Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler
The Age of Populism is Troubling
The best definition of the populist movement that I have heard comes from former Ontario Premier Bob Rae. Oh, I know, he is a Leftie, and his political views and mine are often a mile apart. Even so, to the chagrin of many of my Conservative friends, he remains on my short list of politicians I admire. He is a Humanitarian and a Statesman, and he has an ability to rise above partisan politics when the occasion requires it. I am not sure if this explanation of populism originated with Bob Rae or that I just heard it from him, but here it is.
“Populism is a pathology of the left and the right. Its excesses lead not just to tyranny, but to an unhealthy adulation of the leader. It is now a global phenomenon and a threat to liberty, pluralism and the rule of law.”
Think about that. Populism is not a partisan ideology although there are some who would like to think so. It is a movement that affects and indeed infects, all sides of the political spectrum. It springs from a lack of confidence in Governments that have failed to inspire, and it unleashes people’s hidden and repressed feelings on issues they did not previously feel empowered to express.
The best example of this of course, is the United States of America. In reality, the Presidential election in 2016 did not so much elect a Republican or a Democrat as it elected a Populist. In my view, Donald Trump could have won on either ticket (remember he was once a Democrat) as long as he appealed to that part of the population that was completely fed up with the status quo. People wanted something very different, in spite of the consequences of electing an individual who was somewhat on the weird side, to put it as nicely as I can.
And what are those consequences? Well, for one thing, populism as an entity, had a spotty existence prior to Trump, but his election legitimized the movement that has spread like uninoculated measles, throughout the world. Our moral compass is all shot to hell. The rule of law used to be the underpinning of a democratic society. Today it is wobbly at best. Truth is not necessarily important and lying is often ignored. And we trash each other. We breed contempt for any one who does not think like we do, and we no longer fully defend what is right or equally important, condemn what is wrong. It is our way or the highway and little else matters.
The populist movement allows people who would undermine our society to believe they can get away with atrocious acts. The White Supremacy Movement is only one example, but it is a good one. It has reared its ugly head again and blame for that, can at least in part, be laid at the feet of Donald Trump. Intentionally, or otherwise, he has led these animals to believe he supports them. Oh, there are weasel words every now and then, calling them bad boys and girls, but he does not condemn them. In fact, he says there are good people on both sides. And when asked whether the terrorist attack in the name of white nationalists in New Zealand, slaughtering 50 Muslims at worship, was an indication of an escalating world-wide crisis, he shrugged it off as just a small group of dudes who have serious problems.
No, Mr. President it isn’t. It is becoming a world-wide crisis involving violent white supremacists. These are not isolated incidents; these are people who talk to each other over social media, who plan the attacks killing Muslims, Jews, and people of colour, like the Mosque in Christchurch, The Tree of Life Synagogue, Mother Emmanuel AME Church, Oak Creek Sikh Temple, Overland Park Jewish Centre and the Islamic centre of Quebec City, to name just a few in recent years. And do you know what many of them have in common sir? Your name in their manifestos; the latest one describing you as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” You could set them straight, but you don’t because you are more concerned with your populist base. These terrorists look up to you because you enable them. You must be proud.
Compare President Trump’s response to acts of white nationalist terrorism in the United States to those of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She didn’t just show up for the photo ops and praise both sides. She unilaterally and unconditionally condemned the slaughter. She referred to the victims as her fellow citizens and she donned a head scarf in deference to Muslim custom and got down on her knees and prayed with them. She also banned semi-automatic weapons within six days of the massacre. It paints a much different picture doesn’t it?
My guess is that we will see much more of Prime Minister Ardern. No doubt, her approach to the management of issues related to multiculturalism and diversity, which are now a reality in almost every country outside of the Middle East, will differ sharply from those of President Trump, as will her view of the rule of law or of gun control. He will not like the international contrast and it will really tear him up if she gets the Nobel Peace prize and he does not. Let’s see how long it takes for him to try to put her down.
After all, it’s his populist base that counts.
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I have to agree with Ed. Good thing that most of the commenters here are not voting in the U.S.–because you all buy the mainstream media propaganda. The mainstream media in the U.S. are an arm of the DNC which is, itself, thoroughly controlled by super-wealthy globalists. (They also control the world’s media as well.) Rabid commentators like Chris Matthews used to work for various Dems before he landed his very highly paid job in the media. Most all of the mainstream media-heads are “progressives.” What that means is that they are VERY far left political activists. “Leftists” are mostly who get the plumiest jobs and receive political funding today. They are Bolsheviks.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the stories of Bolshevik atrocities are now being told by the descendants of those who were killed. For obvious reasons, that information was suppressed under the Communists. Lenin said, “The goal of socialism is communism” and he also believed that political enemies of the socialist/communist agenda should be killed. Stalin, Lenin’s successor, killed approximately 20,000,000 Soviet citizens (look up the number if you don’t believe it). The majority of them were Christians. Even larger numbers of Chinese (70,000,000) were killed by Mao’s Communists. Cambodian Communist dictator, Pol Pot killed millions of Cambodians. The Castro brothers of Cuba were somewhat inept–it is estimated that they only killed about 150,000 Cuban dissidents. (And think about the fact that our very own Prime Minister Trudeau praised Fidel Castro on hearing of his death). Ask the Cuban exiles in S. Florida what they think about Fidel Castro. Many of them lost relatives to the Castro brothers reign of terror in Cuba. And the genocide that is currently threatening in Venezuela under the socialist, Maduro should certainly give leftists pause for thought–unless they actually like the idea. Maduro has refused humanitarian aid from Western governments–including the U.S. and Canadian governments–in the hope of starving out any conceivable opposition.
There is little difference between totalitarians on the “right” or the “left”. Always remember that the Nazis started as “socialists” (the name Nazi is short for the National Socialist German Worker’s Party). People on the far left like Alexandra Occasio-Cortez are Bolsheviks–they seek power and control. She is well-funded by those who would like to see the present government of the U.S. fall. Cortez is apparently a “useful idiot” for them. The woman is not only certifiable but dumb as a post as well. Hard to imagine how she acquired a supposed economics degree. Of course, higher education has also been corrupted by the huge amounts of money that the globalists throw at it (have you been following the current scandal of the wealthy buying their children into prestigious universities in the U.S.?) Occasio-Cortez claims to be an advocate for the poor but wears $3,500 designer suits. It is difficult to see how she supports her extravagant lifestyle on a Congresswoman’s salary.
And why would the super-wealthy elites want to foster totalitarianism? They are convinced that the world population is too large and that “abortion rights” and “right-to-die” legislation (both of which they support) are not doing the job of reducing the earth’s population. Various elitists have been quoted as saying that over-population is the biggest threat to the planet and have reinforced that message over and over through their captive media.
Over-population is a myth and there have been a number of studies which suggest that the world population will peak shortly and then gradually begin to go down–at first–followed by alarmingly steep declines. We will eventually be paying young couples to have children in the latter part of the century. Granted, pollution is a problem but that is mainly one of reluctance to fund anti-pollution technology (because, of course, it doesn’t improve the “bottom line” profits of the companies). But, if you think that socialism/communism is the answer there, think about how utterly polluted China has become under the Communists.
By the way, super-wealthy elites have recently bought up huge amounts of real estate in New Zealand. That’s likely the real reason for the gun-grab. You can always gauge the mood of the elites by what Hillary Clinton applauds. She applauded the confiscation of guns in New Zealand after the Muslim massacre. The elites are uncomfortable with the idea that the “peasants” could ever launch an armed rebellion. Thoughts of the French Revolution (where no one was safe from the guillotine) haunts them. Clinton actually met with Prime Minister Ardern about a month ago–what they spoke of wasn’t revealed. In the mosque massacre, what the mainstream media failed to report, is that a New Zealand citizen armed with a shotgun, interrupted the terrorist. The terrorist fled when met with armed resistance. There are approximately 100,000 incidents of armed resistance against criminals in the U.S. alone every year. There’s no telling how many more the terrorist would have killed had not the armed citizen-defender showed up.
The reason why the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) was added to the U.S. Constitution as a part of the Bill of Rights, was to hope to prevent a tyrannical government from taking all wealth and making the people into serfs/slaves. The “Kings of the earth” are pushing hard for a one-world-government. Civil liberty protections are unlikely to be supported in their plans.
Christians are the only religious group who do not accept domination by political-economic elites. As such, there is a silent war against Christians. Even organizations such as Amnesty International have said that Christians are the most persecuted people on the planet today. The Voice of the Martyrs has recorded the killing of approximately 100,000 Christian martyrs PER YEAR for the last two decades–mostly in Muslim and communist countries. Does the mainstream media ever report on the thousands of Christian martyrs? It is absurd to suggest that Trump “feeds terrorism” when he supports Jews and Christians and seeks to protect them from those who would harm them.
Amen Hugh. You nailed it.
It is a shame that folks have not recognized the many good decisions of Trump’s Administration that has helped The US the have their strongest economy in years! He has many faults as we all know. However, do we want Socialism or a Capitalistic society? Our Liberals are like the Democrats of the US. There is still racism in our own country that we have yet to deal with properly so let’s fix our problems and not continuously criticize the US. Are we feeling safer today with all of the Liberal decisions on Immigration?
Excellent commentary, Hugh, thank you very much.
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I have but one quibble, with what I consider a grave and unjust insult to the Democratic Party. Running as a Democrat, there is no way Trump would have won in the primary against Hillary Clinton. That is clear from the fact that she beat him by three million or so votes in the popular vote in the *general* election, in which Republicans were allowed to vote.
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Not a chance. There’s a reason he picked the Republican Party.
Excellent article, Hugh! Mr. Hitler was also a populist: Look at what his demagoguery occasioned. Of course, POTUS is probably a holocaust denier; he doesn’t read; how would he find out?
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I do, however, doubt that enough Democrats could have held their noses, and voted him in. The intellectual left alone (and their anti-NRA allies) could never have accepted him. I’d like to think that it was a perfect storm that allowed his election in 2016; but he still has an exceptionally high, and seemingly untouchable approval rating. Even if he loses in 2020, he won’t leave until federal marshalls remove him forcibly. He’s truly only safe in the White House: beyond its walls, he goes to jail.
Hughie: In your excoriation of populists, you artfully dodged mentioning the populist currently occupying the corner office at Queens Park. You know,….the guy who has his photo taken with an affirmed white supremacist.
As with NZ Prime Minister Ardern, I daren’t mention his name lest it be repeated in ‘mixed’ company.
Well said, Hugh. Your comments on populism are so true. I am also a great admirer of Jacinda Ardern. She sets an example all leaders should follow.
Hugh, I often disagree with your views. But I couldn’t have said it any better! Thanks for that enlightened piece.