Well written and thought-provoking. I particularly appreciate your point about accountability. We’re governed by bureaucrats that have no accountability. If our government were a commercial enterprise, it would’ve collapsed decades ago. While I’m not suggesting government should be a commercial enterprise, it needs to be measured and held accountable.
We also desperately need an educated populace. It’s hard to expect people to act and vote responsibly when they don’t even understand there are three branches of government and the concept of checks and balances. (dare I mention enumerated powers?)
If I were really hoping for the stars, I’d wish for people to read the Federalist Papers and understand what the framers of the Constitution were trying to create.
I like your distinction between healthy and unhealthy populism, Michael. 👏
In general, I am not a fan of using single words for complicated matters that serve as Rorschach tests (eye of the beholder) and breed confusion and unfruitful conflict. Words like populist, liberal, conservative, socialist, feminist, fascist etc. We would all be better off using 10+ words to define what we really mean rather than ambiguous shorthand. But that requires a bit more effort like you put into writing your essay!
Thanks, and that’s a great point. It is annoying when people collapse the meaning of ‘simple’ words. That’s what got me about Populism because, when you actually look at the 10 words it means, it’s not at all what they’re implying when they use it.
If we were an actual democracy, we would have failed a long time ago. I hate it when the media constantly talks about defending our “democracy”. Thank goodness we are a constitutional republic. The tyranny of the majority is real.
Well written and thought-provoking. I particularly appreciate your point about accountability. We’re governed by bureaucrats that have no accountability. If our government were a commercial enterprise, it would’ve collapsed decades ago. While I’m not suggesting government should be a commercial enterprise, it needs to be measured and held accountable.
We also desperately need an educated populace. It’s hard to expect people to act and vote responsibly when they don’t even understand there are three branches of government and the concept of checks and balances. (dare I mention enumerated powers?)
If I were really hoping for the stars, I’d wish for people to read the Federalist Papers and understand what the framers of the Constitution were trying to create.
Totally agree. And not just the federalist but also the anti federalist papers. Those guys called out a lot of what we are seeing.
I like your distinction between healthy and unhealthy populism, Michael. 👏
In general, I am not a fan of using single words for complicated matters that serve as Rorschach tests (eye of the beholder) and breed confusion and unfruitful conflict. Words like populist, liberal, conservative, socialist, feminist, fascist etc. We would all be better off using 10+ words to define what we really mean rather than ambiguous shorthand. But that requires a bit more effort like you put into writing your essay!
Thanks, and that’s a great point. It is annoying when people collapse the meaning of ‘simple’ words. That’s what got me about Populism because, when you actually look at the 10 words it means, it’s not at all what they’re implying when they use it.
If we were an actual democracy, we would have failed a long time ago. I hate it when the media constantly talks about defending our “democracy”. Thank goodness we are a constitutional republic. The tyranny of the majority is real.
100%. I just laugh that they denigrate populism while trying to defend pure democracy.