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Article: A populist, and proud of it. (The People's or Populist Party of 1890's)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- October 19, 1984
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1984 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN SOME CIRCLES the term "populist" is a synonym for "demagogue"--just as, among most blacks in the South, the word "conservative" is plainly and simply a synonym for "segregationist." To say that every populist is a demagogue is as wrong as accusing every conservative of racism.
The 1980s-style populists I describe in The Establishment vs. the People are anti-racist, compassionate, anti-Communist, future-oriented, and grounded in traditional values while sympathetic to libertarianism. They promote economic growth and a return of power from the Federal Government to the states and localities and to the individual. They are not anarchrists; as Newt Gingrich says, ...