In short, discontent is an American political tradition, as American as apple pie. More often than not popular discontent has centered on a specific grievance and the inability, or unwillingness, of the political status quo to address it. When such a situation arises, the instinct of the aggrieved is to look outside the political establishment and form a new political movement. Indeed, American history is littered with short- lived third parties, each meant to defend a principle or attack an ill perpetuated or ignored by the political powers that be. Each of these bursts of indignation is part of a larger populist tradition that is as old as the Republic itself.
Populism has no political agenda per se.
In its simplest guise, populist politics is about the concerns, interests, and values of the little guy, the common man. Though populist impulses go as far back as the colonial era, the contemporary tradition was born with the fiery rhetoric of William Jennings Bryan in the 1890s. Since Bryan, populist movements have often reflected a blend of economic progressivism and moral traditionalism. To the chagrin of the disciples of secularism, religiously informed values continue to influence the politics of the common man in America. This reality is the subject of Allen Hertzke's recent study of the populist politics of Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson, Echoes of Discontent .