“........If you read the Federalist Papers, you know that the Founders had a very healthy distrust of un-channeled populism. That’s why we have divided government. That’s why we are a democratic republic. The U.S. Constitution begins with the single most important populist statement in human history, “We the people.” It marked a revolutionary and incandescently wonderful break with the barbarisms - refined and not so-refined - of the past. But the rest of the document is dedicated to finding healthy and principled ways to constrain and channel populism.
Back during the early tea-party days, I often said that “libertarian populism” was the first populist movement, at least since abolition, that I could get behind because it was aimed at overthrowing statism and the arbitrary rule of the administrative state. In truth, there have been other good populisms. The dethroning of aristocracy in Europe was arguably the first flourishing of populism in the modern West, and it was mostly a very good thing. But one only need study the French Revolution to understand that populism can chew through its leash and start eating its own (to use a slightly mixed metaphor). John Lukacs, that great champion of the anti-populist conservative tradition, argued that the Hungarian Revolution was an example of good populism.
But he also understood that fascism and Communism were examples of bad populism. When populism is yoked to a cult of personality, the mob defines success as success for their leader, principle be damned. The leader becomes a repository for resentments, a vehicle for power, both cultural and political. As Willie Stark says to the adoring crowd in All the King’s Men: “Your will is my strength. Your need is my justice.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428408/donald-trump-populism-corruption-conservatism
Not to stray too far from your statement, but ,the GOPe must die. Trump is our last,best hope.
Well, you are versed. Good, that means you know your lies, by rote at least. Please continue to educate and liberate. Thanks.
When populism is yoked to a cult of personality, the mob defines success as success for their leader, principle be damned. The leader becomes a repository for resentments, a vehicle for power, both cultural and political. As Willie Stark says to the adoring crowd in All the King’s Men: “Your will is my strength. Your need is my justice.â€
Had to say this again, THIS is what we have with Trump and Obama. The cult of personality.