As promised, Russ Feingold, former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, co-author of McCain-Feingold and founder of Progressives United. Good to talk to you, sir.
FEINGOLD: Keith, wonderful to be on your show.
OLBERMANN: How far do you think this can go, and -- and -- what is essentially -- there has to be a political end game to it at some point -- what's the process by which it causes change to be enacted?
FEINGOLD: Well, I think this can go very far, and I think it will. What I like to say is, by the time this thing is done, it's going to make the tea party look like -- a tea party. It will be very extensive.
And the reason is, the crimes against the working people of this country have mounted up, and people have finally realized they can't stop -- they have to actually deal with it. They can't just take it. And obviously, the Wall Street abuses keep going, the protection of the very wealthy -- that they don't have to participate and try to deal with our deficit problems -- the complete domination of the political process by unlimited, secret contributions, the shipping of our jobs overseas through lousy trade agreements while, at the same time, taking away the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
You know, it's finally reached the point where people are saying, "That's it. We are tired of being ripped off," and they are responding. And I think once that's unleashed, it keeps going.
OLBERMANN: Was there a tipping point? You mentioned so many different things that, certainly, contributed to this. Was it, -- was it, in fact, that the ball started really rolling in that one direction with the thing that your group -- Progressives United -- so vehemently opposes, the -- the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court about a year and a half ago?
FEINGOLD: Well, I mean, obviously it's a combination of factors. One is the economy being in terrible shape and not rebounding. And then these tea party people pretend that they're going to try to solve the problem, but they come into office and they essentially help make the deficit worse by not having wealthy people participate in solving the problem. They are actually for less regulation of Wall Street than Republicans are, and all of a sudden people realize they are not going to get reform at all.
Then, they understand that much of this is being financed -- it took a while before it was implemented. It took a while before people saw it happening -- they realized this is being financed through huge contributions from corporations. The Koch brothers, you know, helped finance this awful attack on working people in Wisconsin. So the evidence finally mounted. Got college students that are graduating after having had, you know, loans over the years and they are not getting any jobs.
And finally, you know, how long can people be made fools of? They are saying, "Wait a minute. We have no alternative. The government isn't solving this problem. We are going to start protesting," and I am just very excited that that's starting to happen.
OLBERMANN: Bernie Sanders came out quickly in support of this, I've already mentioned that this evening. And John Lewis did, too, and Minority Leader Pelosi was pretty strong on the weekend too, among others. But where are the other leading liberals and Democrats? Do you get a sense that the people are still hanging back, and what's going to get them to stop doing so?
FEINGOLD: This is no time to hang back. One of the biggest problems Democrats have is that they forget the power and passion that the base of the party has. And actually, this is well beyond the Democratic Party. These are just working people all over the country -- or people who want to work -- who have just had it. To not understand the power of that kind of populism, to not encourage it, to not embrace it is a huge mistake.
This is not a time for cautious politics. This is not a time for saying, "Well, we better just go a little bit this way or that way." This is a time to fundamentally identify the crooked way this country is being run.
The corruption of Wall Street, the ridiculous notion that very wealthy people are basically saying they shouldn't have to help us solve our problems -- it's time to take it up a few notches. And I think every office holder and every leader in the country should say, "Thank you" to the people who are out there protesting.
OLBERMANN: If the -- if some liberals and, say, even more Democrats are not active, certainly, the opponents of Occupy Wall Street and related Occupy movements are as active as anything that -- you know, there have been suggestions this always leads to the guillotine, or Chairman Mao or whatever else has been said -- the nonsense that's been said in response to it -- but even Paul Krugman wrote in The New York Times today that "The plutocrats are panicking." Is that your sense as well, and do they, in fact, have good reason to do so?
FEINGOLD: Yeah, and let's face it -- sometimes, it's even Democrats who are part of this money system, and so there is some nervousness -- especially on the Republican side, certainly on Wall Street and Washington where the power structure is. My observation is they are very nervous this might work.
What sort of set me off on this, Keith, was making the mistake of watching Fox News in the morning the other day and watching these people -- Barney and the others -- mocking the protesters, making fun of the way they were dressed, saying they didn't have a precise agenda. To which I said, you know, they are not filing briefs at the Supreme Court. They are upset.
And so my sense is that there is great fear that this sweet deal that a lot of these people have in -- both Washington and New York -- this unholy alliance between our government and our media and the financial markets and the financial businesses -- that this unholy alliance is finally being threatened and challenged. It is a threat. It is a threat and an attack on every working American, and it's time that we upset the apple cart. And I think they are nervous and they know this has great potential.
OLBERMANN: All right. How do we upset the apple cart without you in office? And I don't mean that as to blow smoke anywhere, but -- quite seriously -- everybody who has ever stood up for something needs to be on board. I am not criticizing you for not being in office, but when will we see that happen again?
FEINGOLD: Well, look. Being in office is not what it's all about. Obviously, it's one way to do it. I did that for 28 years. But -- to me -- what we are dealing with here is a situation where Congress can't even vote to overturn Citizens United. You can't do that. The only way to do it is a mass public movement to make it very clear that this Supreme Court decision has to be overturned. That it is a direct attack on our democracy.
So, this goes beyond electoral politics and who is in office and who isn't. It's much more fundamental. And everybody -- in or out of office -- has to work together to try to turn this thing around. So that's where I am focused on right now and, frankly, I like the freedom to be able to particularly focus on this issue.
There were many other great issues when I was in the Senate, but this is the big overriding issue. This is what's destroying our democracy, Keith, as you know as well as anybody. Unlimited corporate contributions have to be stopped.
OLBERMANN: Okay. Russ Feingold, former senator from Wisconsin. Our great thanks for your service here and for your time tonight.
FEINGOLD: Thanks so much, Keith.
