Chrystia Freeland, Canada's finance minister, said in an explosive letter published Monday morning that she will quit cabinet. Here's what happened on Monday, Dec. 16.
I always feel a little confused by people using “populism” as a bad thing. The literal definition is “appealing to the masses who feel their concerns are being ignored by those in power.” That is a good thing, provided they aren’t lying about their goals. Cost of living is going up and corporations are raking in record profits, homelessness is on the rise, etc. These are all problems that I feel could be addressed better by non neoliberal policies that actually don’t further entrench those in power.
I think populism is more accurately defined in its rhetoric against a “group of elites” that must be fought. Sometimes that’s based in reality, sometimes it isn’t. Trump’s brand of populism, for example, pushes this idea of a group of out of touch pedophilic liberal elites who want open borders and who want to redefine traditional gender and sexual roles. The Bernie Sanders style leftist populism defines the group of elites as the billionaire business class controlling the economic system of America such that they avoid taxes and write laws through legalized bribery. I would argue that Bernie’s populism is based in reality and Trump’s is based in exaggeration and fear mongering. But that’s my take as someone who leans left.
In both cases the populism itself is appealing to the masses, yes, but it’s specifically appealing to them by drawing clear lines around an enemy that needs to be fought. Trump’s exaggeration of this enemy is where populism becomes dangerous. As someone who has recently been studying the French revolution, I can also point to that as a great example of populism that started with an accurately defined enemy (monarchy) and over time morphed into something that was really just vague calls of “treason” aimed at anyone and everyone who could be made the subject of ill defined conspiracy theories. Populism can be a powerful force for good when the enemy is real and the ideology is clear, but it can be just as powerful a force for evil when the lines are obscured or invented whole cloth.
So the question in this case is who the enemy is. Who would a populist replacement for Trudeau be fighting and how would they define their ideology?
So the Reds replace Justin with some populist scumbag, or canada will elect a bunch of populist scumbags? Fuck, are we ever dumb.
I always feel a little confused by people using “populism” as a bad thing. The literal definition is “appealing to the masses who feel their concerns are being ignored by those in power.” That is a good thing, provided they aren’t lying about their goals. Cost of living is going up and corporations are raking in record profits, homelessness is on the rise, etc. These are all problems that I feel could be addressed better by non neoliberal policies that actually don’t further entrench those in power.
Populism by itself isn’t bad.
I think populism is more accurately defined in its rhetoric against a “group of elites” that must be fought. Sometimes that’s based in reality, sometimes it isn’t. Trump’s brand of populism, for example, pushes this idea of a group of out of touch pedophilic liberal elites who want open borders and who want to redefine traditional gender and sexual roles. The Bernie Sanders style leftist populism defines the group of elites as the billionaire business class controlling the economic system of America such that they avoid taxes and write laws through legalized bribery. I would argue that Bernie’s populism is based in reality and Trump’s is based in exaggeration and fear mongering. But that’s my take as someone who leans left.
In both cases the populism itself is appealing to the masses, yes, but it’s specifically appealing to them by drawing clear lines around an enemy that needs to be fought. Trump’s exaggeration of this enemy is where populism becomes dangerous. As someone who has recently been studying the French revolution, I can also point to that as a great example of populism that started with an accurately defined enemy (monarchy) and over time morphed into something that was really just vague calls of “treason” aimed at anyone and everyone who could be made the subject of ill defined conspiracy theories. Populism can be a powerful force for good when the enemy is real and the ideology is clear, but it can be just as powerful a force for evil when the lines are obscured or invented whole cloth.
So the question in this case is who the enemy is. Who would a populist replacement for Trudeau be fighting and how would they define their ideology?