Eric:
> resentment is still a pretty poor and dangerous
> foundation for politics
Yes! Just like soul-searching hand-wringing about what goes on in other countries, populism is an expression of the objective marginality and impotence of leftists in North America and Western Europe.
Populism can never be the basis for emancipatory movements. Never, ever, ever.
Never.
P.S. In local elections in Saxony last Sunday, the NPD has managed to win seats in pretty much all county councils, in many places getting more votes than the SPD. That is *real* populism. Leftists had better not try to compete with populism on populism on its own terms. In my experience, "the people" have nothing but contempt for such poseurs.