Re: 鈥淲hy does populism worry Trudeau?鈥� letter, Jan. 2.
Why does 鈥減opulism鈥� worry Trudeau? We can鈥檛 cover Political Science 100 in a letter to the editor, but here are few thoughts. Historically, Hitler and Mussolini were populists. Now we have Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.
The problem is that these leaders had no problem lying to the ordinary people, playing on people鈥檚 emotions and convincing themselves that their own agendas were the best for the nations they led. Other leaders who generally do have the ordinary people鈥檚 interest to the front are labelled 鈥渟ocialists鈥� and are considered a threat to the good order of a nation that embraces all-out capitalism.
One of the hoped-for benefits of proportional representation in sa国际传媒 was that our politicians would become more honest and less inclined to feed people鈥檚 fears and prejudices to win their votes. Another benefit would be to have more ordinary people turn out to vote, so that our government was actually representative of the people 鈥� more democratic.
As a province and as a people, we can still work toward improving our government. It will require people getting over the idea that politics isn鈥檛 something done by polite society and ordinary people. In the not-too-distant past, only members of the 鈥渆lite鈥� were entitled to vote. Now that we all have that entitlement, we have to educate ourselves politically.
We can have good government with first-past-the-post elections, but not if voters fall prey to politicians who play on their emotions.
Heather Phillips
Otter Point
