I can’t help it, but I instinctively cringe when I hear the phrase “people power.”
It is just so hokey, so faux-populist, so nauseatingly poll-tested. There has to be a better phrase/word.
Oh yeah- there is. Democracy.
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DougJ
I agree completely, John.
SomeCallMeTim
Me, too. Kos’s politics are not terribly leftist; that’s part of what makes him successful. He ought to avoid 60’s-era self-labelling like the plague. He already knows that the Republicans are going to try and make the 2006 election a referendum on the 60’s.
Paul L.
Showing my age here.
Reminds me of Rick from the Young Ones.
DougJ
Loved that show.
SeesThroughIt
That show was fucking awesome.
But yeah, “people power” is such a hokey phrase. It reminds me of Up with People, and as we all know, Up with People sucked.
Rob
Who are you? And what are you doing on Tim’s blog?
neil
It’s a good way to differentiate the democracy we’re beginning to see now from the so-called democracy of the status quo.
Let me expand. It’s ironic to me that the Republicans are forming a love pile on Holy Joe since it seems, to me, that he is really the antithesis of what Republicans should like. Besides being an old-guard establishment Democrat, he is a true elitist in the worst party mold.
Do you know how primary ‘elections’ for the ‘legislature’ work in one-party states like Cuba or fmr. Iraq? The people, naturally, are not allowed to choose the party’s candidate; the party makes that choice. That way if the people choose the Wrong Man, the party can correct that mistake and prevent change from taking place.
Obviously, Joe Lieberman wishes he worked for a system like that one. He’s risen high up in the Party and he deserves better than this. So what do you call it, if you’re a member in good standing of a Soviet-style political system but suddenly get the boot? That’s right, a purge. And guess what Joe and his Stalin-loving allies are calling it?
It’s pure projection, of course, from a man who decided to use his primary concession speech to specifically list off Democrats who he thought didn’t belong in the Party.
Mr Furious
Loved “The Young Ones” too.
Yeah, nothing wrong with jsut sticking with the word “democracy.” It also kind of reminds me of one of the parties, too, for some reason…
Nutcutter
Well, peoplepower and democracy are two rather distinctly different things.
People power is a colloquialism that refers to a general exercise of power by people. Civil rights sit-ins might be an example. Boycots might be an example.
Democracy is mor formalized and refers in our context mostly to a form of government.
More importantly, why are we even talking about this?
Are we going to embark on adventures in etymology now?
RSA
Demagogy!
capelza
Cheesy, yeah..but I won’t get too concerned unless I start seeing those lime green and hot pink flower posters pop up again…and granny glasses.
Not that catchy to me, but I wonder if they are trying to differentiate “people” from “politicans”…
neil
Also, I think the phrase itself does a good job of encapsulating how these campaigns are different from the stale, out-of-touch, elitist Democratic campaigns of.. every election.
Doug
“People power” reminds me of “puppy power” – the catchphrase used by Scrappy Doo, the god awful shark-jumping nephew of Scooby. Or, alternatively, “Punky power” – Punky Brewster’s catchphrase.
Either way, bad associations.
John Cole
Yeah, I know. I have been slacking, and I have been burnt out. Blogging solid for 4-5 years can lead to burnout, and I have been taking some time off. I am really lucky to have Tim posting. I hope to be ‘feeling it’ again come the fall.
Davebo
Everybody needs a break every now and then John.
But avoid holiday trips to London for right now OK?
capelza
It’s nice to see you John Cole. Tim does a great job. But I love your crumugdeoness!
Was reading this one to my husband, he reminded that from the “people power” era, one thing really stands out in his mind…Goldie Hawn dancing around in a bikini.
Pb
Close, but not quite.
Democracy — Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
People power — The power capacity of a mobilized population and its institutions using nonviolent forms of struggle.
So, really, people power is also about organizing, not just voting. The term is used to contrast broad-based, grass-roots, bottom-up movements with narrow, corporate astroturfing, top-down campaigns, such as the 18 super-rich families (net worth: $185.5 billion dollars) who quietly spent millions lobbying against the estate tax for ten years, so as to ultimately save themselves $71.6 billion dollars (38.6% of their total net worth) in taxes.
DougJ
I’m not sure we can afford democracy right now when we’re under attack. We can’t defend our freedom and hold elections at the same time.
ThymeZone
Interesting. “People power” is an expression that puts a container around the basic unit of power in our model of the world, and we all treat it like it’s a picture of a cute puppy.
It is something to be ridiculed, especially when you compare it to catchy ideas like “Corporation Power” and “Police Power” and “Lying Corrupt Government Power.”
The institutions want us to laugh at our own power, it makes it just that much easier for them to divest us of it.
Ha ha, those cute little people and their people power. Sort of like the Capital One ads where the Capitalists get a small businessman stuck on the bottom of their shoe.
“What does he want? A loan? Hahahahaha!”
“What does he want? A voice? Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!”
“What does that funny Cindy Sheehan want? An end to the war? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Get it?
Jack Roy
People Power… is that what the cars ran on in Soylent Green?
Pooh
There is no spoon…
canuckistani
It’s unfortunate that the phrase “People Power” conjures up images of naive hippies and their wacky, drug-addled love-ins, because I see it as something very different from democracy. Democracy may be the mechanism, but people power is the hand guiding the tool; an attempt to wield political power independent of corporations, established political parties or other entrenched powers whose interests are not those of the common man.
The problem with People Power is the same as the problem with anarchism. Who organizes the political movement? You end up with a new set of bosses, who look and talk differently than the old bosses, but their interests are no longer those of the people they once represented. The Bolshevik Revolution may be the canonical example of what can go wrong with People Power.
capelza
To be honest..when I hear the words “People Power” I am sadly reminded of Jim Jones and the “People’s Temple” or whatever the exact phrase was.
Perry Como
I think it is safe to say that Mr. Cole is objectively anti-“People power”.
Nutcutter
Does that mean that people are not the true origin of propaganda, and snark?
I mean, if you like “Hot Air,” don’t you like the people who breathed it?
Bas-O-Matic
I doubt that it was “poll-tested” but yeah it’s a really annoying turn of phrase that makes Kos sound like a naive campus hippy everytime it falls out of his mouth.
That said, historically speaking the real “People Power Revolution” was the series of non-violent demonstrations in the Phillipines that lead to the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos. I don’t know if Kos is trying to evoke that or not.
But it’s still a stupid phrase. And I’m probably to Kos’s left.
John D.
John,
I think you’re being unfair in your criticism. For starters, the term used was “people-power”, and, for context, here was the sentence it appeared in:
He’s using the term specifically in opposition to “entrenched establishment figures”, i.e. Machine Politics. This primary was won by tapping into the discontent of individual people, and as such, the term is appropriate.
“Democracy” is a form of government, and does not sit in opposition to “establishment figures” nearly as well.
Otto Man
To hell with the People. I’m waiting for Wonder Twin Powered Politics.
Mike
LEONARD COHEN “Democracy”
It’s coming through a hole in the air, from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It’s coming from the feel that this ain’t exactly real, or it’s real, but it ain’t exactly there.
From the wars against disorder, from the sirens night and day, from the fires of the homeless, from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It’s coming through a crack in the wall, on a visionary flood of alcohol. From the staggering account of the Sermon on the Mount which I don’t pretend to understand at all.
It’s coming from the silence on the dock of the bay, from the brave, the bold, the battered heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It’s coming from the sorrow in the street, the holy places where the races meet; from the homicidal bitchin’ that goes down in every kitchen to determine who will serve and who will eat. From the wells of disappointment where the women kneel to pray for the grace of God in the desert here and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on O mighty Ship of State! To the Shores of Need, Past the Reefs of Greed, Through the Squalls of Hate.
It’s coming to America first, the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It’s here they got the range and the machinery for change
and it’s here they got the spiritual thirst.
It’s here the family’s broken and it’s here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
…
I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean; I love the country but I can’t stand the scene.
And I’m neither left or right, I’m just staying home tonight, getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags that Time cannot decay; I’m junk but I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
The Other Steve
I don’t really care for the phrase “people power”, and maybe Democracy is a synonym but it certainly has not been in recent years where the leadership tells us to be afraid and vote for them.
So whatever.
I’m just happy old out of touch Joe got a good swift kick in the ass.
Mike in SLO
Yeah, it’s just as hokey as “Family Values”, but that one seems to work just fine, so why not??
matthew heidt
I am a former Navy Seal. I behaved dishonorably in a battle involving a pajamas media blog called protein wisdom.
my comrades have died to protect this country. by propagating a lie, i dishonor their memories.
i must die too.
peace, fellow pajamas media members.
peace.
sincerely,
matthew heidt
Krista
It’s part of your charm, John.
And yeah, “people power” does sound kind of cheesy. He could have expressed the same sentiment without the oh-so-catchy alliteration.
Speaking of terminology, however, I never cease to wonder how in the hell it has come to pass that “liberal” has become an epithet.
Pb
matthew heidt,
???
Some Other Brian Guy
Oh man, protein wisdom is like the armpit of the blogosphere.
Actually Michael Moore’s armpit would be more appealing.
Some Other Brian Guy
It’s funny. Just out of curiousity I glanced over at protein wisdom, and he’s spent all day cheering that people are still trying to attack the United States and Great Britain.
“See! See! You’re not safe! VOTE FOR FEAR!”
– Tawanda Goldstein
Pb
Mission Accomplished Man: Vote For Fear!
S.W. Anderson
The term “people power” once denoted something real and meaningful. Now, it’s a lot like California: a good idea too many people have already had.
Richard 23
Stay away from bukkake wisdom, friends. It’s just not worth it.
Otto Man
A nice rebuttal to the pants-pissing, chest-thumping crowd comes from Kung Fu Monkey:
The whole thing is comedy gold, Jerry. Gold!