This is partially a response to John Emerson’s “What is populism? III” http://openleft.com/diary/1557…
Let’s side step the issue of populism
since the groups that dislike it aren’t going to change by knowing more about it, and since, by your own admission, they have an interest in maintaining their hatred of it. I just would like the country to be governed in everyone’s best interests and not just the interest of business. Do the tea baggers offer this. Nope. They are dogmatic free market fundamentalists in most cases so I am not interested in them.
I know third parties cannot do anything more than spoil, but the spoiler affect can be used strategically against bad democrats. If the 10 percent nader affect were utilized against the worst corporatists,in 5 years, the corporatists will be exercised from the democratic party. Let’s start something like a “strategic liberalism party” and use the spoiler affect to purge the democrats of corporatist candidates. The problem with the greens is that they ran even against good dems like Paul Wellstone! A “strategic liberalism party” or a “real democratic party” wouldn’t make that mistake.