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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (24687)	7/17/2000 12:27:37 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Well, I think that populism normally refers to movements that posit a sort of conspiracy to thwart the will of the people and maintain the status quo, and that they tend to be a programmatic hodge podge, since the main idea is to find the enemies and nullify their power. Elites are conceived, not as a natural outgrowth of economic and professional achievement, but as malign cabals wielding inordinate influence to maintain their position at the expense of the people. Left- wing populism tends to converge with socialism, and agree that the main malefactors are financiers, leaders of industry, and their lackeys. Right- wing populism tends to conceive of "The People" in Volk- ish terms, and to conceive of the enemy as being foreigners and people with a dubious connection to the volk, like the Jews, more than classes. It is right- wing populism that is a precursor to fascism............

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (24687)	7/17/2000 1:10:46 PM
From: nihil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Ah, Populism! The peepul -- without their exploiters and manipulators. A really scary idea. Were the populist leaders really as stupid as they tried to appear? Probably not, no one could be that stupid. Jackson was the first of the American breed. The people hate finance and business and foreigners. The people hate minorities. The people hate anyone smarter than them. The people hate high culture and education beyond reading and writing. The people love roads and war and tax cuts. One characteristic of populist leaders is their "dumb act." Another is the joy they take in their own excesses -- especially in sex and consumption. Imagine! a third of the people think Clinton is really doing a good job and they admire him. "The People" love politicians who insult convention and defy proper elite opinion. The ability of rabble-rousers to appeal to the scum of the earth, the mad, the irrational, the deprived, the disrespected, is the secret of populist success. When this massive underclass is reinforced by the unemployed (in a depression), neglected veterans (after a war), they can seize control pull off a revolution. The Gracchi, Marius, Julius Caesar against the senatorial class in Rome are the classic example, but almost every Greek city state had a democratic faction which was populist. The extraordinary success of FDR as a traitor to his class and his wide appeal to a new coalition of many people was challenged by many competitors. His amazing ability to combine the Democratic city machines, Southern democratic voters (not leaders), the progressive remnant of the Republicans, the socialists, the trade unions, farmers, and many minorities and immigrants gave him great power. The idea that Huey Long could have beaten Roosevelt in 1936 is interesting, but unlikely. If nothing else, anti-Southern prejudice would have been enough to defeat him.