07-26-2019, 02:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-26-2019, 02:35 PM by Eric the Green.)
(07-26-2019, 12:53 PM)David Horn Wrote:(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.
I don't see that the word "populism" has any connection to "emotional appeals." There should be another word for that. The word demagoguery covers a lot of this. Sometimes current conventional word usage is wrong. It is in this case. The word populism refers to the Populist Party and its platform. No-one today is a populist unless his or her politics is similar to that form of populism. Populism means bringing more power to the people instead of a small group that has seized power. That is quite clear and simple. There's no reason to apply it to fear-mongering except to give such fear-mongering more legitimacy. It has none.
And all politics in a democracy is an appeal to the people. Even if you successfully deceive them into supporting a small elite, and then that small elite succeeds in reducing democracy. Even so-called "elites" are usually just part of the people. Well-educated people, for example, are just as much a part of the people as less-educated people are. And less-educated people are just as potentially wise as voters as well-educated people (just not in today's America, apparently). It's just a question of which people you are appealing to. The word populism only means anything if it brings them more power, instead of a small group like "the 1%". And that always includes wealth, because wealth is power too. Politics is about political power; who has it and who doesn't.
Brexit, like Trump, was a political fluke in 2016. It was decided by a small majority because of immigrant fears. The only corrective to Brexit is to forget it and move on, including pushing for reforms in the EU if the people want them.
I wonder if we can put this whole Trump, Brexit, false "populism" trend at the feet of Assad and those who refused to help the real populists of the Arab Spring when it was needed, and those like Tulsi Gabbard who denied their existence and supported war crimes against them.
Boy, when I think of how I predicted decades ago that after 2011 the first world would be overwhelmed with immigrants from climate change and revolution, I am amazed at just how correct I was, and how much it has shaped everything that's going on today.