Philosophical Question: How can we support populism while we question the reasoning skills...

[Writer]

of a large portion of our population? Isn't that contradictory? Or is it that we confuse "populism" for liberal politics (implying that there could be conservative forms of populism)?

DISCUSS!

[BlooInBloo]

1. By supporting making people smarter. Duh.

[patrice]

7. Yep. Power shared is More power.

[frazzled]

2. Who said we are supporting populism?

There is right-wing populism, which purports to speak for the "common" person (of a right-wing persuasion, of course), and there is left-wing populism, which purports to speak for the "common" person (of a left-wing persuasion, of course).

Populism is not in any way synonymous with liberalism. One can be liberal without being a populist, and one can be a populist without being liberal.

I've always been somewhat mistrustful of populism as an aim in itself. While I think liberalism needs to be ever vigilant of the economic well-being of the average American, and of the civil rights of all Americans, I also think that this alone does not constitute the full range of liberal responsibility. Our world is becoming ever more complex, and issues of economics, climate change, foreign policy, science, etc. need to look beyond only the interests of the common man and woman.

That is to say, the interests of the common person are a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for liberal policy.

[no bad days]

3. populism.....

How about a bi partisan populism where we keep both corporations and government off of the peoples backs?

[OHdem10]

4. They have every right to dissent. It should be the American way However

I do believe our criticism was justified. We resented and
therefore were critical of Disruptors. Those who entered
the Town Hall Meeting and literally tried to take over the
Meeting. They had received memos instructing them on how
to be disruptive.

Both sides jokingly make comments about the other side.
The righties make sometime cutting remarks about the Left.
Most of the time this can be put in file under Politics.

The Right have no leg to stand on. Read the title of some
Of Coulters' Books and Hannities. The things they say
about Democrats ---whoooooeeeeeeeeeee.

I see populism as a separate issue. As a social justice
and economic justice advocate, populism is a bir in my
nature. I think we could use more.

[mitchum]

5. That is an eternal paradox

Frankly, I find the common man to be a little too...common
but his life still has meaning
and he deserves
equality, justice, and freedom from want

[patrice]

6. We have responsibilities to educate in whatever manner that works.

Power shared is MORE power.

[abumbyanyothername]

8. I always thought populism was a derogatory term

for appealing to the basest elements in the population.

Usually I see the term trotted out to mean that politicians are forgoing what is right and/or good in favor of what will sell.

[OHdem10]

9. There is a history which influences some even today.

At a much earlier point in History, In Louisiana, there was
gentleman who became Senator. Huey was an Poopulist who became
so popular it seemed the people followed him around. He fought
for the "little" against the vast corporations. At the time
we humongous amounts of poverty especially in southern States.

Anyway, to make a long fascinating story very short, Long became
in the eyes of the Elites(at least) a cult like figure. This
frightens the elites. Fear Instability--these ner do wells might
get some high minded ideas and even start an insurrection.
To move it along Huey and the Capitalists were at it big time.
One night Huey is shot dead right in public. As with any
of these type deaths, there are people who were behind the shooting
On the other side, the elites saw him as exploiting.. so they
say.

Anyway, if you believe H was exploiting, you might also be
not to fond of populism.
This could be little point in why some people fear populism.

Some might say, they are seeing it as a possible threat to
their own power.

Read about Huey sometime. I am trying to give a brief but
description.




elites

[Quantess]

10. Don't assume that everyone is stupid,

or you will make an ASS of U and ME.

Seriously, though, let us begin by defining which segment of the population you want to examine.

[PurityOfEssence]

11. The Reagan Revolution has stumbled the same way Communism failed: presuming man can be perfected

We are what we are. We're as noble and nasty as we were when we first started recording our misdeeds. The trick is to accommodate the foibles of our extended family so the most can get the most out of their one-shot deal of life.

Watch audiences some time, and you'll be shocked just how smart people are. I'm not just talking perceptive, I'm talking smart. Add in the compensatory skills people build up during a lifetime, and there's a lot going on that is easy to dismiss when in a bad mood.

Still, we have to understand and live with the herd mentality and insecurities of the beast, and that's never going to go away.

To completely outflank your argument (respectfully, that is) I can simply say that reasoning isn't all that important with many people, and appeals to emotions tend to work much better.

A snide way of interpreting what you're saying is to distill it down to the position that those who don't use their noggins aren't worth saving, but I don't think that's what you're saying. I think you're saying it's difficult to logically appeal to those to whom logic is an accursed occasional interloper, and to that I simply say: don't bother; use emotional appeals and stick with the grand old tradition of lunkheaded American vote gathering.

When a system gets to such a degree of abuse that survival becomes an issue for more and more people, it's not going to be hard to get them to take some political action. The problem is that any attempt to help the have-nots will be met with the Reaganite tactic of scaring the have-littles into thinking their tenuous treasure is going to be taken by the riff-raff.

Be interesting to see where this thread goes...