American politics’ great irony is that Democrats hold populism in contempt. Definitionally, historically, and rhetorically, Democrats drape themselves in “the people.” Yet somehow, populism is now a pejorative for their party. The answer lies in the separation that populism implies and the other side of the divide, the elite, whom Democrats now embrace.
Populus means “the people.” A populist is one who appeals to the people. In a democracy, being of and appealing to the people is hardly exceptional. It is a political fact of life.
Even in a republic like ours, the people are the ultimate arbiters. Up and down the spectrum of American political offices, few are not filled through elections. A candidate must get more votes to win an election, usually a majority or at least a plurality. Either way, the people decide.
It is therefore strange indeed that a major party operating in a democracy would disdain “the people.” It is stranger still coming from a political party that calls itself “democrats.” Democrat comes from “demos,” the Greek word for “the people.” So, the Democrats have taken as their name: the party of “the people.” (RELATED: Elitist Libs Remove the ‘Demo’ From the Democrats)
Far from just a chosen name, the Democrat Party has embraced “the people” as political populists historically. Jefferson, Jackson, William Jennings Bryan, FDR (improbably, as the scion of an aristocratic New York family), LBJ — all were the populists of their day, if not all time. Even today, though coming from different ends of the ideological spectrum, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and political strategist James Carville both point to Democrats’ loss of their embrace of “the people” as a core reason for the Democrat Party’s current political problems. (RELATED: Bernie Sanders and AOC Are Not the Answer to the Democrats’ Weaknesses)
Rhetorically, Democrats still slather themselves in the semantics of their past. President Joe Biden loved to present himself as “lunch bucket Joe” throughout his political career. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi frequently signed her internal missives (“Dear Colleagues” in congressional parlance) with a “for the people” coda. Kamala Harris also portrayed her agenda as being for the average American.
All their current rhetoric of fighting for “the people” is a throwback to yesteryear, to Democrats’ own political past, and to their party’s very name. Strange indeed, then, that today’s Democrats and their establishment media allies are so negative toward populism. (RELATED: The Democrat-Media Codependency)
The answer to the Democrat-populist conundrum lies in the inherent separation that “populus” and “demos” imply. Of course, “the people,” taken literally, encompasses everyone — all are in fact members of those who comprise any political entity. (RELATED: The Masochistic Democrats Hate You — And Beg You to Hate Them Back)
Therefore, for the terms “populus” and “demos” to have any meaning, there must be a separation between “the people” in general and some other group that is seen as being apart from the people: an elite. This elite’s interests are opposed to the broader people’s; they are a rarefied group who see themselves as superior, above the general population.
In this context of separation from “the people,” Democrats’ current and newfound disdain for populism makes sense. In fact, it is an all-too-accurate expression of unintended candor.
Regardless of its definitional, historical, and rhetorical connection to the people, the Democrat Party no longer represents “the people.” Democrats are — and what’s more, they want to be — apart from “the people.”
Despite all they say and the past they have had, today’s Democrats yearn to represent a self-styled elite. An elite that runs across academia, entertainment, media, sports, and even business, where corporate leaders were all too eager to embrace Democrats’ and the far-left’s ideology of wokeness. (RELATED: The Left, Radical Left, and Democrats: Three Peas, One Pod)
As a result, the policies of today’s Democrats embrace programs that favor these self-styled elites’ interests over those of “the people.” Defund the Police, Open Borders, opposition to school choice, radical environmentalism, DEI — all are causes embraced by today’s self-styled elites, but whose impacts harm the broader population.
The Democrat Party’s real problem is not just with populism; it is with “the people” themselves. “The people” are refusing to follow the elite that Democrats now represent and who Democrats see as “the people’s” rightful leaders.
Democrats’ mockery of the people and their unwashed ways is constant: Joe Biden’s calling Trump supporters “garbage” and Hillary Clinton labeling them “deplorables” were no accidents. Democrats’ disdain for “the people” not following the enlightened ideas of the elite is continuous. And as America experienced both at the federal level and in blue states during the COVID pandemic, when the people refuse to follow, they will be made to follow.
Democrats despise populism today not just because, as many suppose, Trump has embraced it, but because it is a painful reminder of who they once were but now only claim to be. And while Democrats today despise populism as politics, they despise the people as people even more.
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READ MORE from J.T. Young:
Time to Strategically Decouple From China
The Left, Radical Left, and Democrats: Three Peas, One Pod
The Trump Government Cuts Overturn Democrats’ Entitlement Mentality
J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left, from RealClear Publishing, and has over three decades of experience working in Congress, the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.