College of Political Knowledge

Professor’s Classroom

Paper #26

Here is a subject that absolutely NO one has any idea what I am talking about!  In 2008, Obama was a semi-populist and Edwards was the populist voice and now it is Palin and Bachmann and the Tea Baggers, as a whole that is the populist voice of America.  But what is the Populist Voice?

Populism is a political stance, basically, that means an appeal to “the people”.   It is a modern device of political activity. And as an extreme form tries to use the US Constitution in a way to block any and all legislation that they do not agree with.   A voice against a supposed opponent, like foreigners, outsiders and especially the “elite”.  The later describes that appeal; of the populist voice of today….they are fighting against the elite, as they see it.

One way to fight the elite, in the populist frame of mind,  is to state that they speak for the “people”…the use of unclear expressions and catch phrases with NO clear decisions on how to repair a situation.

But as populism has grown it has become more about political opportunism than anything else.  The use of “the people” as a tool to further an agenda….not necessarily for the good of the country but rather the good of a political movement….it depends heavily on the fact that most Americans are low information voters or one issue voters and as such can be molded into political force….a force that has NO foot in reality.

For instance, the populist Tea Party is still having people echo that the present admin is raising their taxes….when in actuality most Americans taxes have gone down….but that does not matter to these people……if Obama is a Dem then he MUST be raising taxes, is their thinking……..

As usual, today’s populism is short on solutions and short on principles but long on slogans, generalities and misinformation….none of which is good for American democracy.