[lbo-talk] Spiegel interviews Sharpton

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Thu Mar 22 08:43:16 PDT 2007


Dwayne:

What if by "our kind" Sharpton does NOT mean "Black populist" but 'candidate not supportive of unprovoked wars' or 'candidate who won't further dismantle useful government infrastructure.'

[WS:] AFIK, Mr. Obama is already against the war and dismantling useful government infrastructure, so that would preclude the above interpretation.

For the record, I am against all populism, not just Black. Bush is a populist, Berlusconi is a populist, Le Pen is a populist, current right wing Polish government is populist - enough already! You may say that Chavez is a populist too, and I would not have an easy answer to that counterexample - but my gut reaction is that nothing good has ever came out of populist politics - only pogroms, lynchings, "tyranny of the majority," authoritarianism, corruption, and mass disappointment.

Wojtek



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