An otherwise informative and well-composed article, “LePage, Katz have a history” in the newspaper on May 10, referred to Gov. Paul LePage as a populist. This is a common misnomer.
A real populist is a believer in the rights, wisdom and virtues of the middle and lower class common people. Populists see our social/economic/political scene via a vertical axis, with the wealthy power structure on the top looking down to keep the two lower classes misled and suppressed. This oligarchy strives to keep the social/economic/political arena on a horizontal axis, with the left and the right in a constant warfare of ideologies. It’s easy to pull off when you control the mass media and thus public opinion.
So we must be careful when the LePage camp describes him as a champion for the common man. He’s a terrific puppet for Big Money, but please, he’s no populist.
Steve Musica
Richmond
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