On Feb 6, 2008, at 12:41 PM, Jerry Monaco wrote:
> I though we had already agreed on this list that elections don't
> reflect the popular will, at least when it comes to policy questions.
>
> Doug you may be right but I think you are practicing avoidance. The
> 1896 election was massively exclusive in many ways.
Yeah, sure, but if there were really a strong majority favoring redistribution it would have prevailed over those obstacles. There was a large base favoring some version of radical politics, but there were huge gaps by region and social status.
Elections aren't perfect reflections of the popular will, but they're what we have to live with, short of violent revolution or social collapse.
And, more recently, what about that classic argument that if the Dems would only embrace a full-throated populism they'd win? Why did the Edwards campaign fail so badly then? It wasn't even a near-miss.
Doug