Remember the Reform Party?

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

28 November 16

he same people who supported Ross Perot’s version of populism voted for Donald Trump. They are the rural working-class voters we need to win over to get back in power. We have to face some realities. They want to put America first and do not support diversity. It is our job to convince them that diversity makes America great. It will not be easy, but we must not resort to the right wing’s tactics of blaming everything on immigrants.

I get an earful every day in my Uber rides to the doctor and dialysis. I hear about why Trump won, and almost all the drivers say it’s too bad Hillary Clinton stole the nomination from Bernie. To them, Clinton was a career politician who got wealthy selling influence. When I bring up Trump's deficiencies, I always hear the same response: he is not a politician, and it’s time to try something new. It is our job to convince people over the next two years that he is a politician. Trump made his money in business so he got a pass when it came to elitism. My Uber drivers believe in the American dream.

They believe that taxes and regulation are preventing them from their version of the American dream. It is our job to convince them that the social safety net is there for those who need it, but that it’s the rigged economy that is keeping them down, not immigrants, taxes or regulations.

They want to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Progressives want to drain the swamp too. There are just as many establishment Democrats as Republicans that need to go. Maybe it’s time for term limits. One way to shake up Washington would be to implement an eight-year limit for service in the legislative branch just like the eight-year term limits in the White House.

I used say elections are term limits and the bad apples should get voted out. But let’s face it, the more entrenched they become the harder it is to unseat them. Usually the party in power will oppose term limits to maintain their grip. I think we have hit a time when there are members of both parties who want to get rid of the establishment wings of their party and would support term limits. We also have a president-elect who ran as a populist. The best way to shake up Washington is term limits. Let’s get it done, Donald.

Open primaries are a way to open up the Democratic Party. We would then be nominating the candidate who is strongest for November. Bernie had a populist message that was resonating with independents. Larry Cohen is co-chairing a committee that is tasked with reforming the nomination process, including weakening the power of super delegates. Larry, let’s swing for the fences! No more super delegates. Let’s have open primaries, same-day registration in all Democratic primaries, no foreclosed primaries, and no more legislation deadlines months before primaries. Let everyone who wants to participate in the nominating process in. It will grow the party and allow us to have the strongest nominee.

Another issue I heard mentioned a lot in Iowa was inheritance taxes. That makes sense for the wealthy, but not for a family farm. Let’s allow family farms and small businesses to be passed down without crippling taxes for the generation inheriting the business.

Farmers in Iowa don’t believe the Democrats represent them. They think we are too busy focusing on urban issues to care about rural America. It is our job to convince them that we have their back and will fight the corporations that are destroying the family farm in America. Bold Nebraska is the model for the rest of the country. They organized landowners and farmers to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Bernie came out against the Dakota Access Pipeline during the Iowa Caucus campaign. But Hillary took no position, so that was a taken as a sign that the Democrats were not on the side of the farmer whose land was getting carved up by an oil pipeline against his will. Eminent domain was used to seize land from landowners who didn’t want the pipeline on their land. Bernie would have gotten more votes than Hillary in Iowa, because landowners would have known he was on their side.

Remember Hillary’s problems in West Virginia? She just couldn’t get it right. Bernie was able to get the coal miners to believe he was on their side. Bernie beat Hillary in West Virginia 51 to 35%. Trump beat her by a larger margin.

The Democrats have gotten good at speaking to urban America, but they’re clueless when it comes to rural America. I hope Keith Ellison looks to emerging leaders like Jane Kleeb in Nebraska, who will become the state chair in December. She fought eminent domain in Nebraska and delayed the Keystone pipeline. She organized in rural America and succeeded. She is a progressive who knows how to campaign in rural America. Make her a vice chair in the national party, Keith. In Iowa, a longtime rural organizer named Blair Lawton is running for Party chair. He was Bernie’s political director in Iowa and ran Run Warren Run for MoveOn in the state. He too would make a great vice chair.

We must do better at representing rural Americans. The corporate farms are destroying rural America. You know what? They are there donating to local schools and community groups. Republicans are there – that’s why most of the country is red. Rural Americans are looking for someone to represent them. Donald Trump said he would. That’s why he won the Electoral College. We must do better at representing all Americans, not just urban America.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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