How a former FTC commissioner became a populist
Join me today for a conversation with Alvaro Bedoya
If you read one article this week, make it this one in The New Republic.
It’s by Alvaro Bedoya, the former federal trade commissioner whom Donald Trump attempted to fire in his quest to consolidate sweeping power over all corners of the federal government.
Alvaro was originally part of our ongoing lawsuit seeking to protect independent agencies like the FTC — the case continues and is headed to the Supreme Court in December.
That lawsuit, like much of the work we all do in the “democracy” space, sounds like it’s just about high-minded constitutional principles like “institutions” and “independence.” Marble columns, not kitchen tables.
In his article, though, Alvaro argues that we should think about this work differently: that institutions like the FTC — and Donald Trump’s campaign to seize total control of them — are inextricably tied up in much larger questions of “haves” and “have-nots” in America. To really understand what’s happening, we must look beyond lofty legal principles to why so many feel the country just isn’t working for them.
As he writes:
The despair in this country is far deeper than most of us understand. It’s worse than that, actually: It’s so pervasive that we don’t even see it. It’s become normal.
In the wealthiest country on Earth, it’s normal for people who are diagnosed with cancer to set up a web page to beg their friends and family for money. It’s normal for those people to go bankrupt. Getting sick is the most normal reason to go bankrupt.
In a country that celebrates farmers, it’s normal for those farmers to kill themselves at a rate far beyond the rest of the population.
At a time when billionaires compete to launch rockets into space, it’s normal—completely normal—for construction workers to die of heat and thirst.
Many liberals remain baffled that America elected Donald Trump. They genuinely have no idea how he could have won the election. I don’t think that Trump won because of “wokeism” or the “trans agenda,” whatever that is. I think he won by speaking to that despair and telling people that he alone could fix it.
His piece is a provocative one, especially in a moment when cross-ideological collective action for democracy is of the utmost imperative. You might agree with him, you might not.
Either way, I’m very excited that Alvaro has graciously agreed to discuss his piece, the FTC, and the future of our democracy live here with us at 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT today. I’m looking forward to talking with him. I hope you’ll join us.
 | A guest post by
|
Probably one of the best and most comprehensive articles written on what is wrong in the US, and how it infiltrates so many sectors of everyday living for our population. I thank the author for his FTC tenure, and hope that, if we save this Republic, we can return to trying to make life better for all who live here.