Vox Populi

The Perils and Promises of Populism

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This book came out last year mostly in response to the election of Donald Trump and the success in the UK of "Brexit", both events surprising conventional wisdom, and deemed by some to be a rejuvenation of "populism". It's a collection of ten "trenchant" (it says here) essays on that topic in response, all originally published in the New Criterion. Most of the writers are familiar to those of us who bathe in conservative journalism: George H. Nash, Barry Strauss, Daniel Hannan, Fred Siegel, James Piereson, Andrew C. McCarthy, Roger Scruton, Victor Davis Hanson, Conrad Black, and Roger Kimball (who also edited). There's a small component of blind-men-describing-an-elephant here, each describing different, sometimes contradictory, populist features. And considerable overlap too: more than one writer cites the famous anti-populist quotes from Obama ("bitter clingers!") and Hillary ("deplorables"!). But each essay is worthwhile reading. Most deal with modern-day American and British politics. But one goes back to H.L. Mencken (not a populist by any measure). And another delves into the ancient origins of the movement, in the Roman efforts of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (and his gory end).

For better or worse, "populism" is nowhere near as well-defined as (say) libertarianism. Trump is arguably a populist, but so is Bernie Sanders. Sharrod Brown (I'm told) wears the label proudly, while deriding "phony populism" in others, e.g., Trump.

But (as near as I can tell), populism has its good stuff and bad.

Good: after all, democracies are inherently populist: the "people" rule, at least in theory, and indirectly. Lincoln's memorable Gettysburg phrasing about "government of the people, by the people, for the people" is inherently populist. To the extent that populists object to being dictated to by a small elite, they're not wrong to do so. (The Brexit vote was, at least in part, a reaction against being ruled by unelected European Union commissioners, who meet in secret, and can't be unseated by voters.)

But also bad: populist sentiment has no limiting principles. Actually, it doesn't seem to have any concrete guiding principles at all. So its cloak is easily taken on by demagogues who love to seduce the masses with tales of the system being "rigged against them". It's us-versus-them, pal, and if you're not with us, you're probably in the employ of the Koch brothers.

Among other things, I learned I am definitely not a populist.


Last Modified 2024-01-24 11:53 AM EDT

Double Star

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Continuing my rereading-Heinlein project… Double Star won the Best SF Novel Hugo for 1956. It's Heinlein at his best. And (frankly) after wading through the ponderous (but excellent) 700+ page In the First Circle, I was in the mood for something easier and lighter.

The story is first-person narrated by near-future actor Lawrence Smith (aka "Lorenzo Smythe" or "The Great Lorenzo"). Down on his luck, he's approached in a seedy bar by space pilot Dak Broadbent, who offers him a small job: could he take the place of a guy who needs to appear in public, but unfortunately is temporarily unavailable…. Lorenzo is dubious, but takes the job.

But soon discovers that the gig is (literally) more than he bargained for: he's not impersonating any random schmoe, but famed politician John Joseph Bonforte.

On Mars.

And Bonforte is not just unavailable, he's been kidnapped by powerful people who are trying to monkeywrench his negotiations with the inscrutable native Martians. And they aren't above using further violence to spoil Lorenzo's performance.

Anyway, there's a lot of action, and Heinlein does a great job of narrating Lorenzo's character arc from the inside. The basic idea isn't exactly fresh, but I still had a good time. The ending is unexpectedly moving; Heinlein did that more than a few times to me.


Last Modified 2024-01-24 11:53 AM EDT

URLs du Jour

Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas to all!

  • Michael P. Ramirez seeks The third wise man.

    [The Third Wise Man]

    A little political for December 25, but Michael's stuff is just so darn gorgeous, I don't need much of an excuse to embed it.

    And, yes, I've figured out how to embed cartoons from his website again. Apparently the bare domain name 'michaelpramirez.com' no longer DNS-resolves, so all references have to be changed to 'www.michaelpramirez.com'. Thank goodness for my basic knowledge of grep/bash/vi.


  • The Scrooges at National Review have deemed Kevin D. Williamson's article, Christmas Truths & Choices, to be "NRPlus", which I assume means unblessed peons can't see it. But (I hope) they won't get me for a fair-use excerpt:

    Christianity is a strange religion and a carnal one, insisting that the true kingdom is not of this world but defined by an act done in the flesh, to a body — the body belonging to the little baby in the manger. How do people with children do it? How do you look at that tiny, defenseless little baby, and tell Him the truth? And let’s not be shy — not out here in the cold and the darkness with the shepherds and the lambs who don’t know what they’re really in for come Passover — about what that truth is: that He is to be scourged and beaten, denounced, and publicly executed in the most gruesome fashion that the most vindictive minds of the greatest political power on Earth could devise, and that this is part of some inscrutable master plan cooked up by His Heavenly Father, Who alternates unpredictably between raining down on His people manna from heaven and floods of extinction. A Father who insists He loves His only begotten Son and is well-pleased in Him: This is His program, understand. The Romans are only instrumental. What would that baby say to all that, if a newborn could speak? Would He plead with us, “Let this cup pass from me”? Or would he say something else?

    RTWT, if you can.


  • From Friends Meeting House in the UK version of Mansfield (a couple years old, but it was new to me):

    I sing that all the time! People tell me it's a tune for which my voice is especially suited!


  • And Pierre Lemieux at EconLog wishes us a Merry Mathematical Christmas!. Also Tweeted by a number of people:

    You can click over to the EconLog link to find Pierre's musings on the beauties of mathematics, and its proper use in economics.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:52 AM EDT