Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
New Politics?
Liberals have, somewhere along the timeline of politics, become Progressives. I presume this occurred as the result of them having sufficiently sullied the popular interpretation of the meaning of the term “Liberal” more that it did as the result of any preference for the new term “Progressive”.
A “Liberal” is defined as one who is not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views or dogmas; as being free from bigotry.
A “Progressive” is defined as one who favors progress or reform, especially in political matters.
Conservatives have, on the other hand, apparently felt no need to re-name themselves. They are still Conservatives.
A “Conservative” is defined as one who favors traditional views and values.
And then along comes the “Populist” and he or she seems despised by both the Liberals and the Conservatives.
A “Populist” is defined as one who is a supporter of the rights and power of the people.
What’s going on here?
What is going on is that the two major political parties are being called out by the people whom they are supposed to represent for the simple fact that both those parties think it is all about them and not about the people.
The “Populists” are obviously having an impact. If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have become the lightning rods they are in so short a period of time. It is ironic that the two major political parties have finally found something in common; that ‘something’ is a mutual disgust for these ‘elite-bashing’ typical American citizens.
Just who do these people think they are? Don’t they know that the professional political class is important to the governance of this country? How could they even begin to think they could mount a knowledgeable program for the management of this democracy? Why, where would the ‘institutional memory’ be found with which to properly govern?
Populism isn’t a bad thing. It is the manifestation of the peoples’ awareness that they’ve not been properly served by either political party. It is the manifestation of a growing anger in the general populace that has been cultured over time by the actions, or lack of actions, of the elite ruling class.
Will populism last? Who knows? I suspect that it will last long enough to get some changes initiated in one or both major parties. Of the two major parties, it is most likely that the change that will comfort the populists would sooner occur in the Republican Party than in the Democrat Party, but that is really up to those two parties.
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The Curmudgeon Blog today is titled "Paul Ryan Is A Threat".
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