07-26-2019, 12:53 PM
(07-25-2019, 09:26 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: Here we go again. Boris Johnson is a "populist," we hear. Donald Trump was too. Maybe even Scott Morrison and Bolsonaro.
NO, they AREN'T...
Yes they are, just not the flavor you like. Populism is nothing more or less than an emotional appeal directly to "the people", and tends to come from the left or right, but never from the center. Why? Because emotional appeals tend to be focused on the best angels of our nature or our most base instincts. Both are powerful, but appealing to base instincts has had much greater success over time. It's also tended to create its own counterforce, but even here, some RW populists still manage to outlive their own tyrannical behavior. Cases in point: Franco is Spain and Pinochet in Chile.
As far as Boris Johnson is concerned, I doubt he'll still be PM in 2 years. Brexit has all the traits of a self corrective, though not without substantial pain to our British friends.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.