Thomas Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler magazine. He is the author of What's the Matter with Kansas? The Wrecking Crew, Pity the Billionaire and Listen, Liberal.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt must be flipping in his grave as many of his cherished New Deal programs have come under assault from not just Republicans, but from his own Democratic Party. Democrats in the 1990s picked up and adopted Ronald Reagan’s right-wing agenda of deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, so-called free trade deals, crime bills, mass incarceration and cutting programs for the poor. Democrats abandoned the working class and in particular turned its back on unions. They cuddled up and embraced hedge fund managers and celebrities in their mansions in Malibu and the Hamptons. They watched as wages went flat, people lost their homes and inequality mushroomed to obscene levels. Campaign rhetoric aside, Hillary Clinton will most likely continue with business as usual unless she is pushed hard to adopt a truly progressive agenda.