Populism & Popular Sovereignty

"If you wish the sympathy of the broad masses, you must tell them the crudest and most stupid things." ~ Adolf Hitler

"Political populism always poses a great danger because it disorients people, creates excessive expectations or, on the contrary, prioritises objectives that are clearly not priorities or are simply impossible to achieve." ~ Vladimir Putin

"As a rule, [populism] is done for the sake of political expediency by those who do not care about the consequences, who do not think even one step ahead, who do not want to think and do not intend to honour their commitments." ~ Vladimir Putin

"This work is either useless or harmful, because there is nothing good about populism. If you wanted to hear my opinion on this issue, that is what I think." ~ Vladimir Putin

"I think a Donald Trump presidency raises a new kind of version of conservatism which more closely resembles a kind of Father Coughlin, America first populism and nativism and isolationism, than the confident, modern, cosmopolitan, thoughtful, engaged conservatism of Ronald Reagan and Paul Ryan." ~ Bret Stephens

Political power is a magnet to men, drawing them like moths to the light of a fire, seducing them with glory, meaning, and dominion.

And yet into the hands of a clever leader, power can become a tool of manipulation, a means of retribution against the institutions that were formed to contain it.

Populism erupts when the leader proclaims himself to be "the voice of the Hard-Working people." He does not govern institutions but over them.

Laws, courts, and opposition legislative voices are eliminated as a hindrance to his path.

He provides a simple account of corrupt elites that have betrayed the virtuous majority, and only he can deliver them justice. His people, the people are angry, and he will take his revenge in their name. When institutions close down, jobs are lost, only the strongman remains.

Popular sovereignty itself, though, is the ground of actual democracy. It presents not swift vengeance but strong leadership. Power lies distributed among the representatives, bounded by legislation and constrained by minority rights and people's rights.

The populist is less tolerant of such obstacles. "I act in your name." With this statement, he bypasses the legislature, criticizes judges and delegitimizes the judiciary, and silences political opposition.

He takes away the very brakes that keep power in check. He does not serve democracy; he takes revenge for it.

The populist is not the people's servant but an illusion master, an elite propagandist. He turns the government into a battleground, where he rewards his loyalists and punishes dissenters.

His rise is followed by institutional decline; his rule is sustained by the suppression of those who refuse to obey him.

Ultimately, once all resistance is vanquished, he himself is left holding power. And the people who used to jeer him? They are given nothing.