I remember debating this in HS history class with a very liberal teacher on the significance of the yellow brick road and the cross of gold speech from Willam Jennings Bryant (D): "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold"
I was always fascinated with how the history teacher bent the narrative so as to show that it was a populist story when in fact I think it was deeper than that. Good article.
I credit some really good teachers (in the late 80's) who weren't all that bad back then. They loved debating politics when it was fun to use logic and it wasn't so emotionally charged like it is now.