Now, socialism is getting favor on the left, as evidenced by Michigan's Democratic primary this week.
And despite the backing and huge spending on the, on the party establishment, Haley Stevens losing the Senate race to Abdul Ella Shaed.
Uh, with the midterms less than 3 months away, uh, progressives seem to have the upper hand in the Democratic Party.
Now, joining me to discuss this and more is Mark Bloomfield, chair of board of directors for American Council of Capital Formation.
Mark, good morning and thank you so much for joining us today.
Well, thank you, and if I could, let me talk about populism on the left, as you pointed out, and on the right.
And for those who don't know, it's not a new phenomenon.
Um, populism has been part of American history for years.
It's the peop representing the people against the unresponsive elites.
It appeared on both the left and the right in history.
You are too young to remember, but I was a member of the People's Party.
In the 1890s, we argued that railroads, banks, and monopolies exploited ordinary Americans, and like the Democratic Socialists today, we supported the election of US senators.
Then there was Huey Long in the Depression.
And then there was George Wallace of the 1960s, Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, and today, what you alluded to, is populism, as you pointed out on the left with Bernie Sanders, AOZ and now El Saeed, emphasizing what?
Inequality, universal healthcare, Corporate influence, and on the right, we've got Trump emphasizing immigration control, tariffs, national sovereignty, and the America first agenda.
So I think it's good to have that context.
And now what I also wanna talk about us.
Why don't I now talk about what the right and left have agree upon.
Um, what do the right and left agree upon?
Number 1, they agree that globalization has harmed workers and communities.
2, free trade can be harmful.
3, vitalizing domestic manufacturing should be a priority.
Damn China for screwing things up.
Big tech needs to be regulated or broken up.
Big companies have too much influence, and as I alluded earlier, political elites have been disconnected from ordinary citizens.
So that's what populism on the right and on the left.
And if you'd like now, I can talk about what they, what they, what, what they emphasize, where they disagree upon.
I can talk about right-wing populists.
Uh, right-wing populists, um, that's the MAGA people, they focus on national identity and religion.
2, restricting immigration, we see those in the debates.
3, law and order.
4, economic nationalism, and 5, skeptism of.
International institutions.
You alluded to the recent victory of in Michigan of El Sadat.
Well, what do left-wing populists focus on as opposed to right-wing populists?
Again, economic inequality, labor unions, universal healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
I'm a tax groupie, so I'm intrigued about um the emphasis on um on, on taxes on the wealthy.
What's interesting, the right-wing populace, um, really don't, they oppose a wealth tax.
They want lower taxes generally, where, of course, uh, left-wing uh favor a wealth tax than others.
So, I may have gone too fast, but I want to emphasize that we've got populism on the right and the left, and they will have an impact in, in the extent.
To which we now have 4 American parties.
We have the Socialist Democrats, we have MAGA, 2 parties.
We have the Democratic and the Republican Party, and that's what we're now facing in November, and that is what we'll face at the presidential election.
Awesome.
Well, Mark, before I let you go, any, any final thoughts?
Yeah, the final thought, again, this is not a US development.
This is a worldwide development because we've got populist movements challenging traditional parties around the world, and that will have implications as it has in the United States, but around the world.
Foreign policy, international economic policy.
So we're now in a very, very unique situation and we need to focus on populism on both sides.
It will have an impact on economic policy in so many ways.
They agree on some things and they disagree on others.
Austin Mark, well, thank you so much for your time this morning.
I appreciate you giving us your insights.
