The Populist

Funny isn't it how all those *in the know* political commentators talk about Mr Abbott being "populist". Now I don't disagree with this article - Laurie is usually very astute - but two things strike me about all this.

Firstly, the word "populist" might sound sophisticated and intelligent and chummy but how about decoding it for the masses. It might be terribly cool to be "policy free and populist" - but what does it all really mean.

Of course what they really mean to say is that "he is lying to you to exploit your greed and your fear". What they don't tell you is that "being populist = mucking about with your mind".

And secondly, what is the role of the actual voter in this little charade? If you assume for a moment that many voters are not actually able to decode the term "populist" then we are in deep doo-doo. Surely this group can't number more than a handful.

But what about the rest of us - how on earth do we manage to get through the day knowing that the nation's alternative leader is "lying to us to exploit our greed and our fear"? And how do these people feel about that?

That is the real elephant in the room - that no-one wants to talk about.

Apparently it's quite OK for an opportunistic politician to be "populist". But why is it also OK for a large group of the voting population to be so consumed by greed and fear that they are influenced by his deceit?

I dunno but I suspect this is the key to the dysfunctional nature of our polity.