>The problem with "rural cretins" is not that they have a political
>mind of their own (which they do not),
Hey! What? I'm a little hurt by that. Sure, there's an iodine deficiency in the soil and cretinism has been a bit of a problem historically here. But its easily fixed, they just add a bit of iodine to commercial salt and store-bought bread. We're mostly free of it now. And the in-breeding problem has mostly cleared up as well, you hardly ever see anyone with two heads around here anymore.
>but that they can be easily manipulated to follow the political mind
>of pro-business fascist elements, which got pretty good at that
>manipulation. This unholy alliance of redneck populism and business
>fascism is not limited to the US,
Are you sure? Populism does seem part of the culture of the US, but where else does it exist? Actually, populism is one of the more attractive features of the yanks in my opinion.
> it can be observed in Europe as well (cf. France, Switzerland,
>Poland.) It is rather powerful mechanism for winning popular
>elections.
What? How do you define populism exactly? We may be talking about two different things.
>
>We may have won a battle this time around, but the class war that
>pits "rural cretins" vs. urban population is far from being over, in
>this country or elsewhere.
"Populism" is the tendency to appeal to the people, rather than elite authority, I would have said. Since most people live in the cities and the rural population can only ever amount to a tiny minority, populism inevitably tends to ignore the opinions of the rural population almost entirely. Any political movement which ignores the urban population cannot be populist. So I think you are getting your prejudices a bit jumbled.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell, rural Tasmania, among the gum trees, with lots of plum trees (no fruit this year due to global warming)