I like this analysis a lot, but I do have a couple of disagreements. First, as I said in a comment on a previous post, I don't think there are any legitimate populists. The vast majority of "populism" is merely rhetorical, designed to bring the "populist" into power so that he and his friends can be in charge instead of that other guy an…
I like this analysis a lot, but I do have a couple of disagreements. First, as I said in a comment on a previous post, I don't think there are any legitimate populists. The vast majority of "populism" is merely rhetorical, designed to bring the "populist" into power so that he and his friends can be in charge instead of that other guy and his friends. There could hardly be any better recent example than Trump, who relies on false promises to solve everyday problems combined with racist, misogynist, and other bigoted promises that play to fear of the "other". It's the same strategy we saw in the original Populist movement, in the Jim Crow South, in Italy in 1922, in Germany in 1933, in Hungary and India recently, and elsewhere. The only question is exactly where Trumpism will land on that spectrum, and there is no landing place that allows for much hope in the near future.
The other dispute involves a conclusion that I've come to only recently and with a great deal of regret. I now think that capitalism and democracy are incompatible. The reason is that capitalism creates two major problems. You identified the inequality arising from Neo-Liberalism so I don't need to add anything here. But the other problem is that capitalism creates enormous uncertainty in the population at large: is my job secure? am I keeping up with my neighbors? are "those people" getting stuff that I deserve and they don't? Etc. That uncertainty translates very readily into fear. And whether fear leads to hate or fear is the mind killer, the result either way is an emotion which pseudo-populists and actual fascists can exploit.
I'd like to be optimistic here, if for no other reason than I want my grandchildren to live in a decent world, but right now I'm not. There were too many missed opportunities in the past 16 years and it's hard to see how we can get those back.
I like this analysis a lot, but I do have a couple of disagreements. First, as I said in a comment on a previous post, I don't think there are any legitimate populists. The vast majority of "populism" is merely rhetorical, designed to bring the "populist" into power so that he and his friends can be in charge instead of that other guy and his friends. There could hardly be any better recent example than Trump, who relies on false promises to solve everyday problems combined with racist, misogynist, and other bigoted promises that play to fear of the "other". It's the same strategy we saw in the original Populist movement, in the Jim Crow South, in Italy in 1922, in Germany in 1933, in Hungary and India recently, and elsewhere. The only question is exactly where Trumpism will land on that spectrum, and there is no landing place that allows for much hope in the near future.
The other dispute involves a conclusion that I've come to only recently and with a great deal of regret. I now think that capitalism and democracy are incompatible. The reason is that capitalism creates two major problems. You identified the inequality arising from Neo-Liberalism so I don't need to add anything here. But the other problem is that capitalism creates enormous uncertainty in the population at large: is my job secure? am I keeping up with my neighbors? are "those people" getting stuff that I deserve and they don't? Etc. That uncertainty translates very readily into fear. And whether fear leads to hate or fear is the mind killer, the result either way is an emotion which pseudo-populists and actual fascists can exploit.
I'd like to be optimistic here, if for no other reason than I want my grandchildren to live in a decent world, but right now I'm not. There were too many missed opportunities in the past 16 years and it's hard to see how we can get those back.