Is Populism Dead?

Townhall.com ^ | August 1, 2013 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Kaslin]

Occupy Wall Streeters claimed that they were populists. Their ideological opposites, the Tea Partiers, said they were, too. Both became polarizing. And so far populism, whether on the right or left, does not seem to have made inroads with the traditional Republican and Democrat establishments.

Gas has gone up about $2 a gallon since Barack Obama took office. Given average yearly rates of national consumption, that increase alone translates into an extra $1 trillion that American drivers havencollectively paid in higher fuel costs over the last 54 months.

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Victor Davis
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal.

[ClearCase_guy]

America has plenty of community organizers and agitators, and even more smooth corporate lobbyists, but populist politicians disappeared long ago.

Both parties seek to buy votes from the poor and do favors for the rich. I call it Fascism, and I say both parties are equally guilty.

We live in a dark time, and we are losing our middle class.

[MrEdd]

To answer the headline, as long as Bill OReilly has a show we will know there is still a market for populism.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Populism works every time its tried. At least at the ballot box.

Keep your eye on the Fake Indian from Boston. She’s the Great White Hope of Populism.