Robert Reich, the secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, is Chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley

America is becoming more liberal if "liberal" is defined to mean more socially inclusive. Not long ago same-sex marriage was abhorrent to a majority of Americans, but now, according to polls, most approve of it. Meanwhile, the Confederate flag is being removed from public buildings and grounds. And even conservatives now agree fewer people should be imprisoned.



But economic inclusiveness is proving more elusive. Despite growing support for a $15 an hour minimum wage (and its enactment in several cities), the federal minimum remains less than half that, $7.25. Meanwhile, the income of the typical American workers is still going nowhere, the ranks of the poor continue to grow, and almost all economic gains are still going to the top.



Allowing same-sex marriage and taking down Confederate flags is cheap. Achieving a more inclusive economy will be costly to many vested interests that would prefer not to pay up. It will require better schools and affordable access to college or a world-class technical education, an end to Wall Street’s excessive gambling, and corporations that treat workers as assets to be developed rather than as costs to be cut. Above all, it will require getting big money out of our politics. But the moneyed interests won’t relinquish their power and privileges without one hell of a fight.

Yet Americans may be signaling they're ready for such a fight. Witness the current battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the elections of Elizabeth Warren and Bill de Blasio, and the recent victories of fast-food and domestic workers. Bernie Sanders is drawing large crowds. Hillary Clinton is campaigning to the left of her husband in 1992, acknowledging the economic deck is “stacked in favor of those at the top."

Even Republicans are reflecting the new populist sentiment. We “cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people and Wall Street,” says Rand Paul. Ted Cruz accuses the “rich and powerful, those who walk the corridors of power” of “getting fat and happy.” Last year, David Brat unseated the House Majority Leader in a Republican primary by accusing him of “crony capitalism.”

The sincerity behind some of these statements might be questioned, but sincerity is not the point. They are uttered because they are being received enthusiastically by American voters. And that enthusiasm itself is almost certainly a harbinger of changes to come.







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