Why don't we have a Populist party in the United States

[monsoon]

We have democrats and we have republicans, and IMO they are both self serving and get little done for the United States. My question is why don't we have a Populist party?

[Snowguy716]

We have had populist parties in the past.

Minnesota had the Farmer-Labor party, which was a socialist party with strong populist roots, that merged with the Democrats in 1944 to create the DFL, which still exists today.

The Non-Partisan-League, which is what the Farmer-Labor party was born out of, was a socialist party with strong populist roots that had great influence in the Dakotas merged with the North Dakota Democratic party in 1956 to form the Democratic-NPL party that still exists today.

There was also a populist party that did well across the plains and Midwest.

Populist politics are still very strong in this area and are mostly represented in the Democratic party, though nationwide the Republican party has been swept up in the conservative populist movement by the social conservatives.

Unfortunately, the interests of the "common" people differ from region to region, so it is unlikely that we'll ever have a strong national Populist party. Farmers and Laborers have had a lot of success in forming organizations and political entities that still have a lot of sway in politics in certain regions (which is why, for example, northeast Minnesota is about 70% Democrat... labor and unions are king. Duluth is actually home to an AFL-CIO Labor Temple where people meet once per month in the Wellstone room to discuss labor issues).

Unfortunately, white collar workers haven't been able to organize into an entity to represent their common interests as the white collar worker represents and celebrates the individual much more than the blue collar worker. I think that attitude is changing, though.

[snoogit]

The most successful populist party was run by none other then William Jennings Bryan who quite honestly I would never want to see resurface again. He was a man who would make today's right wing nut jobs look moderate.

[Snowguy716]

William Jennings Bryan made moral issues out of everything. He thought the government had a place to ensure morality in the country... much like the far-right conservatives of today. Except that Bryan also thought that poverty was also immoral and thought the government should eliminate that as well.

[Spartan]

populist

1 : a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people

[JDC]

By definition, sure, because it's a representative democratic republic. But I think you could easily make the case that many people in power represent other interests besides the common person.

[kayman]

By definition, sure, because it's a representative democratic republic. But I think you could easily make the case that many people in power represent other interests besides the common person.