There are some positive signs of life on the left these days. As a dyed-in-the-wool cynical skeptic (or skeptical cynic) I've had to actively cultivate a naive optimism in myself just to survive. It's way too easy to sink into the swirling cesspool of my own steaming negativity in the face of seemingly unrelenting bad news.
So I am willing to feel cautiously hopeful about the potential of people like Elizabeth Warren to build coalitions of progressives in government over the next few years. At the same time I can't stress enough: Keep an eye on the money.
Looking for the fight over the heart and soul of the Democratic Party in the waning days of the Obama administration? Next Tuesday morning, take the elevator to the eighth floor of a downtown Washington, DC, building and step into the offices of America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), the premier lobbying group for some of the largest fracking companies in the world.
While much of the talk about a progressive revival revolves around populist figures like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senator Elizabeth Warren, there are other, better funded efforts afoot. Corporate titans from finance to natural gas to big retail to telecom are attempting to steer the party, and as the midterms shape up, these interests are pushing to ensure they continue to have wide sway over America's only viable outlet for center-left expression at the polls. Which brings us to the latest venture in corporate-centered party-building and the group hosting a chat in ANGA's headquarters:
The NewDEAL.
It's an all too familiar cast of characters and they are tirelessly working both sides of the aisle. Hold your nose and follow me below the swirling orange cesspool for more.
VICE has obtained a "supporter list" showing donors of the NewDEAL, which reads like a who's who of corporations seeking government access: Comcast, Fluor, Merck, Microsoft, New York Life, Pfizer, Qualcomm, Verizon, Wal-Mart, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, among others, including, of course, the host of Tuesday's event, ANGA.
While the disclosure of a secret list of political funders is always a worthwhile revelation, it's also worth noting that the same corporate forces that Democrats are leaning on are propping up the far-right tilt of the Republicans as well. On the local level, meaning state legislative races, there are two competing committees, the RSLC for the GOP and DLCC for Dems. A VICE review of recent campaign filings show that the two committees share many of the same top 25 donors: Wal-Mart, Pfizer, tobacco giant Reynolds America, PhRMA (a drug industry trade group), AT&T, and Comcast cut the biggest checks for both the RSLC and the DLCC.
Of course, none of this is really news but it's easy enough to overlook the subtle rebranding of the neo-liberal, corporate centrist Democrats amidst the noise and confusion and Wild West atmosphere brought about by recent changes in campaign finance law.
These efforts go back thirty years. In the 1980s, centrist voices organized the Democratic Leadership Council, a non-profit charged with grooming the next generation of politicians who loved free trade and lower corporate taxes and were careful to keep their distance from labor unions. Just as Third Way and affiliated business-oriented outreach arms of the Democratic Party today seek social liberalism (gun restrictions and gay rights) and economic neoliberalism (tax cuts and deregulation), the DLC charted a similar course on behalf of the now largely extinguished New Democrats. There were victories, too. The DLC became famous by serving as a springboard for prominent Democrats such as President Bill Clinton, and later, 2000 vice presidential nominee and former Senator Joe Lieberman.
Who helped lead the DLC in its own conflict with Democratic populists? A scoop by journalist Robert Dreyfuss over a decade ago exposed the fact that the DLC was not only bankrolled by the country's largest corporations (including present day NewDEAL donors Verizon, Merck, and Microsoft) but that the DLC was being steered by two lobbyists from Koch Industries. One of them, Rich Fink, has been the brains behind much of the Koch brothers' sprawling political network, which the energy barons shamelessly use to protect their bottom line at the expense of our planet.
Absent some radical revisions and reforms to campaign financing we need to be extra vigilant. The Tea Party started out as grassroots disaffection with the status quo and look where they wound up. We mustn't let the populist progressive movement get co-opted by the slick astroturf players. I remain hopeful for a
constitutional amendment but in the meantime, keep an eye on the money.