With Apologies to Mr. Franklin

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David French, Democracy, Donald Trump, Mob Rule, populism, Tyranny

Grumpy Opinions by Bob Montgomery

A republic is a form of government, but a democracy is an ethos. It is “one-man (yes, one-woman, Ivanka!)/one vote.” It is the notion that the citizen is the lowest common denominator, and thus the foundation, of the State. We have, with the Trump Derangement Syndrome plaguing the #NeverTrumpers of various pursuits around the nation (and mostly in the environs of the District of Columbia and nearby) a coterie of people squawking about “nationalism” and “national populism” and various other movement labels that they find repulsive. The truth is, what they find repulsive is citizen participation in the political process.

My disturbance today is caused by an article written by the National Review correspondent, David French. His presidential campaign never quite got off the ground, but he works tirelessly nevertheless for….the cause. He writes the usual stuff about the Fabulous Founders’ oft-mentioned warnings about the dangers of a (pure) democracy, or “mob rule”. But then he goes further with this:

In other words, there is nothing magical or inherently virtuous about the “will of the people.” The people are just as capable of error, just as capable of becoming tyrants, as any tin-pot dictator.

Oh….dear. Nothing magical or inherently virtuous about the “will of the people”? Mr. French, if you were talking about the people who demanded that the authorities give up Barabbas, we might entertain, even second, that emotion. But we are talking now, not about them[…]

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Of Nationalist Populism and Labels

Tags

Conservatism, labels, populism, Progressive Republican Establishment

 

Grumpy Opinions by Bob Montgomery

NATIONALIST POPULISM IS NOT NATIONAL SOCIALISM, NOR IS IT COMMUNISM

Well that’s what they’re calling the Trump phenomenon now – “nationalist populism”, and no, a fair number of them don’t mean it in a good way. You are all well aware that the “wahr”, as our good friend Vassar Bushmills likes to emphasize the gritty struggle, has entered a new phase, with establishment, non-establishment, conservative, “intellectual” conservative, neo-conservative and all sorts of pundits and players entering the fray in the intra-partisan bickering over who is qualified, who is electable, who is genuine, who is “looking out for us” and who is a …….demagogue. Just go to National Review, American Spectator and Breitbart, and the Blaze, PJ Media and a few sundry others to bone up if you haven’t already.

Guess what? The conversation is all about Donald J. Trump. Isn’t that remarkable? And there is so much that bears remarking on in the evolution of this “wahr” that it won’t all get remarked on in this short little rant we’re putting out here today. And it would not be a difficult task to point out the inconsistencies and the simplistic rationalizations for much of the intramural fear-mongering. But the issue of whether or not Trump is who’s needed at the top of the ticket and in the Oval Office apparently can not wait to be decided by the people, at the polls, because it’s an “all hands on deck” thing now with his detractors. And yes, there are things about his persona and his campaign and his evolution as a Republican candidate for president that beg for some serious dectractin’, but what we are concerned about today[…]

Continue Reading — Of Nationalist Populism and Labels