Saturday, June 02, 2007
No, Hillary is not a populist.
Heard just now on Fox: "Hillary is not a leftist; she's just a populist who says whatever the audience wants her to say."
Unfortunately, the term populist is now used only to describe a speaking style. When Algore roars like a bear, he's a populist. When Hillary does her "Lawsy, lawsy, marse Jawge, I'se gots a hawd, hawd time" routine, she's a populist.
I know there's no point in trying to recapture words; change in meaning and grammar is natural and unstoppable. Still, this change is especially irritating because it amounts to a sort of thought-control. There are already a number of words for a politician who meets his audience's style: Folksy, demagogue, rabble-rouser. A new word wasn't needed for that concept. But there is no other American term for the original meaning of Populist, the Jennings Bryan school of thought.
"Economic nationalist" is the nearest remaining term, but it's a flavorless phrase.
And, as Orwell noted, when you remove the word you effectively remove the concept. ¶ 8:51 AM
Heard just now on Fox: "Hillary is not a leftist; she's just a populist who says whatever the audience wants her to say."
Unfortunately, the term populist is now used only to describe a speaking style. When Algore roars like a bear, he's a populist. When Hillary does her "Lawsy, lawsy, marse Jawge, I'se gots a hawd, hawd time" routine, she's a populist.
I know there's no point in trying to recapture words; change in meaning and grammar is natural and unstoppable. Still, this change is especially irritating because it amounts to a sort of thought-control. There are already a number of words for a politician who meets his audience's style: Folksy, demagogue, rabble-rouser. A new word wasn't needed for that concept. But there is no other American term for the original meaning of Populist, the Jennings Bryan school of thought.
"Economic nationalist" is the nearest remaining term, but it's a flavorless phrase.
And, as Orwell noted, when you remove the word you effectively remove the concept. ¶ 8:51 AM
