Wilson was no populist. But he was a Progressive. As described in Melvin Urofsky's extraordinary biography,Brandeis, Wilson pushed back against Hamiltonian-Teddy Roosevelt, and pushed forward a vision sketched for him by Louis Brandeis:against the idea ofa cabal of big business regulated by big government, andfor the idea ofsmall business and the liberty that would encourage for all.
The 1912 election thus gave America perhaps the most diverse menu of political options ever in the history of Presidential elections. At one extreme was Socialist Eugene Debs, pushing for a radical change in the substance of American social life. At the other was Republican William Howard Taft, insisting that the substance of pro-business politics that defined the mainstream of the Republican Party was the best policy for Republicans and for America. And in the middle were two strong Progressives, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, both agreeing on the urgent need to end Special Interest Government, even if disagreeing on the vision of how government and business should interact.
Almost 70% of Americans voted for the Progressive cause (42% for Wilson, 27% for Roosevelt. Taft received just 23%). Many of them were Republicans, or former Republicans. Many more were Democrats. But they all represented an odd coalition of interests that put aside strong substantive differences about what government should do to address forcefully (and they naively thought, finally) the corruption that government had become.
The Neo-Progressive Movement needs the same catholicism. The vast majority of Americans would willingly go to war to end Special Interest Government. Disgust with Wall Street "reform" is palpable. The compromises of the bailouts and stimulus plans will just fuel that disgust even more. There is an endless reservoir of examples of government corrupted that could convince America of what it already believes: Money buys results in Congress; "the People" are no longer sovereign.
But if this Neo-Progressive Movement is to have any chance of success, it needs to be disciplined enough not to insist that all members also be members ofMoveon.org. We need, to borrow and remix theinsight of Cass Sunstein, an "incompletely theorized movement." We need Republicans who stand in the tradition of Reagan and Goldwater, yet who are as disgusted with the sellout that corporate money has induced as are we. How can an honest Republican vote to protect domestic sugar manufacturers? Yet many do, because the millions in campaign contributions from sugar lords is just too sweet to resist. How can honest Republicans vote for the corporate welfare we call farm subsidies? Because, as former-Representative Leslie Byrne (D-VA) was told by a colleague when she came to Congress, "always lean to the green." That colleague "wasn't," she clarified, "an environmentalist."
The Neo-Progressive Movement must also make its case to the Tea Party, the most potent political movement in America today, far deeper than it is caricatured to be by both Fox and MSNBC. For whatever extreme social vision motivates some in that party, the belief that government has been bought motivates them all.
And most importantly, the Movement must be willing to sacrifice Democrats who don't commit to its fundamental reform. That party is filled with people who don't actually believe in this reform. The sell out of the Democrats to Wall Street during the 1990s testifies to this split.
But if the failure of Obama teaches us anything, it is that real reform for Democrats won't happen in the world of Special Interest Government. And if the failure of 20 years of Republican Presidents in the last 30 to deliver on the fundamental promises of Reagan teaches the Right anything, it should be that real reform on the right won't happen in the world of Special Interest Government either.
There is an opportunity for Neo-Progressives now, much like the opportunity of a century ago. There will be open Republican primaries in 2012. In those primaries, there will be Republicans who want to distance themselves from the "sell our government to the highest bidder" policies of the Gingrich/Delay days. That candidate could well recognize that especially in light of the certain to be grotesque flood of corporate money that will define the 2010 election, America, and especially, grassroots Republicans are starving for a candidate who would deliver what Obama promised in reform, but failed to achieve. And if it becomes the Republican Party that is talking about ending Special Interest Government (again), then the race to achieve real reform will be on.
The Neo-Progressive Movement needs to encourage these Republicans. It needs to be willing to put aside part of the agenda of each within the movement, recognizing that no change, on the Right or the Left, will happen until the fever is broken, because the disease has been stopped. Mainstream parties have lost the credibility for reform. As in 1912, only a breakaway, trans-party movement, possibly with no single leader, could have an effect in 2012.
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reprinted from huffingtonpost.com
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