workers face significantly different employment conditions disrupts the unity of “the people,”
then populist politics will leave African
Americans behind.51
The whole notion that the election of Trump to the presidency was driven by a populism defined through racism and the collapse of white privilege has been summarized well by Toni Morrison:
So scary are the consequences of a collapse of white privilege that many Americans have flocked to a political platform that supports and translates violence against the defenseless as strength. These people are not so much angry as terrified, with the kind of terror that makes the knees tremble.
On Election Day, how eagerly so many white voters — both the poorly educated and the well educated — embraced the shame and fear sowed by Donald Trump. The candidate whose company has been sued by the Justice Department for not renting apartments to black people. The candidate who questioned whether Barack Obama was born in the United States, and who seemed to condone the beating of a Black Lives Matter protester at a campaign rally. The candidate who kept black workers off the floors of his casinos. The candidate who is loved by David Duke and endorsed by the Klu Klux Klan.52
When outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry was asked about the greatest challenges facing America, he responded:
One of the greatest challenges we all face right now, not just in America, but every country in the world, is, we are living in a factless political environment. And every country in the world better stop and start worrying about authoritarian populism and the absence of substance in our dialogue, if you call it that.53
In each instance, populism reveals its true nature: what is touted as being in support of individual interests is more often than not simply a means for individuals to pursue their own. It’s a topsy turvy world in which what is touted as being liberal is not enlightened. A cautionary tale to those individuals who believe their best interests lay with the group, because if populism has revealed anything, it is the case that the end of individualism would end personal responsibility and shut down open discussions with one another.
At the end of the day, it might be best to engage individuals by asking them of their specific individual needs and how those needs might best be realized. Such would empower not only the individual but any social order in which he or she might be involved.
Conclusion
From the analysis presented above, a person must conclude that any theory, ideology, or political action that does not respect or frame itself in terms of human dignity and living a dignified human existence is suspect. This is because it is the individual, him- or herself – and the choices he or she makes – that is critically important for realizing personal identity and self-worth. Moreover, such an understanding on behalf of all parties does not diminish the individual’s ability to engage with his or her environments; in fact, being a natural process of thinking and acting, it embraces engagement of others and the “Other.”
For this very reason, individuals must be suspect of theories, ideologies, and policies that deny the individual his or her rights to individuality. Groups, organizations, or institutions who wish to promulgate their specific vision or mission against the individual would reveal themselves to be authoritarian in nature.
Knowing this, the question then becomes: What to do? The answer can only come from the individual,the thinking and acting being, who would have to make that decision for him- or herself.
Ironic, don't you think, that we've come such a long way only to now find our way home?
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