Saucycarpdog
Member
https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...ge-populist-monopolies-congress-trump/534603/
Six months after Donald Trumps inauguration, Democrats in Congress are ready to adopt a populist economic agenda that blends ideas long entrenched in the liberal mainstream, like infrastructure investment, with promises that have not been a focus of the Democratic Party in recent years such as a pledge to rein in the power of corporate monopolies.
Locked out of power in Washington, Democrats lack the ability to implement the agenda, which will be sold to voters under the tagline A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future. But party leaders plan to pitch it as a preview of what they would do if Democrats win back Congress. The economic platform is aimed at bridging ideological and demographic divides in the party, and Democrats hope it will have widespread appeal, in rural and urban areas, and with centrist, moderate, and progressive voters alike.
A Better Deal makes clear that congressional Democrats believe that in 2017 the party must deliver an unequivocal message opposing corporate monopolies. The agenda calls for blocking mergers that harm consumers, workers, and competition, regulatory scrutiny of completed mergers to maintain free-market competition, and the creation of what the agenda describes as a 21st-century Trust Buster to stop abusive corporate conduct and the exploitation of market power.
Democrats plan to unveil more proposals under the banner of A Better Deal in the weeks to come. The focus on an economic agenda suggests, however, that the party believes that prioritizing jobs, income, and wages will prove more unifying for the party, and more attractive to the kind of coalition they want to attract, than so-called identity politics messages that seek to appeal to voters on the basis of race and gender.