FREE ESSAY ON THE POPULIST PERSUASION

THE POPULIST PERSUASION

: The Populist Persuasion
Populism is a movement begun in the mid-1890s by farmers and other rural residents at the
time. It quickly gained strength and has undergone many changes since then. It has not
only changed in its views, but also in the political parties who utilize it not as an
ideology but rather as a mode of persuasion.
Populism is defined in the book as a language whose speakers see the American people as
one and not as a people bound by class restrictions, who see the elite politicians who
oppose them as self-serving, and who wish to bring these average Americans together to
fight against the overbearing powers of the political elite. Populist speakers in the
United States voiced their discontent with elites who ignored, corrupted, or betrayed the
ideal of American democracy, which consisted of rule by the common people.
After the farmers created what we know as populism in the mid-1890s, there was a parting
of the ways. In the early twentieth century, farmers' enthusiasm waned but two other
groups' did not. These groups consisted of the wage earners and the evangelic
churchgoers. They argued that unions were now the best representation of the average man.
At the same time, middle-class Protestants were mounting campaigns as well.. This was the
first transition of the populist movement.
. The second transition came in the late 1940s when populism began a migration from Left
to Right. Conservative groups and politicians altered the speeches once given by
reformers and radicals. Many reasons are given in the book as to why this transition took
place. Some of these included: the onset of the Cold War, the fact that most white
Americans came to see themselves as middle-class consumers and taxpayers, and the growth
of evangelical churches whose political stance was as conservative as their theology.
Gradually and unevenly, a conservative populism emerged that promised to defend devout,
middle-class communities against the governing elite. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s,
many experimented with this new shift in group. However, conservatives did not fully
understand populism's potential for persuasion during elections until the 1960s.
Mainly, this indoctrination came from George Wallace. Wallace rallied up the south's
people; his people. His people had unglamorous jobs and a culture that treasured close
families and a steady faith in God and country. They were fed up and were going to turn
this country around.
He managed to look and sound more like an ordinary, working American than did anyone of
distinction on the white Left. Unfortunately for Wallace, though, his style made him seem
part of the crisis rather than essential to solving it. He was too authentically
populist, too blunt and imprudent an outlet for the anger of his followers to attract
other voters who simply wanted the nation's troubles to end.
Nevertheless, beginning in the late 1960s, conservative activists and politicians -
mostly Republican - re-created themselves as the true representatives of average white
Americans. They learned to breed the same mass resentments that George Wallace had spoken
of but had been unable to ride to victory.
In order to achieve what Wallace had failed in doing, a softening of his definition of
the people was required. Instead of suggesting a takeover by angry steelworkers and
street cops, conservatives announced their understanding of the concerns of the silent
majority of producers and consumers - taxpayers, white nationals, housewives, middle
Americans who felt betrayed by the New Left. By the end of the 1960s there was a shared
dislike, among most, of the governing and cultural elite and its supposed friends in the
ghettos and on campus.
By the late 1980s it was clear that the American conservatives had not succeeded in
establishing a new political order. The populist politician no longer had the face of a
conservative nor the face of a liberal. Populism had jumped from the hands of the Left to
the hands of the Right through time and continues today as a movement striving to survive
in a society in which populism has even been used by advertisers as a fad.
Populism is, in my opinion, a necessary component of democracy today. However, I believe
that put to use in the appropriate manner is the only way in which it can be utilized and
exercised for the overall good of the average people it claims to defend. 
In essence the responsibility to not abuse of populism falls upon those who choose to use
it as their tool of persuasion - politicians. It becomes comfortable and convenient to
capitalize on populism's persuasive characteristics to gain votes. Unless the concerns of
the Middle-Americans remain in focus it is not fitting to claim solidarity with their
issues and matters. In the end, populism is the vision that keeps the people's needs in
perspective. Although sometimes misinterpreted, without populism the basis of the
American Democracy is lost.