You tell people what they want to hear, confirm their fears and serve them what you have accustomed them to – this is how "people-concerned" populists crush democracy and turn the word "reform" into a dirty word.
I hear your voices: but is populism a bad thing? The simple answer in my opinion is "yes". Because apart from a demagogic attempt to follow and ride on already created sentiments for the purpose of quick political profit, it is the original evil, the original "It" of our socio-political relations. And why should it be so, I hear you again. Well, very simply – Populism, which is far from our invention, offers deceptively simple solutions to initially complex problems. And this is an evil that simply stops or at least slows down the normal development of democracy.
Playing with established fears and hopes
This is not about real solutions, but about playing with the so-called “confirmation bias” of the general public – you tell them what they already want to hear, you reaffirm their already established fears and hopes - and serve them what you have already accustomed them to. And since the mass collective mind never gives birth to anything, but a priori follows the algorithms of the popular, from this you extract the little donkey's milk of the political dividend. And eventually you make political cheese by shoving in goat, sheep, and anything that – especially in our case – almost always turns out to be a substitute political product.
Will we raise everyone's pensions equally, regardless of contribution? We are doing it! We will hit the negative phenomena – from, for example, the lack of incubators through personal safety, to lowering food prices through thousands of state inspections that will lead to nothing? Of course. We will fight all the negative phenomena in society and I will personally fight for your interests, a bit like with social security? Guaranteed by the new assemblies. Will we buy the votes of the state administration, the corporate (controlled) vote and the repressive apparatus by giving them the carrot of increased salaries, and not the stick of work optimization in the age of AI? We love you, we expect you to love us at the polls, otherwise – mark my word - you will not be well.
The eternal string: dissatisfaction with being excluded
Populism in our country is the basic understanding of politics, and its mass “victims“ do not notice that it is a matter of pure eye-rolling, supported by the official media (because for these troubadours of general stupidity this is a business - sometimes big, sometimes for pennies). Concerned about the “people“ are the main politicians who set the reality. And there an eternal string is played - the hidden or not so much dissatisfaction with being excluded.
Sometimes it is conscious, most often - it is not, but political populism in our country quite cleverly surfs on the fears (and general anxiety) of the masses, as well as on the general collapse of the idea of reforms. That is, we have a constant reaffirmation of the so-called. “status quo“, as well as a state of connected vessels between the left and the “new“ far-right populism.
Here: Trump declared war on democracy itself, on trade, on education, on healthcare, even on science and culture – and still enjoys about 45% approval. Here we can joke a little on our soil – from where the crazy Donald goes, ours in Bulgaria return. They have been doing something similar for a long time – for at least 20 years now – mixing it with left-wing populism, keeping working people poor, but “ theirs“ - that is, they are kind of at war with everything that de facto creates prosperity – they push the head of business down (often even directly take it away), they move salaries by some 6-7% (against the background of the so-called “galloping inflation“) and, in general, they feed on the horror of the mass precariat of tomorrow. While they are informed that they are not deaf to the cries of the people, but quite the opposite.
With the “popular will““ you can't go wrong: it leads to parliament
Ergo, populism feeds on stasis, i.e. with the status quo, it swallows it morning, noon and night in powder, but always presents it as a way forward. And it manages to make the word “reform“ dirty or at least stale. The more educated populists or their advisors know well that with volonté générale, i.e. the so-called popular will, you can't go wrong, sooner or later it will lead you to parliament (for small formations), or through it you will justify/hide your actions (for large ones).
Sometimes it seems to me that we are the ones who are extremely susceptible to populism, because we have somehow been "used to" it since the socialist era. (Before it was the Bulgarian Communist Party, now you choose.) In our country it is indeed mainly left-wing (we are the state and we distribute the money, we will give you not one, but two yogurts for the price of one). I am waiting for an ominous right-winger to appear, who will suggest in the style of "The Godfather" to certain businessmen to "give back to the community" (not that it has not happened many times, but not to the "community"). Of course, especially right-wing populism in its mild form does not have access to the media - the one like Reagan's, that we will support business, but we will always help those in need (which to some extent won him his second term). Or at least we will promise you that, which is the second most important feature of populism.
Yes, populism initially says that it will take care of the poor, but - except for Pablo Escobar, who had his own agenda and literally waved dollar bills - this never happens. But the poor and socially excluded always believe in a “savior“ who speaks to them directly.
Real progress is in cleaning up the systems
And that real progress (and possible welfare) is in cleaning up the systems, starting with the judiciary - this is not heard and will not be heard, if all members of “Yes, Bulgaria“ to become leaders on a rotational basis.
That is why I say that Bulgarian populism cannot even be attacked, let alone defeated, without having an organization in the smallest places, similar to the committee work of you know who, and without – alas – giving away money in one way or another (it may not be exactly in the “Escobar“ style, after all).
Ergo, there is a very simple, but also a more complex populism. It is clear that it is a global phenomenon, but it is good to know that in our country it produces comparativists out of political necessity, or, more simply, vulgar political scoundrels without a drop of morality, if you will. And no one understands that populism is like “you gobble something up, you swallow nothing“, i.e. it does not produce anything for anyone, except – probably – a few more votes in elections.
Populism is taking over and crushing everything
Okay, I understand - if we transfer all this to the world platform, we will find magnificent right-wing populists like Orban, Trump and even Vucic (comrade Xi does not have to). Before the beginning of democratization in the late 19th century, populism did not exist in today's sense (except when the king distributed bread and spectacles), but now it largely exhausts today's politics - while only Harari in “Nexus” and I seem to warn that this phenomenon is completely taking over world politics, mastering resources and all reformists everywhere are bye.
This is how populism is crushing liberal democracy, because it mimics its perfectly acceptable parallel essence. I say, haw. Where is that classic Churchillian policy, in which leaders quite honestly say that it won't happen without blood, sweat and tears? And that you have to fight for democracy in order to have it?
Finally - and even more cleverly: populism is always a kind of transmutation of the political, but not its true legitimation. And in our country, by the way, are there populists? Smiling man?
This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial office and the DV as a whole.