Populism

Populism is a political term describing a political agenda that aims to favor the ordinary person over the elite. It is an agenda that appeals outside the norms acceptable to the establishment political class and its supportive mainstream media.

Examples of populist legislation include the Right to Try Act, which was opposed by the FDA, Big Pharma, and their political allies. Opposition to globalism and unlimited immigration is also a populist view.

Populism can have both conservative and liberal elements. The Populist Party in the U.S. in the 1890s was a left-leaning coalition of leftist farmers and workers, who opposed the gold-only monetary standard. In the late 20th century Ronald Reagan and other conservatives adopted populist themes, attacking elites, such as federal judges and the national media, as too distant from the people, and calling for more power to the people.

Since 1900 famous populist leaders in the U.S. included Huey Long campaigning from the left in the 1930s, George Wallace (combining both left and right elements) in the 1968 presidential election, and Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump from the right in the 1980 and 2016 presidential elections, respectively. Among U.S. Senators, Ron Johnson (R-WI) is perhaps the leading populist in the early 21st century. Reportedly 12% of the supporters of the far-left Bernie Sanders in 2016 voted for the conservative, national-populist Donald Trump in the general election.

In the 21st century in both the United States and Europe, populism is seen as resistance to globalism. According to a May 2018 Pew Research Center survey, Western Europeans were more divided politically based on their views on populism versus the establishment than they were on traditional "left" versus "right" distinctions.

In late December 2020 amidst a massive "coronavirus relief" spending bill being passed by Congress, anti-establishment, populist-leaning politicians from both sides including Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) criticized and denounced the pork-barrel legislation that only included $600 stimulus checks for Americans, with some far-left Democrats even concurring with President Trump's call for a larger sum of $2,000 checks. However, establishmentarians such as Amy Klobuchar opposed Trump's call to further help Americans.

Conservative populism

See also: Right-wing populism

New conservative parties formed Europe in the late 20th century are adopting a populist style, often criticizing mass immigration.

Conservative populism has often been attacked by liberals as "radical right", falsely implying that it is somehow beyond the bounds of legitimate debate.

Populism and Progressivism

Populism and Progressivism, while sometimes have gone hand in hand, remain two distinct notions. Fundamentally, populism is democratic, even if at times it has a wrongheaded approach, as can occur; whereas Progressivism is fundamentally anti-democratic and the road to technocracy and authoritarianism.

See also

• Populist Party
• Populist Revolution

Bibliography

• Kazin, Michael. The Populist Persuasion: An American History (1995), 380pp, the standard history, by a liberal historian