petra
MaizieD
Galaxy
Er they probably dont want to be spoken to like that for a start.
Like what, Galaxy?.
If people are claiming superior knowledge it would be helpful of them to share it rather than make gnomic utterances every time the topic is discussed.
This article from The Guardian goes some way to explain why.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/06/kamala-harris-us-elections-donald-trump-victory
Thank you for posting this, petra. I id read it when it was published and Owen Jones comes to the same conclusion that I already had.
I don't think my analysis of 'what ordinary people want' in my earlier post is wrong, though no-one has piped up to agree with me. Because what they want is what they have wanted for decades. Centuries, even.
I think that Jones is mistaken to dismiss 'populism' because that is just what has driven the transfer of power from one section of society to another. It drove the support for the French revolution and the Russian revolution, because, whatever the high minded ideals of the 'leaders' of the revolutions the reason that they gained such large followings was that they seemed to promise a better life for the oppressed. Get rid of those rich aristos and your lives will be immeasurably better... If that isn't populism, I don't know what is. Johnson did it here with his promise of 'levelling up' and so did Labour recently with its promise of 'change', implying that they were going to make people's lives better..
But the reason for the ultimate failure of these movements (or whatever you like to call them) is 'the economy, stupid'. As Jones also identifies, if not in those words.
A marketing man, skilled at targeting discontent, Trump does not follow his crowds. Rather, he is led by the money men around him: the fossil fuel executives, the shadow bankers, the crypto bros and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
You can expect a lot more like it over the next four years. Trump will almost certainly plunder from the budgets for social security and Medicaid. The tech bros will suckle on government subsidies, while the suits from private equity get to set government policy.
However this politics dresses itself, it’s not populism. Try: theft – taking from the poor to give to the rich.
While ever we carry on the same economic system, which both populists and conservatives are completely wedded to; the system which advantages the wealthy and does little or nothing to improve the lives of the rest of the populace, we will get the same results. Voters turning to the leader who promises they will make their lives better.