Tag Archives: california

Populist Revolution? How a Bold New Voter Coalition Can Reshape the Nation

By Marshall Auerback
Cross-Posted from AlterNet.org

Minorities, independent women, gays, working-class white voters, and younger people overcame through high turnout a fierce social conservative block.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Tuesday’s election will be regarded as a pivotal one in US history. For 30 years the top 1 percent has manipulated the masses to vote against their own interests. It was able to do that because the feelings of the white middle and lower classes about social issues overwhelmed their economic considerations.

But something interesting happened this year: high levels of minority and young voter turnout, together with an increased Obama-tilt among all voters earning less than $50,000 a year, routed the GOP. In one sense, the election represents the triumph of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his “Rainbow Coalition.” The Reverend Jackson was the first serious challenge of a black man for the presidency, and with his Rainbow Coalition, he ran for the Democratic nomination in 1984 and in 1988, with a platform that represented an anthology of progressive ideas from the 1960s. He attracted a large number of supporters, many of them from the white working-class. Each time his movement looked like it was gaining electoral traction, the Democratic Party establishment would invariably mobilize against him and elect feeble white liberals – Mondale and Dukakis – who plummeted to defeat by Reagan and George Bush Sr. Continue reading

An Open Letter to California Attorney General Harris

By William K. Black

First, let me join with New York Attorney General Schneiderman in congratulating you for your decision to withdraw from the mortgage foreclosure settlement. Two of the states with the largest number of victims have decided that the proposed settlement is inadequate and dangerous because of the scope of the releases. Your explanation for your decision in your letter to Attorney General Miller was concise, polite, and persuasive. Attorney General Miller deserves credit for his efforts – four years ago – to warn the Federal Reserve about endemic mortgage fraud by nonprime lenders. I quote key passages from his warnings below.

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