Martin O’Malley, former governor of Maryland, may run for the Democratic nomination. He opposes TPP, is to the left of Hillary (admittedly not difficult to do) and says we will either make things fair in this country again or pitchforks are coming, a completely accurate statement. Historically, when inequality reaches grotesque proportions, when the monied class insists upon looting a country with abandon and politicians are mostly corrupt, then inevitably there will be major reform, like Teddy Roosevelt did with his trust busting, or serious social unrest and / or revolution. Contrary to the fevered dreams of those on the far left or far right, revolution is not always a glorious thing but rather can lead to rivers of blood and other unpleasant situations. (OTOH, this country was founded in violent revolution, so there is a precedent for it.)
So, what’s needed is real reform, says O’Malley. I agree.
Economic inequality:
There are two ways to go forward from here, and history shows this. One path is a sensible rebalancing that calls us back to our tried and true success story as the land of opportunity. The other is pitchforks.
History affords no other paths. We’re either going to sensibly rebalance and do the things that allow our middle class to grow, that expands opportunities and allows workers to earn more when they’re working harder. Or, we’re going to go down a very, very bad path.
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Yeah, I do oppose it. What’s wrong with it is first and foremost that we’re not allowed to read it before our representatives vote on it. What’s wrong with it is that right now what we should be doing are things that make our economy stronger here at home. And it’s my concern that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, this deal is a race to the bottom, a chasing of lower wages abroad, and I believe that that does nothing to help us build a stronger economy here at home.