Real populism, of course, isn’t about what happens in the Beltway and on blog sites. It’s about what happens in, well, the populace – especially when the populace is aroused enough to pour into the streets in great numbers across the country.
While a pie fight over economic populism in the Democratic Party played out, there was, in fact, a real popular rebellion that drove thousands of Americans into the streets – from Maine to San Francisco, New Orleans to Minneapolis/St. Paul – to denounce the nation’s current education policies.
Organizers of the Day of Action – the Opportunity to Learn campaign, the nation’s teachers’ unions and numerous community organizations – amassed more than 120 press hits on the 100-plus events that occurred that day.
The multiple events amounted to “the largest coordinated action to reclaim the promise of public education in recent memory,” according to a statement from the American Federation of Teachers.
The Secular Jurist 