Posted on 11/25/2018 10:02:51 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Together the two have generated some of the most vital moments of democratic change in the modern era
Religion and populism have become dirty words in progressive circles, but despite common assumptions, their combination could serve as a resource for the sort of democratic renewal many societies need.
There is plenty of evidence to support the view that religion and populism are bad enough in themselves and even worse when combined. The so-called “Christian-Democracy” of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, widespread support of Donald Trump by white evangelicals in the United States, the Hindu nationalism of Modi, and the Islamo-Kemalism of Erdoğan are all examples that seem to prove the point. Perhaps as a result, most journalistic and academic work on populism focuses on nationalistic, often anti-democratic strains that conflate the people of God with a Volk or nation imagined in homogeneously ethnic or racial terms.
As true as this all is, there is no inherent relationship between religion and anti-democratic forms of populism. In fact, historically, it was the interaction of religion and democratic populism that generated some of the most vital moments of democratic change in the modern era. And there’s reason to believe they could do so again today....
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Hey English guy, STFU!
“The Manchurian Guardian”
He’s right.
The God fearing Stalin and Mao and Khmer and Hitler killed MANY with their fierce religious beliefs.
Except that they had none.
To this author, religion and populism are not worthy of consideration on their own merits. They are just yet another of many tools to be commandeered for the left’s unceasing and relentless quest for power.
Should have said “these authors”.
That ain’t gonna work. The snowflake “progs” and their Aunt Teefah commandos despise “thoughts and prayers”. They prefer legislation from fruitcakes like Cummings and Piglosi and Constitution trampling from Waters and Bugsy Schitt.
They will never get populism, until islam takes over. Which is probably why they love islam so much.
Islam and free stuff.
Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents. It pulls and whirls the individual away from his own self, makes him oblivious of his weal and future, frees him of jealousies and self-seeking. He becomes an anonymous particle with a craving to fuse and coalesce with his like into one flaming mass... Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil... Common hatred unites the most heterogeneous elements. To share a common hatred, with an enemy even, is to infect him with a feeling of kinship, and thus sap his powers of resistance... We have it from Hitler... that the genius of a great leader consists in concentrating all hatred on a single foe. -- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements", [pp 85-87]
A distant dream for the modern progressives, the vast majority of whom are completely unable to mask their bottomless well of hatred for Christianity.
What progressives need to defeat Trump America: populism and religion.
Well, they’ll get populism with the “free stuff” and religion with “climate change”.
They got it covered. /s
The problem the Demonic-rats have is they do not believe in God and they are running out of other peoples money.
No one believes their Religious lib service and even the those with degrees in Trans-gender-studies have to wonder how the Government can afford free college for all; when they can not afford to pay pensions.
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