The GOP is trying to be a milder, kinder face on the party these days….well at least the supposed leaders, that is…….mellowing their message and trying to appear more “populist” than they really…..they are jumping on the minority voter bandwagon, the immigration and the women’s bandwagon…..but after listening to them for a week or so…I ask just what part of their plans sound “populist”?

Do you even know what a populist is?

Populism–any of various, often antiestablishment or anti-intellectual political movements or philosophies that offer unorthodox solutions or policies and appeal to the common person rather than according with traditional party or partisan ideologies.

Digest that for a minute.

One of the most famous populists of all time was Huey Long, governor of Louisiana and here is what he ran on…………

Number one, we propose that every family in America should at least own a homestead equal in value to not less than one third the average family wealth. The average family wealth of America, at normal values, is approximately $16,000. So our first proposition means that every family will have a home and the comforts of a home up to a value of not less than around $5,000 or a little more than that.

Number two, we propose that no family shall own more than three hundred times the average family wealth, which means that no family shall possess more than a wealth of approximately $5 million—none to own less than $5,000, none to own more than $5 million. We think that’s too much to allow them to own, but at least it’s extremely conservative.

Number three, we propose that every family shall have an income equal to at least one third of the average family income in America. If all were allowed to work, there’d be an income of from $5,000 to $10,000 per family. We propose that one third would be the minimum. We propose that no family will have an earning of less than around $2,000 to $2,500 and that none will have more than three hundred times the average less the ordinary income taxes, which means that a million dollars would be the limit on the highest income.

Does any of that sound like populism of today?  Personally, I do not like the word populist because it has been misused for too long.  Likewise the use of progressive to describe a liberal……it may be PC today but they are two different political animals….

In the truest sense of the term, the GOP can never be a populist movement, not with the issues it champions today.