No one should fear populism
Except our self-appointed rulers
Democracy, in theory, is a form of government where the people rule, rather than an oligarchy or a monarchy. It is a government by, for, and of “the people”. It has long been criticized for being “mob rule”, where any demagogue can whip up support. In ancient Greece, out of control democracy would sometimes lead to some things such as debt jubilee. Of course, debt jubilees are as old as money itself, with debts often wiped out with a new king or at 50 year intervals.
Populism should be in line with democracy. It is the idea that governments should focus on the broad goals of benefitting the citizens as a whole and not just some elite group. Julius Caesar's faction was called the “Populares”, and Caesar focused on improving the lives of ordinary Romans.
The democracy of Andrew Jackson and his era was very populist. William Jennings Bryant brought populism into the Democratic Party once again, pushing back at the money interests of the Bourbon Democrats. FDR used populism to win and govern.
Thomas Frank's “The People, No!” is a good history of how populist ideas were eliminated from the Democratic Party beginning in 1972. The Democrats used their legacy of popular support, but started moving towards being the party of the meritocracy and business.
The Republicans often work to suppress populist ideas as well. While Reagan represented a populist revolution, upon taking office, Bush went back to being the Country Club Republican. Years ago I had a fascinating long conversation with a woman who worked in the Reagan administration. She confirmed how quickly Bush everyone out with ties to Reagan. We also had a great chat about Reagan as a person. Her husband had worked with him in the 50s and 60s.
Bush gutted Reaganites from the government and brought in prep school minions. Populist have not been welcomed by the GOPe since then. Romney was caught on tape criticizing the 47% and Romney used various tricks and tactics to stop Ron Paul.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders gained massive support because the represented populist revolts. Hillary and Jeb were establishment candidatesin 2016 and the Democrats openly conspired to ensure Hillary won. The lawsuit about them fixing the nomination process in 2016 for her benefit brought out interesting items to light, even if it went nowhere in the end.
Populism is dangerous to elites because it fights back against the power grabs of the elites, who claim they are protecting the system when the are merely protecting the power they took from the people. Populism is about limiting the power of powerful interests in order to free the people to just live their lives.
If demagoguery and other machinations are employed, it is usually done by the elites as try to manipulate the system and the people and trick them to stay in power. And the elites violate every norm to stay there.
The Roman Republic of Julius Caesar's day was corrupt. Two centuries of conquest had given Rome a large empire and had done so and backs of the middle class. The rich got lands and slaves while small farmers who fought the wars got into debt and struggled to compete against the wealthy. The Gracchi brothers were conservative reformers who attempted to bring Rome back in line with its earlier era, empowering the regular people against the elites. Both brothers met violent ends, Tiberias in 133 B.C. and Gaius in 121 B.C. Their deaths represented the beginning of a century of political strife and civil war leading to the end of the republic.
Brown University professor Mark Blyth is a international political economy professor. In 2016 he coined the term “global Trumpism” and noted that populist revolts were coming around the world from both the Right and the Left and were remaking the political order. He prefers left populism and sees left populism as the only tool to stop right populism.
You can't say you favor democratic values and principles and oppose populism. Elites give lip service to democracy and nothing more, because they do not want it. This is why the Democratic Party is now the party of the professional managerial class (PMC). The working class is to be obedient and quiet.
Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party were both initially populist revolts, one from the left, and one from the right. Both were mad at corporations and the government. Sure they differed on many topics, but both shared similar ideas.
But they were kept divided. The Tea Party got taken over by the Kochs and became libertarian astroturf. Occupy was pushed out with force by the Democrats. And suddenly identity politics became pushed. It wasn't an accident that the Woke issues developed after Occupy. It was classic divide and conquer. The elites couldn't let people find common ground.
Bernie sold out and Trump is his own worst enemy, but there is no reason we can't get new populist leaders today. We can push back against the elites that want us to be serfs.