Jon
Tester’s Neopopulism -
The Montana Formula
By Joshua Frank
03 December, 2006
Countercurrents.org
He’s
not exactly the type of Democrat you’d be likely to see backslapping
New York City fat cats on their way into an elaborate fundraiser for
Hillary Clinton. In fact, Jon Tester, the senator-elect from Montana,
isn’t your typical Democrat. He’s almost not a Democrat
at all, or at least not the kind we’re used to seeing run around
Washington these days. In fact Tester ran his campaign against Senator
Conrad Burns (MT-R) on just that platform. He was tired of the scandals
and dishonesty that engulf our national politics and professed that
the polluted Beltway could use a little Montana house cleanin’.
Voters agreed, and Burns, who had ties to the now incarcerated powerbroker
Jack Abramoff, was defeated in one of the tightest races in state history.
A State Senator and organic
farmer by trade, Jon operates his family’s homestead just outside
Big Sandy in northern Montana where the winter chills can chatter your
teeth as early as mid-September. When I say he’s not really even
a Democrat, that may be a bit of an understatement. Tester is essentially
an NRA approved neo-populist with libertarian tendencies who wants to
immediately redeploy troops from Iraq as well as repeal the PATRIOT
Act. And although nobody would consider Tester an anti-globalization
activist, his position on international trade is more in line with the
protesters who shut down Seattle in 1999 than with the Democratic Leadership
Council.
On a recent Meet the Press
broadcast Tester even addressed the most evaded issue in national politics:
Poverty. “There’s no more middle class,” he confessed
to Tim Russert, “the working poor aren’t even being addressed.
Those are the people who brought us here [to Congress] and they need
to be empowered. It’s time to show them attention ... We have
to use policy to help that situation.”
In a debate last September,
Sen. Conrad Burns attempted to paint Tester as weak on terror. “We
cannot afford another 9/11,” Burns chided. “I can tell you
that right now, he (Tester) wants to weaken the PATRIOT Act.”
To which Tester countered, “Let me be clear. I don't want to weaken
the PATRIOT Act. I want to get rid of it.”
Tester built his campaign
from the ground up, shunning support from nationally known Democrats
like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, as he knew they’d rub Montanans
the wrong way. Instead, the nearly 300 pound farmer who lost three fingers
in a meat grinding accident as a child, drove around the state so he
could chat face-to-face with his potential constituents.
Fortunately for Tester, he’s
used to bucking the system. His first foray with the Washington Consensus
came in 1998 when he ran for the Montana legislature because he was
outraged over the huge energy hikes that had resulted from the state’s
deregulation of the power industry. And he’s been speaking out
against policies that pit working folks against the corporate class
ever since. That’s why he supports renewable energies and a livable
minimum wage.
Still, Tester isn’t
the perfect politician. While he may remain strong on many issues, he
is a bit wishy-washy on a few social justice concerns, such as the death
penalty and gay rights. Nevertheless, Tester’s campaign and personal
appeal may serve as a winning blueprint for left-leaning populists out
here in the Interior West. Indeed Brian Schweitzer used the exact formula
to become Governor of Montana two years ago.
That’s why we should
keep an eye on the senator-to-be when he takes office next month. If
Jon Tester shuns the corporate wing of the Democratic Party, and truly
speaks for the people of Montana, he could have a profound effect on
our national discourse. Not to mention the way business is done in Washington.
Joshua Frank is the author of Left Out! How Liberals
Helped Reelect George W. Bush and edits http://www.BrickBurner.org
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