Who Else Thinks We Need an Aggressive Economic Populism Party in the United States That Is Also Hands Off on Social Issues?

[NorthwestRider]

The Democrats are the pro elite party who want to bend over for corporate America

The Republicans are the white trash religious nutty party who just whine on stupid ass cultural wars that fix nothing

So we need an aggressive economic populism libertarian on social issues party to save this shithole country. We need the best education, Healthcare, benefits, infrastructure, etc in the damn whole world!!

Yes We Do

Nope

[nightdrot]

Voted "No." In part because the question misstates the nature of American political parties and therefore a third party would not necessarily, at the end of the day, be much different from the existing parties. The other point being that the question misunderstands the nature of populism and the relationship of culture to politics.

To start, American parties are not ideological parties as you tend to see in Europe. Rather they are lose knit coalitions of regional, religious, ethnic, racial, income and other groups that have come together in part by common interests and in part by historical accident.

In the case of the GOP, it is a coalition made up of classical liberals - which Americans call conservatives, libertarians, small and medium sized business, religious and social traditionalists, lower middle and upper middle income earners, farmers, rural and exurban populations, older voters, the South, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain West and the state of Alaska, to name the most prominent groups.

On the Democratic side you get, ethnic and religious minorities, middle and high income wage earners, big business and entertainment industries, urban and inner suburban votes, radical liberals - which Americans call liberals. (Note, the term "radical" here does not mean as Americans use it, i. e. "extremist," but rather as the ancient Greeks used the term, meaning "to the root of.") The northeast, the mid-Atlantic, the Pacific coast and the state of Hawaii.

This is how you get a Republican Party that runs from Ted Cruz at one end to Susan Collins at the other. This is how you get a Democratic Party that runs from Joe Manchin at one end to Elizabeth Warren at the other. Quite simply, party identification is not about ideological identity.

Thus, look closely enough and there is apt to be elements in both parties that already hew to the viewpoint expressed in the question. The point being that such a viewpoint has gotten as much traction as it can in the context of American political culture.

This conducing to the next point, populism is NOT a consistent political philosophy. It is, rather, an expression of envy and resentment to groups assumed to be dominant in the country and the culture. Thus Donald Trump is NOT a conservative. He is a populist. Bernie Sanders is NOT a socialist. He is rather a populist.

The appeal of both being to feelings of, as noted, envy and resentment in the culture than then gain expression in the politics, and thus the government policies, of the nation. This then why the neat divide the question postulates cannot happen.

Indeed, the social conservatism the question deplores is, in part, an outgrowth of populism. It is the result of certain groups - particularly lower and middle class blue collar workers - that believe that the culture is being dominated by distant and powerful elites that look down upon them and want to indoctrinate their children.

CONT.

[nightdrot]

Hence the battles over education. "Wokeism" is seen as an attempt to indoctrinate children with ideas that are hostile to the values of the "common man." Thus do culture and politics intersect. Indeed, what in part did in Roe v. Wade was the fact that it was the product not of choice, but of an elite.

On the economic level, populism is even more problematic. If defined by the likes of Senator Sanders, it ends up empowering the very wealthy it claims to be controlling in the name of fairness. It puts economic decision making in the hands of a democratically elected government. The problem being those with the accountants, lawyers and lobbyists to influence democratic governance are the wealthy and elite.

Defined by the likes of Mr. Trump, and it is true that the free market is left to decide who succeeds and who not. However, this in due course just produces the successful and the unsuccessful - i. e., the elite and the rest. Even here, there is not consistency. Mr. Trump, after all, opposes open immigration, neglecting Adam Smith's maxim that "The merchant has no country."

Bottom line. Politics, economics and culture are too deeply intertwined to make the neat divisions this question uses as its premise. In the real world, the lines are too blurry. Politics is downstream of culture, as the old saw has it, and thus any party that sought a hard divide between the two - especially on the sandy soil of populism - would likely be torn to pieces, assuming it could even get off the ground.

[USLegionary]

We have the best the best education, Healthcare, benefits, infrastructure.
Education: we have all those Ivy League colleges and other great colleges that students from all around the world come to study in.

We have the best healthcare in the world. It'd just that many can't afford it. To be honest a lot of the high prices related to healthcare is due to the obese driving it up. Should non-obese have to pay for the health problems of 40% of the country?

Benefits? You mean welfare? We need more people to get jobs rather than being a burden on soceity.

Infrastructure. Most of our infrastructure is tied up in the military

[Anonymous]

Republicans are the kind of people who water their lawns during a drought.

[duttyjamagyal]

If the drought meant you were thirty and suffering then I would do that too

[NorthwestRider]

Republicans are poor ass freaks who hate improving their own lives. They think Healthcare and benefits are communism 😂

[duttyjamagyal]

You know best

[duttyjamagyal]

No social issues r too important

[NorthwestRider]

They are not important. They are not kitchen table issues. Healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc are way more important. How does social issues make your life better?

[duttyjamagyal]

Social issues affect all those things, there's lot of disparities in those things because of them. They are not to be ignored, the whole point of any of those things mattering to you is because you feel human beings matter, well we can't matter while ignoring one of the biggest aspects of a community which is the social one

[NorthwestRider]

We have people who rather whine about women getting abortions than the fact that this freaking country is ranked 27th in the world and we have the worst Healthcare system among developed countries

[duttyjamagyal]

Well then the thought of poor people dying and profit being put over people should enlighten you. Abortion is wrong, and niggas can triple fucking task. Two things can be true at the same time

[duttyjamagyal]

I can't wait to vote for an anti abortion candidate next election, and every election to come

[NorthwestRider]

And how that improves your own life aka getting you better Healthcare, a better career, better benefits, better schools, better roads, better airports, etc

[duttyjamagyal]

Not everything is about me, but anywho you fight for white crossdressing porn stars not me. U r not my friend

[NorthwestRider]

Because I do not care what pornstars do. I just care about my future and where I want to be. A better life. Freaking over abortions does not pay the bills, put food on the table, get me the best Healthcare, fix the roads, more money in my pockets, etc

[duttyjamagyal]

Well if you care so much about that then go Rob a bank, doesn't require anyone to agree or give a fuck about your life or what you got going on. Bye

[duttyjamagyal]

I know I won't be 28 and a broke bitch so I'll continue to not give a fuck about you and your status and continue to vote Republican 😍

[NorthwestRider]

I am middle class not broke. I am also aiming higher. Republicans are a trashy party who love the cultural wars not the real issues. We need the Bull Moose Party back

[duttyjamagyal]

You thinking they're separate is why ur a fucking idiot

[NorthwestRider]

Losers whine over cultural wars while winners want to improve their own damn lives

[duttyjamagyal]

Right because having healthcare and still dying because the doctors don't believe when I say Im having a heart attack improves my life so much, right because my life is improved when you get everything you want out of life and I'm still a black piece of shit to those with authority... like I said before... u r a fucking idiot

[NorthwestRider]

We should have the European Healthcare system which is much more superior than our weak ass system