The Jacksonians

James Pinkerton's recent article argues that what ails the Democrats is the loss of the Jacksonian element of the party: working class voters who are militaristic, anti-big government, anti-business, culturally conservative, and in favor of middle class protections. They are also typically rural. If you add it all up, he says, you have what sounds like a Bush voter. What the Republicans have to worry about is that the pro-corporate, pro-wealthy, anti-welfare state element of the party, as well as failure in Iraq, might drive these voters back into the arms of the Democrats.

If this sounds familiar to my long-time readers, it is because what Pinkerton describes as a Jacksonian, I describe as a populist. I wrote on ad nauseum on this topic for weeks. So I think Pinkerton is right on the money. Democrats have a real opportunity to win back these voters. I don't think the Jacksonians are crazy about the religious right, whatever their cultural conservatism, and the destruction of social security isn't quite what they had in mind, either.

Remember, what got Jackson going in the first place was his animosity towards wealthy bankers. And which of today's parties has more of them? We should work vigorously to recover that tradition. It'll be like going home.