Argus Posted December 21, 2018 Report Posted December 21, 2018 Populism is a term that has become a Rorschach test for political observers, at least since Mark Twain declared that it was the idea that “one man is as good as another, or maybe a little better.” But Speer prefers the explanation that it “repoliticizes issues that the commentariat and establishment have colluded to depoliticize.” For example, the benefits of free trade and high levels of immigration have become an ironclad part of the political consensus and it usually takes a populist movement to bubble up a dissenting view in the national debate. I think I like the idea of populism if it will wring us out of the groupthink situation we're in, where anyone daring to suggest the elites are wrong about things like immigration and free trade, now to mention the whole 'one world' idea so many of the Left embrace, might not be the right idea. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/a-healthy-oil-patch-is-the-only-thing-saving-justin-trudeau-from-a-populist-surge-new-report-says#comments-area "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Argus Posted December 21, 2018 Author Report Posted December 21, 2018 Populism has two heads, as the above suggests: one is economic, which is not simply how well we are doing NOW but whether people are fearful about their economic future. The second is cultural - a fear that too many (strangers/other/foreigners) are being allowed into our territory, and that this endangers our society's future welfare and it's cultural harmony, as well as the values we currently embrace. The more 'strange', the more 'different' the newcomers are from us, the greater that fear. The Trudeau government's wholesale embracing of immigration, largely for falsely stated reasons, and it's determination to continue to expand the amount of immigrants coming in and to do nothing to screen out those with beliefs hostile to ours, is inspiring populism, and antipathy towards immigration and migration. We won't hear much about this because of how the "commentariat and establishment have colluded" on, as the article says above. There is simply no way to even question the Immigration program. I'm not talking about saying "No more immigrants!" but intelligently questioning why the numbers keep rising and why it would be wrong to screen them for unsavoury values. Thus you will never see a Canadian politician saying "there are too many immigrants coming into Canada'. It's simply not acceptable. Despite the fact that 49% of Canadians told a recent Angus Reid poll they think too many immigrants are coming in. Other recent polls have showed: 68% want immigrants to assimilate betterhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/poll-canadians-multiculturalism-immigrants-1.3784194 61% feel too many immigrants want special accommodation and aren't fitting inhttps://globalnews.ca/news/4288791/diversity-immigration-canada-mixed-feelings-survey/ 75% want immigrants tested for hostility to Canadian valueshttps://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/most-canadians-favour-values-test-for-immigrants-poll 68% of Canadians want Quebec's anti face covering ban in their province https://globalnews.ca/news/3828752/quebec-face-covering-ban-support-canada-poll/ Yet you cannot find any of these views being expressed in the major media because no one in politics or the 'commentariate' will dare to utter them even if they agree with them. Maxine Bernier was forced out of the Tory party for even daring to suggest there could be such a thing as too much diversity, a remark which horrified the mainstream media and political parties. "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
Argus Posted December 21, 2018 Author Report Posted December 21, 2018 The other head is economic, based on the current economy and how people see the future. The current economy is reckoned to be not bad, though I continue to wonder why it is taht if we're in boom years we can't pay the bills. Why are governments at all levels still running big deficits if we're in boom years? But as the article above points out, much of our economic stability is based on the resource industry, and the Trudeau government is doing its best to destroy that industry. It's about to pass a new bill which will make it almost impossible to get new resource projects going, and it's hamstrung the oil and gas industry by refusing to force through a pipeline so it can get its products to market. Those effects will only really begin to show in the next few years, but already Canadians are growing more pessimistic about our economic future. https://www.mortgagebrokernews.ca/news/canadians-are-the-most-pessimistic-theyve-been-in-12-months-251396.aspx "A liberal is someone who claims to be open to all points of view — and then is surprised and offended to find there are other points of view.” William F Buckley
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