Jim Webb, Not Your Average Centrist Democrat

As the entrenched incumbent corporatist Democrats anticipate the incoming class of 2006, Jim Webb of Virginia, the man who saved the Senate, sets foot firmly in the populist camp with this WSJ op-ed. In the class war between the investing class and the working stiffs, Webb's choosing sides: 

The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

Incestuous corporate boards regularly approve compensation packages for chief executives and others that are out of logic's range. As this newspaper has reported, the average CEO of a sizeable corporation makes more than $10 million a year, while the minimum wage for workers amounts to about $10,000 a year, and has not been raised in nearly a decade. When I graduated from college in the 1960s, the average CEO made 20 times what the average worker made. Today, that CEO makes 400 times as much. (Wall Street Journal)

Indeed, the former Republican predicts class warfare, if not outright revolt:

More troubling is this: If it remains unchecked, this bifurcation of opportunities and advantages along class lines has the potential to bring a period of political unrest. Up to now, most American workers have simply been worried about their job prospects. Once they understand that there are (and were) clear alternatives to the policies that have dislocated careers and altered futures, they will demand more accountability from the leaders who have failed to protect their interests. The "Wal-Marting" of cheap consumer products brought in from places like China, and the easy money from low-interest home mortgage refinancing, have softened the blows in recent years. But the balance point is tipping in both cases, away from the consumer and away from our national interest. (Wall Street Journal)

Let's see how the corporatist Democrats respond. As Webb concludes, "[O]ur government leaders have no greater duty than to confront the growing unfairness in this age of globalization."

~Stef

Comments

[Adrian]

Webb's op-ed does a good job of reestablishing the traditional definition of "the elite."

The elite is not, as David Brooks would have us believe, bi-coastal intellecutals and espresso-sippers. The elite, properly defined, is the segment of the population that owns wealth and wields political power.

[Ben]

I have to say, I love how the media is trying to paint the incoming Dems as centrists because of their positions on a few hot button social issues. By all means, continue to define Jim Webb as a centrist, if the ideas he puts forth in that editorial are the new center in american politics we'll all be better off!

[D Flinchum]

Also interesting is that Webb's take on illegal immigration doesn't mirror Pelosi's and a lot of other Democrats. The paragraphs after the first two mentioned above are also quite important:

"In the age of globalization and outsourcing, and with a vast underground labor pool from illegal immigration, the average American worker is seeing a different life and a troubling future. Trickle-down economics didn't happen. Despite the vaunted all-time highs of the stock market, wages and salaries are at all-time lows as a percentage of the national wealth. At the same time, medical costs have risen 73% in the last six years alone. Half of that increase comes from wage-earners' pockets rather than from insurance, and 47 million Americans have no medical insurance at all.

Manufacturing jobs are disappearing. Many earned pension programs have collapsed in the wake of corporate "reorganization." And workers' ability to negotiate their futures has been eviscerated by the twin threats of modern corporate America: If they complain too loudly, their jobs might either be outsourced overseas or given to illegal immigrants."

The biggest housing boom in the US is now drawing to a close. In spite of this boom, construction wages actually fell to where they were lower in 2005 than in 1990 (see "Seattle Times" graphics below). What futher proof do we need that business interests are using not only outsourcing but also immigration - both legal (see Tech Industry Wants Increase in H-1B Visas) and illegal - to push workers' wages down by flooding the US with cheap foreign labor? If construction workers can't prosper during a boom in building, when can they prosper? There are few issues where the Democrats can place themselves firmly on the side of US workers than this one.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2006/09/16/2003262477.pdf

[unlawflcombatnt]

Jim Webb's article is THE most encouraging commentary I've heard resulting from the November election. He's right on target with every issue, and I hope his voice is heard and his influence will be felt.