https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#more-5712
'"Populism" isn't intrinsically left or right. The distinction between the two
is often obscured by jargon, but there's a simple litmus test (courtesy of
Steven Brust): "ask what's more important: human rights, or property rights. If
they say 'property rights are human rights,' they're on the right."
Which is to say, both the left and the right can be populist, but the populist
left seeks to improve peoples' lives, no matter what that takes, while the
populist right is only willing to make the world better when that doesn't
interfere with the interests of property owners.
This is how you get the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire equating publicly
produced, free insulin with forcing enslaved Black people to pick cotton in the
fields:
<
https://newrepublic.com/post/174485/libertarian-party-suggests-former-black-lawmaker-pick-crops-free>
For right populists, the property rights of pharma giants are human rights, so
anything that interferes with those rights is equivalent to any other human
rights violation.
This is not only wrong, but it's also a huge vulnerability in the right
populist mindset. It's a button that, when pushed, produces a reliable and
reflexive outrage.'
Via David.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
