Claes Ryn, professor, politics, and director, Center for the Study of Statesmanship, published commentary in the American Conservative on how the term “Populist” has been weaponized.
In order to make sense of the term “populism” as ordinarily used today, we must first take into account that it has been defined almost exclusively by America’s permanent ruling establishment.
This establishment is sometimes called the “deep state,” but we should resist a narrow political conception of the power structure in question. To convey the nature and reach of it, we need something like the old Aristotelian term “regime,” which refers not merely to government in the modern sense but also to an entire socio-cultural ethos that sets the tone in society and molds the way in which people view the world. ...
Continue reading in the American Conservative