Debate:Should conservatism continue moving in a populist direction?

Yea

1. User: Conservative. Yes, if the particular form of populism embraces Christian values and/or is not hostile to Christian values. In addition, the populism must be fiscally conservative and not profligate and build up unnecessary national debt. Viktor Orban's right-wing populism in Hungary is not anti-Christian. In order to win elections, Republicans have to embrace blue collar workers and other working class voters and reject radical environmentalism that is pseudoscience (Global warming alarmism for example), but at the same time not reject capitalism. Many multinational, big corporations are now hostile to social conservatism, embrace some radical environmentalist pseudoscience such as global warming alarmism and are for open borders. Big tech is suppressing the speech of conservatives. Big tech and other big corporations that are monopolies, should be broken up using trust busting law.

• "Populism" was always a derogatory term employed by media and elites to belittle "lesser educated" voters. Granted, a "populist press" emerged that was considered "outside the mainstream". And when this occurred 100-140 years ago, Republicans and conservatives were the "mainstream". But the term has never shed its negative or derisive meaning about naive and foolish voters, which is why today's media elites and academics have brought it back and added "rightwing" to it. RobS^{Free Kyle!} 04:23, 29 April 2021 (EDT)

Nay

Conservatism is not the equivalent of right-wing populism, and the drift from the former to the latter has led to some unintended consequences which people should realize. While some aspects have been beneficial, there are several problems:

1. Traditional Christian values and opposing abortion is no longer a main priority for many right-wing populists as it is for conservatives. Most current "leaders" of the right-wing populist movement don't put conserving human life as a primary goal.
2. Right-wing populists view fiscal conservatism as bad and prefer a "moderate" approach on economics which includes an expanded welfare system. They put little emphasis on the national debt problem.
3. Populist messages represent anti-elitism, dividing by class rather than necessarily by the morality of individuals. Ultimately, the differentiation between right-wing populism and left-wing populism becomes much less than the differentiation between conservatism and liberalism.
4. Right-wing populists have called for using the government to break up big corporations often avoid emphasizing on fixing issues at the individual level.
5. Due to the lack of emphasis on firm moral standards, right-wing populism has at times been associated with fringe/extremist violence which its people often ignore likely over the concern that emphasizing on it would mean "caving into the left".
6. Many right-wing populists have called for the same manner of "confrontation" that left-wing agitators including Rep. Maxine Waters has, often justifying or at least refusing to condemn the harassment of individuals.

—LT^{May D.C., his mother, and I.S. be all well!} Thursday, 20:43, 28 April 2021 (EDT)

• Rightwing populism is term invented by leftist academics circa 2001 defined as "proto-fascist", per academic and historical research. I know the guy the wrote the book and invented the term. RobS^{Free Kyle!} 20:50, 28 April 2021 (EDT)

Interesting. And I'm noticing that the type of appeals right-wing populists make often parallels the tactics of socialists/communists in an unrestrained anti-elitism fashion... —LT^{May D.C., his mother, and I.S. be all well!} Thursday, 20:54, 28 April 2021 (EDT)

Wearing the label "rightwing populist" is like sitting in a trench in WWI and waiting to "go over the top". RobS^{Free Kyle!} 22:12, 28 April 2021 (EDT)

What is the lesson? You can not fight a battle with outdated tactics. You must adapt to technological improvements. RobS^{Free Kyle!} 18:40, 29 April 2021 (EDT)