We all know what a "populist" is,
right? Somebody who engages in
revolts against elite establishments.
That's something to respect.
Then comes the morning after British populists have
voted to get Britain out of the EU.
The pound is plunging, stock prices around the world are falling, and
the world economy faces what a Bloomberg editor I know called "nuclear
winter."
And there on the BBC (via Tara John, Time) is a dismayed Brexit voter: “I did not think that was going to happen, I didn’t think my
vote was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to
remain." And on Twitter, many
like him: "Lol starting to regret my
vote." "Urm I think I
kinda regret my vote, I had no real reason to pick what I did!!." "I personally voted leave believing these lies and I regret it
more than anything, I feel genuinely robbed of my vote."
And there was Stephen Collinson on CNN asking if British
voters in revolt could be joined by American voters in revolt, as Donald Trump
was asking them to. Voters
identified by the same word, "populist."
It's a day to redefine that word. Except that the day comes in a year
when calling a spade a spade reduces the number of your dinner
invitations. And in a place, a
democracy, that must preserve respect for the common man. So let's just say that
"populist" means "a voter insufficiently supplied with clues."
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