In the present presidential race, we are experiencing the populist wave of discontent toward the established political parties in the candidacy of Donald Trump, and to some extent that of Bernie Sanders. Political scientists will acknowledge that populism is inherent to democracy. When a certain percentage of the populace believe that their cries for reform are largely unheard by those elected to office, they will seek a candidate who will challenge the status quo.
The populism of the State of Minnesota led to the election of professional wrestler, “I ain’t got time to bleed” Jessie Ventura, an independent, to the office of governor. The combined ineptitude on the part of Ventura, and the State legislatures’ unwillingness to work with Ventura made this experiment in populism a disaster for the people of Minnesota. I think it is safe to say that the citizens of Minnesota have learned from that huge electoral mistake.
The revolutionary populist movements against established governments can lead to great disasters. Witness the French Revolution in which French populism led to the taking down of the French monarchy, with many of those French nobles and their families executed on the guillotine. However, the hate and bitterness experienced by the nobility of France at the hands of the populists, was then turned in upon the populists themselves as the Reign of Terror continued, and they themselves were then summarily executed. It was said that the streets of Paris ran with the blood from the bodies of the many beheaded corpses. Ironically, the French populist sought refuge from their own carnage by establishing a new monarchy, crowning Napoleon emperor of France.
As in the French Revolution, the populist movements of the 20th century that overthrew oppressive governments led to even more oppressive and brutal governments. To name just a few, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia that took down the Russian Czars, but replaced it with the totalitarianism of Leninist and later Stalinist Communism. Then there was the populist overthrow of Germany’s Weimar Republic replacing it with the Nazis government of Adolf Hitler. Then there was the rise of Facism with Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain. One by one, the terror of one form of government was replaced with a more horrific terror.
The only instance in which populism led to something better was in the American Revolution. Though, we as a nation have had our good and bad times, the establishment of a two party political system, and the checks and balances of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government has been able to ride out the challenges of unchecked populism. While our democracy is not perfect, is not always just, and is always in need of improvement, it has served the people better than most other governments.
Over the past thirty years, or more, both the Republicans and the Democrats have listened more to the lobbyists than their constituents. This more than any ideology has given rise to the populism that is represented by Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. If these two political parties wish to survive the threat of imminent and permanent rupture, though this is presently more pronounced for the Republican Party than for the Democratic Party, they must begin to listen in earnest to the grievances of the populist movement. The aggrieved must come away knowing that they have been heard by those in political office and that their voices hold more weight than that of the moneyed interests influencing the Senate and the House of Representatives. This must be followed through by those elected with appropriate action on the behalf of the common good within the constraints of government.
