Populism

we’ve discussed:

democracy, autocracy, totalitarianism, authoritarian, nazism, facism

TED Talk

PASOK (greece)

  • leader Andreas against new constitution

    • “there are no institutions, only the people exist”

    • can be a constitution but it does not matter

    • accused those in power of “national betrayal”

    • promised to govern for benefit of common people, no institutions, only the people exist

    • make political opponents enemies of the people, claim to be the representative of the people and acts on behalf of them

  • leaders use emotions to manipulate and deceive voters, still democratic

  • political movements with counterintuitive and contradictory motives

  • existential problem → threatens existence of something

  • populism wants to appeal to our emotions, fears, prejudices

  • people who rail against immigration appeal to emotions

  • in most disagreements on policy, the fate of the country does not depend on it

  • democracy is about majority rule but protecting minority rights

  • institutions are necessary for the balancing of society

  • is democratic, only in the sense that you allow the people to decide but in the U.S., UK, and other democratic countries, people do not have unfederated rule

  • liberal democracy requires common ground on issues with many conflicting views, institution is more important than political policies

  • wealth gap is an important factor in populism

  • modern populists embody the will of the people and place this interest above institutions, institutions are controlled by self-serving ruling minority

in our constitution we have rules around elections, one of the rules is that you cannot easily change the rules of an election because if someone won an election and could do what they wanted they could rig the system to stay in power

liberal democracy depends not completely on the will of the people, but the will of the people in the context that it protects minorities because in the american experience todays majority is tomorrows minority

populism is the idea that the leader says that bad laws don’t have to be changed by changing the law, the leader just changes the law or the effect of the law is changed or they pass new laws that violate the rights of others

  • it is so important because

  • the issue of immigration has to do with keeping people out of the country and paints them as criminals

  • trump will say he is a populist on the issue of immigration

  • don’t need to be consistent in your political party, just hit peoples emotional buttons

  • trump appeals to his supporters when he says the election was rigged because all the institutions supported the “lie” that he lost the election

  • #1 threat to democracy

  • populism an idea, has described multiple political movements

adolf hitler was populist

  • takes control of the everything so he is the only voice that is being heard

  • start by making the will of the people the priority, an emotional appeal to the people

  • jews and communists, even though he is a socialist

  • came to power democratically, germany had a parliamentary system, was able to put together a coalition that made him chancellor

  • once he rises to power, he in a meticulous way, dismantles all of the institutions that could take power away from him (make certain political parties illegal, take control over judiciary, take away freedom of press)

  • institutions in germany weren’t strong enough

Modern Populism

  • responding to totalitarian ideologies of WW2

  • Western nations adopt liberal democracy,

  • liberal democracy

    • societies factions seek common ground

    • rely on the rule of law and protection of minority rights

  • tolerance and institutions that protect from intolerance are foundational

  • citizens look for new leader to challenge

  • modern populists identify as embodying the will of the people, place it above the institutions that protect minorities

  • politics no longer about seeking compromise thru institutions, seek to overturn a broken system

  • liberal democracy respects institutions, modern populists seek to break them down

  • make exorbitant promises and cast opponents under the light of undermining the country

  • most politicians see institutions as more important than their policies

DWIGHT EISENHOWER’S ADDRESS TO LITTLE ROCK

  • “Our personal opinions have no bearing on the matter”

  • “we are a nation of laws, not people”

  • “moderate plan for the gradual desegregation”

  • “the basis of our rights and freedoms rests upon the carrying out of decisions by federal courts” (this is totally not right and somewhat paraphrased)

  • “mob rule cannot be used to dictate the decisions of our federal court”

  • in a liberal democracy, the institutions matter greatly it is not simply what “the people” want

POPULISM SLIDESHOW

Explaining Populism

  • A political “philosophy” that a leader owes allegiance to, and governs in accordance with, “the will of the people,” rather than to liberal democratic institutions, such as the free press, an independent judiciary, non-political government bureaucracies, or even a constitution

  • It is based on the premise that all or many of the institutions that allow government to function and protect minority rights are corrupt against the “will of the people,” a so-called majority

Populism’s Appeal

  • It is often a response to legitimate grievances relating to political or social inequality.

  • Offers simple solutions. Many times populists make promises of change that are not compatible with pluralistic and liberal democratic governance

  • It appeals to peoples emotions, especially fears, prejudices and in some cases hatred

Full Special Investigation: Donald Trump vs. The Deep State

  • members of the deep state will be there for decades

  • CIA, NSA, FBI are the main agencies involved in the deep state

  • Donald Trump claims they were trying to undermine him

  • intel agencies created to influence other nations after WWII

  • CIA gets billions a year but the use of money is not disclosed to the public, involved in many coups in Latin America, involved in covert matters

  • all of these actions to be involved in the overthrowing of other governments were known to the U.S. president and often funded by the white house

  • JFK wanted to damage/get rid of the CIA because they gave him a lot of bad advice, included a failed attempt to overthrow communist government in Cuba

  • espionage is secretive, doesn’t mean that intelligence doesn’t go rogue

  • FBI threatened MLK Jr, authorized by the chief of the FBI who authorized lots of wrong activity, did this as the person running the agency not a member of the agency, FBI has since been reformed

  • $50-80 billion is estimated intelligence budget

  • intelligence agencies and most government agencies are career civil servants, one of the reforms of the spoil system, president could completely change the employees with their transition

  • leaders of all govt agencies are appointed by president and approved by senate

  • some of the harsh actions of govt agents are legal

  • agency was ordered to spy on citizens unconstitutionally in the midst of 9/11

  • US govt has on official whistleblower program to alert of any suspected wrongdoings

  • dozens of people involved in torturing taliban prisoners

  • surveillance, foreign influence, domestic control are all aspects of the deep state

  • people who didn’t want to do what their bosses wanted them to do → almost the opposite of a deep state

  • Donald Trump claims the deep state is trying to take him down

  • claiming the government works for the president; importance on allegiance to the president rather than the constitution

  • Trump refers to secret agendas → laws

  • there are claims that Trump’s campaign was spied on by the FBI, helped to generate the Russia investigation

  • Trump is a Manchurian candidate → a puppet for president Putin; Trump claims Biden is a Manchurian candidate

  • 199 charges against 37 ppl involved in the Russia probe, no evidence of American collusion with Russia

  • CIA agent leaked phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president

  • bugging that takes place is only done after visiting a court for permission by presenting evidence that there is potentially illegal activity going on

  • no “organized” deep state, american government is a bureaucracy that may have resistance in it