It all started in August, 1995 when Texas Observer founding editor Ronnie Dugger wrote a piece for the Nation magazine called “Real Populists Please Stand Up.” The column called for citizens to rekindle a progressive populist movement in this country to challenge corporate power and reclaim democracy. Thousands of people responded to Dugger’s call and so began the Alliance, a network of grassroots discussion, strategy and action groups around the U.S. This weekend, hundreds of Alliance members are gathering on a ranch outside San Antonio Texas for their founding convention. Pacifica National Affairs Correspondent Larry Bensky is there and he joins us now by telephone, along with Ronnie Dugger.