Salena Zito at Real Clear Politics writes Elizabeth Warren Is No ‘Populist’

Populism does not start at the top and work its way down to people; it works from the people up. And it is rarely embodied by the far left, which typically turns populist sentiment into demagoguery.

Being anti-Big Business, which is Warren’s thing, is not the core of populism, although it can be a component. But it is the core of progressive economics, which is socialism.

We are in the midst of a record wealth gap between America’s rich and middle class, according to the Pew Research Centers. That has fueled the populist opposition to Washington among Main Street Americans on both sides of the political line — and Warren is trying to cash in on it.

That’s fine; that’s what we do in America. But it isn’t populism, as will be seen when people do not rise up.
Populism is an ideology extolling the virtues of the people against the depravities of elites — such as Harvard Law professors like Warren, according to Baylor University political science professor Curt Nichols.

Her “well-established Harvard faculty progressivism fits oddly with the classic left-of-center populism she is … attempting to espouse,” said Nichols, an expert on populist movements.

Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/12/28/elizabeth_warren_is_no_populist_125079.html#.VKCycF6seRI.twitter#ixzz3NJRX0zOF
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