{"id":530,"date":"2023-11-27T22:15:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T22:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2023-11-27T22:15:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T22:15:49","slug":"when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/","title":{"rendered":"When did populism become a dirty word?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am fascinated by the opposing connotations some political words have in the United States, on the one hand, and in Europe and Latin America, on the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such word is \u201cliberal\u201d \u2014 which in the U.S. is associated with the left and big government, but in Europe and Latin America stands for individual liberty, property rights and small government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another is \u201cpopulism\u201d \u2014 which the increasingly visible presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought back to the forefront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

American populism champions the little guy against the corrupt \u201cestablishment\u201d that rigs the system to make a mockery of equality before the law. In Europe and Latin America, it also has an anti-elitist connotation, but the word evokes primarily a disregard for liberal democracy and the rule of law in order to quickly achieve certain goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the left (as the right sees it), it means destroying the economy through expropriation, taxation and redistribution. On the right (as the left sees it), it almost means fascism, i.e., authoritarianism based on a mystical idea of the nation and \u201ctraditional values,\u201d as well as a draconian approach to law and order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Spain, the current government (an alliance of socialists, communists and regional parties fighting for Catalonia\u2019s independence) is considered a left-wing epitome of populism, while Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n is the consummate right-wing populist. In Latin America, Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro is a perfect example of a dictatorial left-wing populist, while El Salvador\u2019s Nayib Bukele or Brazil\u2019s former president Jair Bolsonaro embodies right-wing populism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., populism is not always used to praise a leader or movement, but the word has a refreshing connotation. Many of the Founding Fathers are considered populists \u201cavant la lettre,\u201d or before the concept existed. A compilation of Thomas Jefferson\u2019s writings edited by Martin Larson came out with the title \u201cJefferson: Magnificent Populist<\/a>\u201d in the 1980s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Europe and Latin America, Alexander Hamilton, who wanted to aggrandize the federal government, would have been considered a populist because of it, while James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who opposed Hamilton\u2019s centralizing, interventionist instincts, would have been considered the opposite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the latter part of the 19th century, with the emergence of the People\u2019s Party<\/a>, which stood for monetary expansion, government control of the railways and restrictions on land ownership, American populism did have a connotation more like Europe\u2019s and Latin America\u2019s today. Progressives, with their naive belief in the power of the federal government to cure social ills, would also be considered \u201cpopulist\u201d in the pejorative sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the word continues to enjoy a benign aura in America. To make things more interesting, the growth of government in the last few decades has played into the hands of \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d populism, with the erosion of the middle class and the enrichment of an elite that owes a lot more to mercantilism \u2014 the connection between political and business interests \u2014 than to the competitive marketplace and healthy capitalism.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been constantly told by Biden and previous administrations that employment has improved at a healthy pace, but the index of hours worked<\/a> indicates that its rate of growth since 2000 is one-third the rate between the 1960s and the end of the century. As for real median household income<\/a>, its annual rate of growth since the beginning of the century is barely 0.6 percent, while in the second half of the 20th century, it was three times greater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, the net worth<\/a> of the proverbial top 1 percent has more than quadrupled since 2000 in real terms \u2014 while the Fed has printed money like crazy, inflating the price of speculative assets held by rich folks. The federal government has run up so much debt that it is now paying almost $1 trillion<\/a> a year in interest. In the process, it has stifled wealth creation \u2014 to the detriment of the middle class. Instead of addressing this, the Biden administration wants to dish out another $106 billion<\/a> that it simply does not have to various foreign actors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the perfect scenario for populism, both of the right kind (anti-elitism in the name of individual rights) and the wrong kind (big-government protectionism and economic nationalism in the name of the little guy). No wonder populism is making itself felt in the run-up to November 2024.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The opposing connotations some political words have in the United States, on the one hand, and in Europe and Latin America, on the other.\u00a0Liberal and Populism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opionion"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The opposing connotations some political words have in the United States, on the one hand, and in Europe and Latin America, on the other.\u00a0Liberal and Populism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"889\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AlvaroVargasLl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AlvaroVargasLl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6\"},\"headline\":\"When did populism become a dirty word?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":741,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/\",\"name\":\"When did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/11\\\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1\",\"width\":2248,\"height\":889},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When did populism become a dirty word?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\",\"description\":\"official website\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6\",\"name\":\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alvaro Vargas Llosa\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/alvaro-vargas-llosa\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa","og_description":"The opposing connotations some political words have in the United States, on the one hand, and in Europe and Latin America, on the other.\u00a0Liberal and Populism.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/","og_site_name":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","article_published_time":"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2248,"height":889,"url":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AlvaroVargasLl","twitter_site":"@AlvaroVargasLl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/"},"author":{"name":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6"},"headline":"When did populism become a dirty word?","datePublished":"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/"},"wordCount":741,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1","articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/","url":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/","name":"When did populism become a dirty word? | Alvaro Vargas Llosa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1","datePublished":"2023-11-27T22:15:47+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-27T22:15:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1","width":2248,"height":889},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/when-did-populism-become-a-dirty-word\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When did populism become a dirty word?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/","name":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","description":"official website","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fcef52a93ef78798e9d51a67796e8ca6","name":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c90a46cb315a45eb97690c66f9e578f87aff78f70055eeb179855be69466bd36?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alvaro Vargas Llosa"},"url":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/author\/alvaro-vargas-llosa\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/populism.jpg?fit=2248%2C889&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alvarovargasllosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}