The term “populism” has been thrown around and given a grossly misleading meaning. Various pundits have distorted it to seem supportive of racism and Trump’s pandering to his political base’s worst biases.
Actually, the U.S. had a TRULY PROGRESSIVE historical era of “populism” more than a century ago. We need to rediscover those values and build upon the TRULY DEMOCRATIC political instincts that people were organizing around at that time.
This political cartoon should inspire us and guide our truly populist organizing: CLICK THIS LINK: CARTOON — The people don’t know their true power
“Populism” can be used by either the Left or the Right. Read this interesting article: “Populism Is Not a Four-Letter Word” — http://www.nwopc.org/ml/dada/mail.cgi/archive/BWA/20190129055003/
Here is another interesting article about “populism” as a threat to “liberal democracy”: https://www.thenation.com/article/mounk-galston-deneen-eichengreen-the-populist-specter/
The article at the link above also reveals a “populism” of both the Left and Right. It mentions one researcher’s findings that young people are rejecting conventional political institutions and even “liberal democracy” and looking for an authoritarian leader to save us from the crisis they are experiencing. Is the system so broken that only an authoritarian leader can save us? Or can we identify and build upon people’s better values and progressive, humane, political alternatives? If so, how can we reach out to people who are alienated and bring them into a progressive, humane movement to rescue society from the slippery slope that so many nations (including the U.S.) are sliding down?
I recommend the analysis and remedies in some of my blog posts to the “Our Current Political Crisis” category.
For example, see this recent post: http://parallaxperspectives.org/do-not-let-assumptions-about-human-nature-interfere-with-the-bold-social-and-political-reforms-we-are-working-toward
Also see this post about our “broken” systems that are actually working as intended: http://parallaxperspectives.org/our-systems-are-not-broken-theyre-working-as-intended-they-are-deliberately-unfair
Chris Hedges really nailed the problems here: http://parallaxperspectives.org/american-anomie-chris-hedges-thoughtful-article-about-some-aspects-of-our-current-crisis
Please READ the THOROUGH ESSAYS that expand greatly upon my November and December 2018 TV programs. Read November (problems) before reading December (solutions). See info and links here: http://parallaxperspectives.org/tv-programs-part-2-of-choose-a-better-worldview-to-build-a-better-world
Here are some strategically smart ways to proceed: http://parallaxperspectives.org/why-people-support-trump-and-smart-ways-for-us-to-organize-against-trumpism
The populism topic and America’s crisis are part of this blog post: Experts say evidence proves the U.S. is a dying democracy. “Regime change” here? See the post here: http://parallaxperspectives.org/experts-say-evidence-proves-the-u-s-is-a-dying-democracy-regime-change-here
Instead of merely attacking and defeating Trump’s supporters, let’s DE-POLARIZE our society, HEAL Trump’s supporters, CONVERT them to better values — and HEAL OURSELVES TOO. See my blog post here: http://parallaxperspectives.org/better-than-defeating-trumps-supporters-lets-heal-them-and-convert-them-to-better-values-and-lets-heal-ourselves-too
How about taking this first step toward a humane populism? See my blog post: http://parallaxperspectives.org/visualize-and-create-a-government-of-the-people-by-the-people-for-the-people
My very thorough essay about how we got into our current crisis and how to get out of it is still valid. It addresses some aspects of populism and related factors — and proposed nonviolent grassroots organizing to achieve solutions. Here is a link: http://parallaxperspectives.org/an-important-post-on-this-blog-still-reflects-my-best-thinkig