dagblog - Comments for "Joe Biden’s Platform for 2020: Anti-Populism"

The word populism needs to be

moat — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 22:37:09 +0000

In reply to Joe Biden’s Platform for 2020: Anti-Populism

The word populism needs to be sent to the shop for repairs. If the term is going to be used interchangeably with expressions like, "some large swath of the electorate", then which politician is not a populist?

Trump was not a populist in his campaign. He promised to retain all kinds of different privileges under assault by the "liberal agenda". That a large number of voters were attracted to that message doesn't make them a movement or even a self identified interest group (except for the obvious exceptions). They liked the Charmin advertisement so they bought Charmin.

Clinton was not a populist in her campaign because she advanced the idea that the Democratic Party was a coalition of different people with common goals. She was arguing that the house did not have to be burnt down to serve the interest of the people, it just had to figure out what the best policies were.

I think it is fair to describe Sanders as a populist. He directly appealed to class differences as the primary condition requiring change. On the other hand, much of the talk about restraining trade deals and commercial taxation are traditional Democratic tactics to turn entrepreneurs into engines of socially just production.

Joe Biden? Sorry, I dropped my map.

I hear he's got his Ouija

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 15:12:30 +0000

In reply to Whether it is accurate to

I hear he's got his Ouija board out figuring out what Beau would do. Very touching.

[in a peculiar twist, Beau's widow has hooked up with his brother - something I thought only Hindus do when not self-immolating. Anyway, not my focus or concern, just a quirk noted while Googling.]

Whether it is accurate to

artappraiser — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 14:52:55 +0000

In reply to Joe Biden’s Platform for 2020: Anti-Populism

Whether it is accurate to call what Biden is doing anti-populist or not, I think the author is correctly pegging the current zeitgeist. I am seeing indications of it everywhere in all the news and op-eds I read: after Trump is done, populism is going to lose its appeal for quite some time, and not just nationally, but globally. People will be looking for a grown-up "daddy" who will make it all better and tell them the right thing to do, not someone who feeds their fears and prejudices.

Edit to add: and while Biden is not always seen as an excellent candidate "on the stump", he is a very smart and experienced pol, and I would not be surprised if he is seeing that anti-populism is where the party should go for 2020.

Obama was not a populist at

HSG — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 09:32:09 +0000

In reply to No matter who it is Hal can

Obama was not a populist at all, did not govern as one. He won in 2008 because he ran a more populist campaign than either Hillary or McCain, had far less baggage than Clinton, was more likeable than either, W had tanked the economy, and the country had turned against Iraq. Also he just seems Presidential. Tall, cool, handsome, smart.

Obama won in 2012 because the economy was starting to pick up and nobody could have been less of a populist than Mitt "corporations are people my friend" Romney.

No matter who it is Hal can

ocean-kat — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 02:55:37 +0000

In reply to Hal, you are consistent. You

No matter who it is Hal can find some reason they're a populist. Obama was a populist, that's why he won. Biden is a populist and would have won. Everybody except Hillary. He can't find a single thing she said that was populist. That tells you all you need to know about Hal.

Hal, you are consistent. You

CVille Dem — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 01:47:54 +0000

In reply to Criticizing Silicon Valley

Hal, you are consistent. You make no sense, and much of what you say is simply not factual.

And no, I don't want to accept your assignment to prove what I have just said. It is so obvious, that I assign you to disprove it.

Criticizing Silicon Valley

HSG — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 23:27:33 +0000

In reply to Joe Biden’s Platform for 2020: Anti-Populism

Criticizing Silicon Valley execs and DC Pols for selling America's workers short is the essence of populism. Biden is positioning himself as an opponent of the elites and a supporter of workers. That is indeed populism.

Edit to add: Biden may have been implicitly taking a shot at Bernie when he said that we shouldn't place all the blame on corporate America but of course Bernie doesn't place all the blame on corporate America. In any event, Biden's next sentence is populist - "It is true that the balance has shifted too much in favor of corporations and against workers."

The reason this is populism is because Biden is describing the essential struggle in America as one between those who champion the economic elites on one side with workers and the middle-class and formerly middle-class on the other.

Many of the earlier articles

artappraiser — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 23:25:06 +0000

In reply to Is populism democracy’s

Many of the earlier articles in their populism series look intriguing, all the more so because they are looking at this from outside the American & European bubbles:

September 7, 2017

Progressive politics is losing to a fantasy state of mind

MIck Chisnall, University of Canberra

Why are we increasingly seeing voters support candidates whose policies are, superficially at least, against their own interests?

August 10, 2017

We frown on voters’ ambivalence about democracy, but they might just save it

Adele Webb, University of Sydney

Ambivalence among voters is reason to think about how democracy is working for us as a community. To keep democracy alive we need to be sceptical about the exercise of power and keep it in check.

July 20, 2017

Everyday makers defy populists’ false promise to embody ‘your voice’

Henrik Bang, University of Canberra

The only exceptional leaders we need today are the ones who help us to govern and take care of ourselves.

July 11, 2017

Modi’s polarising populism makes a fiction of a secular, democratic India

Irfan Ahmad, Max Planck Institute

For decades, India's Hindu and Muslim populations have been at odds, and it comes down to more than just religion.

June 6, 2017

Deliberative democracy must rise to the threat of populist rhetoric

Nicole Curato, University of Canberra and Lucy J Parry, University of Canberra

Populist politics would appear to have left deliberative democracy by the wayside, but innovations that engage citizens in reasoned decision-making have much to offer.

Is populism democracy’s

artappraiser — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 23:18:49 +0000

In reply to Joe Biden’s Platform for 2020: Anti-Populism

Is populism democracy’s deadly cure?

By Simon Tormey @ TheConversation.com, Sept. 20

Tormey is Professor of Political Theory and Head of the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney.

This article is part of the Democracy Futures project, a joint global initiative between The Conversation and Sydney Democracy Network. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century.

This piece is part of a series, After Populism, about the challenges populism poses for democracy. It comes from a talk at the Populism: What’s Next for Democracy? symposium hosted by the Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra in collaboration with Sydney Democracy Network.