America's 250-Year Tradition of Resisting Elite Power
In a Fourth of July essay, Lynn Parramore argues that America's best tradition is ordinary people resisting fatcats, oligarchs, and profiteers. She traces this impulse from colonial Regulators fighting unfair taxes and corrupt officials, through Shays' Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, the Bonus Army, the Battle of Blair Mountain, to Occupy Wall Street and today's skepticism of Big Tech CEOs. Historian William Hogeland is interviewed, emphasizing forgotten radicals like Herman Husband, Thomas Paine, Christopher Marshall, and James Cannon. Polls show large majorities support taxing the rich and limiting corporate political power, with Gen Z and millennials increasingly skeptical of extreme wealth. The essay concludes by urging vigilance against entrenched power.
Key facts
- The essay is by Lynn Parramore, Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
- It was originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website.
- The Regulators were small farmers and laborers in North Carolina's backcountry.
- Herman Husband was a farmer and pamphleteer who led the Regulators.
- Governor William Tryon desired a luxurious new palace in New Bern.
- William Hogeland argues early US history was driven by struggles over money and power.
- Shays' Rebellion occurred in western Massachusetts in the winter of 1787.
- The Whiskey Rebellion involved a federal excise tax on whiskey.
- The Bonus Army marched on Washington, D.C., in 1932.
- The Battle of Blair Mountain was a labor uprising in West Virginia.
- Occupy Wall Street erupted after the 2008 financial crisis.
- 80% or more of Americans support taxing the rich and big corporations.
- 86% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans, and 70% of Independents support taxing Big Tech.
- Gen Z and millennials are more skeptical of billionaires than older generations.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- Institute for New Economic Thinking
- Naked Capitalism
- Pew Research Center
- Gallup
- Navigator Research
- Ipsos
- Public Citizen
Locations
- United States
- North Carolina
- Alamance
- New Bern
- Massachusetts
- Springfield Arsenal
- West Virginia
- Washington, D.C.
- Silicon Valley