While reading this essay by Dean Barnett over at Townhall, I couldn't help but think of Pirate Boy and his gang of populist leaders sweeping through Latin America:
POPULISM IS THE LAZY POLITICIAN’S way to seek power. If you assume the populist’s mantle, it’s not like you actually have to know anything. All you have to do is demonize the rich and tell people that you want to help them. Empower the rubes with the sense that their misfortunes are due to forces beyond their control, and suggest you’ll bring those forces to their knees. Populism is a cheap, tawdry and condescending kind of politics.
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