Populism and the right: what’s the attraction?

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/01/2025 (264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If populism is on the right, where to turn?

That is, if you find populism between disturbing and repellent, and align with political conservatism.

Two recent pieces in the Free Press — Truth takes a sad holiday (Think Tank, Jan. 8) and Turn right and head south (Jan. 3) — address populism and its association with the political right. Donald Trump, Pierre Poilievre, Premiers Scott Moe and Danielle Smith (of Saskatchewan and Alberta, respectively) and Maxime Bernier are mentioned.

Is populism necessarily embedded in the political right? If so, what is the attraction?

On Jan. 9, French Radio-Canada broadcast an episode called Notre rapport au travail et l’argent — roughly, how we relate work and money.

One expert, Jacques Forest of the Université du Québec à Montréal, referred to research showing (my translated summary) that societal ills and associated costs such as mental health, violence and substance abuse are more dire in societies with larger income disparity (specifically, based on the difference in average income between the top 20 per cent and bottom 20 per cent of earner income levels). As defined in the previous paragraph, it is evident how a strong capitalist bent in governance can exacerbate this.

He also mentioned the Mincome experiment (not by name) in Dauphin in the 1970s, designed to study the impact of providing livable income support. (The Canadian Museum of Human Rights has an online exhibit.)

He opined that “false political beliefs” brought the experiment to a halt with a governmental shift to the right. A similar event took place when Ontario Premier Ford closed down a basic income pilot project there in 2018.

Evidently, income redistribution to the extent of a basic income policy is distasteful and countertheoretical to the political right, notwithstanding evidence and the harms associated with income disparity.

Which illustrates the link between populism and the far right. Populism entails the exploitation of sentiments of we who are unable or unwilling to distinguish the civil, probable and factual from their opposites.

Political stripes underpinned by beliefs that analysis and evidence show to be of limited validity when it comes to general societal well-being, and harmful at times, are best shrouded by populist tactics.

And so we see ploys such as contentious applications of parental rights (to conceal intolerance) and of freedom of speech (to protect populism).

Extreme entitlement is also a feature. The right-wing tendency for pre-emptive invocation of the notwithstanding clause demonstrates the belief that devoutly held far-right beliefs, exclusively, properly carry more weight than human rights as described in the constitution, and are more compelling than any consideration by the justice system.

If public education is a factor in the growth of populism, it is despite government impositions on curricula tending to be from the perspective of right-wing politics (e.g., regarding gender identity).

Also, critical thinking, defined in Manitoba as “…the intentional process of synthesizing and analyzing ideas using criteria and evidence, making reasoned judgments and reflecting on the outcomes and implications of those decisions…” is an important educational goal.

Many practical techniques for protecting against misdirected influence are also adroitly described in the Jan. 11 Free Press Think Tank piece, You don’t always have to have a hot take — or share it.

Despite this, the effectiveness of populism is clear and more difficult to explain than its adoption by some on the political right.

It likely involves social, demographic, economic, technological (information technology, in particular) and other factors, and their connections to cynicism, pessimism, malaise, bitterness, disengagement and disaffection.

Also clear is that lamenting about truth and populism has been exhausted. The next and critical step is to interrogate the nature of, and how to address, the spread and influence of populism. So that all political directions are open again.

The price to pay, meanwhile, is leadership prone to specious claims, vacuous promises and school yard-style name-calling that auger poorly for the maturity and sophistication available for governing; in Canada and throughout the world.

Ken Clark, retired and living in Winnipeg, specialized in assessing and evaluating educational outcomes, and applies that to other areas, including politics.