JOHN FELDSTED: How Can Populism be Extreme? Unless you consider the people, who vote, and those you represent, to be an unnecessary nuisance once you acquire power
The news media in
Canada has reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “… called hate
speech and the politics of division a “dangerous path” for Canada. Trudeau said
he fears a rise in extreme populism and polarization around the issue of
immigration and he accused some of feeding intolerance with partial truths and
outright lies.” – this is just one
example from the CBC.
Let’s start with a
definition of populism. According to the Oxford English dictionary it means:
A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who
feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.
Appealing to ordinary
people is the basis, and root, of a democracy. Our governments do not exist to
represent or serve anyone else. Despite this, we do not need to be told that we
are ignored by the political establishment – we can see clear evidence of that
every day.
The Kinder Morgan
debacle is the result of governments bucking to the whining of environmental
groups, who do not represent anyone but themselves.
We are thoroughly
fed up with our governments giving attention, support and funding to a plethora
of rights and special interest groups, while ignoring the rights of the
citizens they represent.
How can populism be
‘extreme’?
It may scare the
pants off the establishment elite that Trudeau represents, and threaten the
status quo, but listening to, and representing, the people who vote for you can
never be extreme. It cannot be
considered extreme unless you
consider the people who vote, and those you represent, to be an unnecessary
nuisance once you acquire power.
That is the road to
dictatorship.
We should also be
disturbed by Trudeau’s vow to continue
calling out those who rely on "extremist" methods to make their
voices heard. The Prime Minister cannot override another person’s right to the
freedom of expressions, and to make his or her views known as they see fit.
Trudeau is not the
sole judge of what is, or is not, an extremist method of expression. He is
entitled to his beliefs, opinion and thoughts, but not entitled to act on them
by attacking others for their beliefs. If our Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau has more detractors than supporters, that is his problem, not ours.
An editorial commentary by John Feldsted
"I am steadfastly conservative although various conservative parties are not. The lust for power tends to overcome adherence to principles, so I am at times critical of conservative party actions."
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