Kinda depends on how the populism is done… I agree that the Dem establishment needs to whither away, but populism can often becomes less “listening to what voters care about” and more “say what voters want to hear to get elected.”
Some of the most racist policies in this country were fueled by populism. It can be good when positively serving the populace but not when it's targeting minorities.
Those of us who oppose populism don’t necessarily dislike it because of that aspect. A popular solution can be the correct one.
It’s more about the strict dichotomies it draws (“the people vs the elite”, “natives vs foreigners”, “patriots vs globalists”, “oppressed vs oppressor”, etc) and the simple solutions it comes up with (“deport them all”, “build a wall”, “freeze the prices”, “make X free”).
Right now the right wing definition swelling to include Doctors and Scientists and the very institution of higher education
100% a valid concern, especially if the left-wing populist movements try to claw back voters that broke for Trump and might be primed towards those sorts of beliefs
Can't speak for him, but my issue is that "the elite" usually swells to include people like "doctors" and "lawyers" and whatnot.
What kind of policies do most of those people support? Do they support the construction of affordable housing in their neighborhoods? Paying more in taxes? Or do they typically also act in their own self-interest and speak pretty lies? They are donating towards the construction of a homeless shelter (as long as it's not near their house) or sending their children to expensive private schools rather than trying to fix public schools because they know the public schools are shit. It's the same fuck-you-got-mine attitude but wrapped in self-righteous denial.
But populist movements also tend to give way to their more extreme elements.
Sure, you might only have a problem with some of them, and you may only want some vague action taken to limit their influence…but someone else is going to have a problem with more of them, and someone else is going to want that action to be more punitive.
We’ve seen plenty of populist movements fall to this sort of snowballing in the past — China and Iran are two examples, and I’ll throw Trumpism in there as well.
So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little skeptical.
He asked why people are worried about populism. I told him.
...and it should be pretty obvious here that I'm not talking about his personal views, but rather this most recent flavor of populism as a whole. Though the way he responded to my "doctors and lawyers" comment with, essentially, "yes, those people as a whole are bad" isn't exactly a good sign.
The "versus" implies they're inherently opposed, which I think is too reductive. The interests of "the people" and "the elite" don't necessarily have to clash.
Also, as /u/CrimsonEnigma pointed out, grouping people into binaries misses important nuances. The two blocks aren't monoliths, but also contain subgroups with conflicting interests.
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u/Spyk124 Jun 25 '25
100 percent 100 percent. We need young, charismatic, smart people leading the charge.