yet 50% of the population will support them
ah, you just explained all of human political history - as South Park said, "it's always between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich"
😛
i think the poison of Populism has done its job for the elites - make us peasants argue over trivial things, while Epstein's client list isn't released, and we're bombing dozens of countries that are no threat to the citizens at home.
"populism as a phenomenon that is
parasitical on (because internal to)
representative democracy, which is its true and radical target. This rivalry, I argue, does not necessarily produce more democratic politics, although this is populism's claim. As for its phenomenology, populism is a certain political style or set of rhetorical tropes and figures, yet is more than that because
it seeks also state power to implement a political agenda whose main and recognizable character is hostility against liberalism and the principles of constitutional democracy, in particular minority rights, division of powers, and party pluralism. Although 'we simply do not have anything like a theory of populism', in this article I propose the following generalization from historical experience: a populist movement that succeeds in leading the government of a democratic society tend to move toward institutional forms and a political reorganization of the state that change, and even shatter constitutional democracy, like centralization of power, weakening of checks and balances, disregard of political oppositions, and the transformation of election in a plebiscite of the leader."
https://shs.cairn.info/revue-raisons-politiques-2013-3-page-137?lang=fr
did the Roman tyrants do anything different than Peron did? promise things, do the opposite actions, give bread and circuses, and rule ruthlessly while seeking more and more power, with occasional tidbits of freedom/'free stuff' to the ever-increasing lower class.
i would even posit another theory, that the most-free countries have the most middle class. conversely, i suspect countries where there is no middle class are likely the most authoritarian and populist/communist
for Peronists and victims of Populism (the oldest politician trick in the book to maintain the power of the Aristocracy), there is always an "evil man" to oppose; look how brainwashed Flamingo, Avocado, Larry etc. here are. Milei could turn Argentina into a utopia, and the Ks could admit they were demons, and these zealots would never change their mind because they are on the side of the angels
Sowell talked about this in 2013: "You can just call 'medical care for all' a 'right' and you are home free with a major part of the public. Those who are more skeptical can be dismissed as people who just are not as compassionate. That puts you on the side of the angels against the forces of evil — and that is a proven winning strategy in politics."
https://www.dispatch.com/story/opin...as-sowell-commentary-politics-is/23999732007/
replace 'free' healthcare with subsidized train/bus fares, and subsidized utility bills, and you've got the same phenomenon in Argentina; the people can be fleeced by the Ks forever, if they believe a true-evil dictator is trying to take their country. sadly, the ones seeking to grow their power (Ks and Peron) are the ones committing murder and evil acts to destroy the country, whereas those who reduce their own power (Milei, Massie in the USA, Ron Paul back in the day) are actually in the right
and the commies will lie about anything
@Jerome - when i moved to Buenos Aires, there were billboards that said Milei would be selling human organs on MercadoLibre. i still have yet to find any
😛 in the USA, Trump will say Kamala is a communist, though he did most of the same policies when he was in, and Kamala will say Trump is a dictator Hitler who tried to coup the federal government, yet Trump was in power and left power just like any other president. it's all a joke, and it's like being tribal to a sports team and wanting to fight the other fans....keep us distracted, so you can take our rights away and inflate-away our spending power every year :/
I don't pretend to understand Argentina but I read some of these increases. What do you think would happen in the United States if they raised the subway or bus 800% over a year. You would have rioting and protests here too. I talked to someone that told me their electricity bills went up 4 time over a few months. If that happened here there would be major problems too. Many of my friends are living paycheck to paycheck. They couldn't handle that kind of increase.
this is the image the populists will lie to you about. be careful listening to
@Larry @Flamingo @Avocado who are peronists that brigade this Expat forum - you won't hear any nuance other than "Milei evil" - and they will say anything to justify their tribal superstitions. in reality, there is a HUGE amount of hidden weath in Argentina. of course there are poor people, like any country, but the national debt and currency problems were so bad in 2023 that the people elected the Liberty Advances party to get the economy de-regulated. the first step of that is to stop giving out 'free' sh*t. imagine if in Atlanta you could hide income, claim to be poor, and get 80% of your electricity bill paid for as long as you voted for Harris....and then once Harris was out of office as VP, you ended up having to pay the normal amount of utilities, but someone claimed they "went up 800%" - would you riot? only the 5% loud minority would
in addition, the federal government has no business using taxes to give people artificially-low bus/train tickets. this is provincial/city matter; any Governor or local leader can choose to subsidize these things. no one has, because it's unsustainable and destroys the value of the Peso. if you want a good follow on X/twitter, follow
www.w.com/BowTiedMara
@Uncle Wong when you have a cancer tumor, do you cut it out slowly piece by piece, or do you remove the whole thing? some ideas are destructive to the society/economy, like artificial
Sube prices and utility-bill handouts. in a free market, people choose to not run their utilities as long, since they have to pay for the costs fully, they insulate their walls and windows. they don't take the bus/train for nonsense multiple errands, and instead become more efficient. these are all realities that Argentina has to face, after living in a fantasy land for decades. the people who voted for "chainsaw" extreme cuts understand that austerity for 2 years means no gov't pet projects for 2 years. again: the local governments can subsidize utilities and buses...why do you think they haven't done it?
www-pagina12-com-ar.translate.goog
