On the show Wednesday with Paul Ramsey, we talked about how Trump is a bookend for Nixon containing the period of peak managerialism. The managers ran Nixon out of town for the crime of being a strong executive and now Trump, the strong executive, is running the managers out of town. It remains to be seen if that is how it plays out, but it is a good way to containerize this period of history.
Doing the show, it occurred to me that we can do something similar with populism in that it was populism that gave birth to managerialism. When you look at the birth of progressivism, it started with the populist movements. It peaked with the FDR administration, which is the rise of the managers. Now we see a populist movement rising to smash what was set off by original populism.
Here is where you see the two faces of populism, democratic and authoritarian or anarchic versus orderly. Of course, it is a fact of history that democracy leads to authoritarianism, so this long cycle dating to the 19th century follows a predictable course, just more slowly and mildly. The synthesis that will result from it may be a modern version of what the Framers imagined.
Anyway, that is for some posts this week. The show this week is a review of and comment upon populism in its many forms, as well as the criticism of it in light of the events unfolding in Washington. It is one of those shows that meanders around a bit, so it has no main point, just a main theme. Perhaps if the topic is of interest, I can do a more formal deep dive into the topic.
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This Week’s Show
Contents
- Intro
- Populism
- The Negative View
- The Positive View
- Populism in America
Direct Download, The iTunes, iHeart Radio, RSS Feed
Full Show On Spreaker
Full Show On Rumble
Full Show On Odysee
I was going to listen, but I’m sitting here, a fire going, one of my dogs curled up beside me, looking through our sunroom, at the new chicken coop across the yard.
Just a few minutes of bliss before I venture back to the clown world we live in.
Thanks to you all, and Z for his fine work.
Time to feed the chickens.
Sounds like the perfect time to listen. Once the chickens get fed of course.
Can you do a show on fishing some day so that we do not have to see the other man link?
Hey Zman, or anyone else who knows the answer – what is the name of that bluegrass band that is at the beginning of the Friday show? Every time I hear that it resonates deep in my honky soul somewhere.
When you mentioned how Europeans view the stereotypical American, it made me realize that bluegrass seems like a purely white American thing. Do Europeans have a bluegrass scene, or is it solely a west of the Atlantic type of music?