These days, when the voters of several countries appear to have turned their backs on the 'liberal elites' who have run things for many years, we are told that this is 'Populism'. This seems to be a highly condescending way of acknowledging that the people have spoken, while also making it clear that their view is wrong.
The members of the 'liberal elite' hate the very notion of the common people being listened to at all, other than in largely meaningless elections; elections of themselves are fine, but when the only serious candidates are all from the same basic stock, they become pointless, simply a means to continue in the same old, time-worn fashion.
In the UK, the people voted to leave the European Union but there are those who really don't want to listen; they are doing whatever they can to prevent the 'will of the people' from being enacted. The political party most responsible for the vote to leave, UKIP, is branded 'populist'.
In the USA, Donald Trump, a supposed right wing 'populist', defeated the establishment's choice, Hilary Clinton, and will be his country's next President. The establishment is united in its condemnation of almost everything which President-elect Trump says or does.
Now, in Italy, Prime Minister Renzi has lost a referendum vote on changes to his nation's constitution; the outcome has been branded as a victory for 'populist' ideas. In Austria, the defeat of a right wing candidate in that country's Presidential election has been deemed a vote against 'populism'.
The establishment, composed mostly of like-minded people of a mildly socialist inclination, brands anything vaguely right wing as being 'populist' in an attempt to make it seem uninformed, uneducated and wrong. Thankfully, it seems that at least some of the people have finally decided that enough is enough. Let's hope that a few more follow suit.
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