Plutocratic Populism

“It is impossible to make sense of our current politics without wrestling with this central contradiction of the past twenty-five years of Republican governance.” This quote identifies the central paradox in understanding our current political situation as addressed in a recent paper by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson. The “contradiction” in the quote refers to (1) the biggest complaint about taxes among ordinary Republicans has consistently been that the rich and corporations do not pay their fair share vs. (2) the intent of governing Republicans to ensure that these groups increasingly pay less taxes.

Our current political scene generates a great many topics that seek to explain our polity of today.… Read the rest