of three Koch Family Foundations, which have set up and financed a secretive army of political operatives dedicated to achieving the brothers' anti-government, corporate-controlled vision for America.
Saturday, September 4, 2010 Hightower: If You Don't Fight for the Middle Class, Kiss It Good-Bye
This essential framework for the middle class was not "given" to us by corporate executives and politicians -- indeed, they sputtered, spewed and fought every piece of it tooth and nail. Rather, it came from union-led grassroots movements, organizing for structural change.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Wall Street's Connected Lobbyists
It turns out that old Congress critters never die, they just fade away. Into lobbying firms, that is. Hastert, Armey, Gephardt, Dole and Lott are among a cadre of 73 former members of Congress who have been working in recent months to weaken or kill new regulations to rein in the gouging and reckless gambling of the big financial firms.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 Who Do We Want? Elizabeth Warren! When Do We Want Her? Now! (1 comments)
Clearly, it's time that we found someone who won't kiss bankers' butts, but rather kick bankers' butts. We need someone who's not afraid to go up against the big banks and who won't be influenced by the money of Wall Street. Warren, who has never abandoned her populist roots, is smart, tenacious -- and can't be bought.
Saturday, July 31, 2010 Hightower: Why Is No One Talking About the Real Tragedy Behind the Shirley Sherrod Fiasco? (1 comments)
While pundits and politicos were vilifying Sherrod for an act of discrimination that did not occur, Senate Republicans cut the payments for thousands of official acts of actual discrimination. How's that for bitter irony? Yet Republican leaders wonder why they get practically no black support in elections.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 Jobless "Recovery" Requires Us to Rebuild America
Another implosion bomb is set to hit American workers. The public sector, which has been one bright spot for decent wages and benefits, is about to shed tens of thousands of teachers, firefighters, park employees, utility workers and others from state and local governments, sending our country in exactly the wrong direction.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 The GOP's Genetic Link to Big Oil (2 comments)
For Republicans to continue marching in lockstep with Big Oil, despite public outrage at BP's greed, makes no sense at all. But they can't help it -- their knee-jerk response is genetically programmed. They might even have oil in their DNA.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Enter, Real Populists
Now is the time for progressives to reassert their populist beliefs and bona fides, for we're living in a teachable moment in which it's possible to reach most Americans with an aggressive and positive approach to achieving a higher level of economic and political democracy.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 BP Is a Corporate Criminal (3 comments)
Eleven oil workers are dead, thousands of Gulf Coast people have had their livelihoods devastated and unfathomable damage is being done to the gulf ecology. Imagine how the authorities would be treating the offender if BP were a person. It would've been put behind bars long ago -- if not on death row.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 What a Holy Mess Our Oil Addiction Is Causing (1 comments)
So, God is the one who exploded BP's rig, killed 11 workers, shut down the livelihoods of countless Gulf fishing families and spread a deadly, still-gushing slick of oil across four states. Wow, that's one mean God!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Wall Street Grins as Washington Fiddles
Abacus is a scam. Yet I find it an enormously useful tool, for it sheds light on a dirty little secret that the banking behemoths definitely do not want us outsiders catching onto: They have become casino dealers - only without the ethics.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Killing the Competition (2 comments)
"It's a jungle out there," wail top executives of the airlines. So, to enhance their "competitiveness," they are urging a rash of mergers that would consolidate the industry into fewer and even bigger corporations. Yes, in their alternate (and perverse) universe, airline CEOs say that the only way they can compete is to ... well, have less competition!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 An Inside Outsider Takes On Wall Street
Despite her success as a lawyer, she hasn't forgotten her populist roots and purpose. Elizabeth Warren is Wall Street's worst nightmare: a middle-class champion who gives a damn about workaday people, is smart and tenacious -- and can't be bought.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Walmart: The Inhuman Essence of a Corporate "Person" (2 comments)
I'm curious about those five Supreme Court justices who recently decreed that a corporation is a "person" with human rights: Do you think they ever met Mr. Walmart?
Thursday, March 25, 2010 Hightower: Just How Nutty is the Texas Board of Education? (5 comments)
I love nuts -- pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, you-name-'em. But my favorite nuts, by far, are the homegrown natives that have taken root in one particularly fertile area of my state: the Texas Board of Education. You just can't get any nuttier than this bunch!
Friday, March 19, 2010 Hightower: Two Right-Wing Billionaire Brothers Are Remaking America for Their Own Benefit (4 comments)
Despite a constant racket from the forces of the far-out right (Fox television's yackety-yackers, just-say-no GOP know-nothings, tea-bag howlers, Sarah Palinistas, et al.), the great majority of Americans support a bold progressive agenda for our country, ranging from Medicare for all to the decentralization and re-regulation of Wall Street.
Thursday, March 11, 2010 Why Obama and Dems Seem Incapable of Taking a Firm Stand on Anything (6 comments)
The Obama-ites seem incapable of firm stands. They excite us by boldly addressing our economic woes, then they seduce us by proposing stout actions. But when it comes time to follow through -- it's droopsville.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Fighting the Subversion of Our People's Sovereignty (3 comments)
With a cry of "Shazam!" the court ruled that, henceforth, every corporation -- from Wal-Mart to Wall Street -- is entitled to "speak" by spending unlimited sums from their treasuries to elect or defeat candidates for any and all public offices in our land, from city council to the presidency.
Thursday, February 18, 2010 The Audacity of Greed
Profits have never been better for the health insurance industry. Last year, they booted 2.7 million people off their rolls because they were taking up too much care and eating into profits. Less money for health care means more money for overhead, executive bonuses and, of course, LOBBYING CONGRESS to keep the game going.
Thursday, December 17, 2009 Congress Ethics Rules Undermined by Weasels
Through the nonprofit loophole, Don Bonker, a powerhouse lobbyist with the firm of APCO Worldwide, and foreign corporations can do indirectly what they are prohibited from doing directly. Clever, huh? So clever that "Air Bonker" has paid for five of Sensenbrenner's trips to France, Germany, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Thursday, December 3, 2009 What Is Obama Getting Us into in Afghanistan? (2 comments)
How many more dead and mangled American soldiers does the government's "new" Afghan policy deserve? How many more tens of billions of dollars should we let them siphon from our public treasury to fuel their war policy? How much more of our country's good name will they squander on what is essentially a civil war?
Thursday, November 26, 2009 Giving Thanks for America's Good Food Movement
What better day than Thanksgiving to celebrate our country's food rebels!
The growing movement of small farmers, food artisans, local retailers, co-ops, community organizers, restaurateurs, environmentalists, consumers and others. This movement has spread the rich ideas of sustainability, organic, local control and the Common Good from the fringes of our food economy into the mainstream.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 Obscenely Rich Bankers Claim to Do God's Work -- They Can Go to Hell (8 comments)
While top executives of Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and other big investment houses were initially puzzled and hurt by the public's moral outrage, their audacious sense of personal worth and entitlement quickly kicked back in. So Europeans are now witnessing the spectacle of bankers draping themselves in radiant robes of ethical purity.
Friday, October 30, 2009 Right-Wingers in Congress Love Their Own Govt.-Run Health Care, But They Hate Sharing It (1 comments)
Right under the Capitol dome, conveniently situated between the Senate and House chamber, is the Office of the Attending Physician. Inside are more than a dozen navy doctors, nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists and other health professionals, all employed by the government solely to attend to a select clientele: the 535 members of Congress.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 Goofing Up Health Care Reform (3 comments)
Take Max Baucus. Please! He's the lightweight Montana Democrat to whom President Obama entrusted the heavy job of shepherding health care reform through the upper chamber. It was like asking Tweety Bird to lift a bowling ball.
Saturday, July 11, 2009 Big Bankers Mounting Sneak Attack on Consumers (11 comments)
To add insult to injury, the banks blame us for their rate increases. The truth is, banks are socking it to their customers for two reasons: 1) they can, and 2) fee hikes are a shifty way to snatch enormous levels of new income for themselves without doing anything to earn it.
Saturday, May 9, 2009 Memo to Media: Populism Is a Rebellion Against Corporate Power -- It's Not Just Stupid, Raw Anger (7 comments)
The very essence of populism is its unrelenting focus on breaking the iron grip that big corporations have on our country--including on our economy, government, media, and environment. It is unabashedly a class movement. Try to squeeze Lord Limbaugh into that philosophical suit of clothes! He's just another right-wing, corporate-hugging, silk-tie elitist--an apologist for plutocracy, not a populist.
Thursday, October 18, 2007 Documentary on Granny D on HBO tonight (Thursday)! (1 comments)
n 1999, Granny D walked across America to call attention to the amount of money used to "buy" our elected officials. Then, in 2004, at the last minute, she ran as New Hampshire's Democratic party nominee for the U.S. Senate. She ran a grassroots campaign based on politics for, of and by the people. She's a true populist, and an example the kind of scrappy fighter we all should aspire to be.
