There’s more than a little Eugene Debs in Montrell Coburn, which is intended as a compliment.

As he did in 2017, Coburn is running as an Independent candidate for Columbus Mayor.

On Monday, Coburn, along with fellow independent Keith Gaskin, accepted an invitation to speak with The Dispatch Editorial Board. Incumbent Democrat Mayor Robert Smith declined to meet with the board.

While Gaskin is generally considered a serious challenger to Smith, who is seeking his fourth full term as mayor, Coburn is considered a longshot.

Although he has insisted he is “in it to win it,” Coburn is pragmatic enough to know the odds are against him.

Asked during the meeting with the editorial board about how he is conducting his campaign, Coburn said he is rallying support through his 704 Club.

He explained that his club’s name is derived from the 704 votes he got in the 2017 election.

“If every one of those 704 can get one person to vote for me, then I’ll have twice the votes as last time,” he explained.

Coburn is clearly taking the long view here. He’s planting the seeds, building a base, promoting an idea that he hopes will catch fire.

And that leads us to Debs, one of the most maligned figures in 20th Century American politics.

Beginning in 1900, Debs ran for President of the United States five times, picking up 87,945 votes in 1900. Twenty years later, Debs claimed almost a million votes, six percent of all votes cast.

Obviously, Debs never came close to winning, but that is not to say his efforts, like perhaps those of Coburn, were of no importance.

Debs was a Socialist at a time when the word did not have the negative connotations it would acquire later in the century. The America of Debs’ time was firmly entrenched in what is now remembered as The Gilded Age, when America’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of powerful industrialists and Wall Street financiers. Meanwhile, the working class and poor were reduced to something close to serfdom.

Debs’ campaign was about empowering the working classes through socialisms – basically nationalizing industry on behalf of the citizens. It was, Debs contended, the only way to free the nation of unfettered, morally corrupt Capitalism. Debs didn’t win, of course, but the support he gathered influenced the policies of some who did, most notably trust-busting Theodore Roosevelt.

There are some parallels that can be made between Deb’s era and today. At no time since has there been a greater disparity in wealth than today, what some believe to be The Second Gilded Age.

Debs’ campaigns were single-issue campaigns.

We hear the echoes of Debs in Coburn’s campaign, too.

Coburn’s focus is on the poor and working class of Columbus. His idea: Have the city take over a large vacant building – he suggests K-Mart — and establish a single-product manufacturing operation. The “ownership” — and profits — would be given to a randomly selected poor family for two months. That, he said, would allow those families to build instant wealth, perhaps a couple of hundred thousand dollars, before the next family acquired two-month ownership.

“Do you know how long it would take somebody to make $100,000?” Coburn asked. “With this, you could immediately change the lives of families.”

Regardless of what you think of Coburn’s plan, we do applaud the emphasis he has placed on poverty and the need to address it in some overt way.

But even if he doesn’t win and even if his plans are never adopted, Coburn has added value to our political process.

We need more Montrell Coburns, people who will actively engage in politics and are not afraid to share their ideas.

That was true of Eugene Debs of Terre Haute, Indiana, 100 years ago.

It is true of Montrell Coburn of Columbus today.

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].