It seems to me that Republicans and Democrats alike are turning to the slippery slope of populism in order to reassure the public that they are, in fact, ‘doing something’ about the financial crisis. The vitriol aimed at the institutions who brought the economic world to its knees is filled with buzzwords intended to make our collective blood boil, urge us to get out the pitchforks and burn down the mansions where the fat cats sleep at night. House Republican Leader John Boehner or Rep. Dennis Kucinich could simply grunt, ‘Banks, toxic assets, angry, recession,’ and have an army of enraged workers ready to do their bidding. But no matter how ‘right’ we are apt to feel, populism can turn and turn quickly.
In the last few weeks, there has been a smattering of articles on the finer points of this mass politic (see Newsweek’s ‘A Thinking Man’s Guide to Populist Rage’) and even a piece of legislature based on it (see bill HR 1586, better known as the ’90 percent tax on bonuses’ bill). What all the printed conjecture and ‘laws’ fail to address, however, is how dangerous populism can be to a government and to a leader. To lead by mass hysteria would be a bastardization of (ironically enough) what the republic stands for, an attempt at cool, collective leadership (domestically and internationally) rather than acting on the passion of the moment. For all the ‘anger’ that President Barack Obama has expressed, he has remained the epitome of strong leadership, not bending to the boiling desires of the populace but to the better angels of balanced foresight. Beating the hell out of executives may make us feel better today, but making them use their talents to heal our economy will make us feel better tomorrow.
Theodore Brown
CAS ’10
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
