Reply #65: I am worried about ANYTHING that can increase the influence of the right wing

[LeftishBrit]

I put 'populist' in quotation marks because in fact such movements are usually organized from above by individuals and groups that are anything but 'of the people', and are very likely to be engaging in divide-and-rule tactics.

There is plenty of history to show that right-wingers can take advantage of people's frustration and desperation, especially in bad economic times, to whip up racial hatred, ultra-reactionary social policies, and vicious trampling on poor people. All right-wingers trample on the poor; the difference between 'elitist' and 'populist' right-wingers is that the former support the rich trampling on the poor, while the latter support the middle-class trampling on the poor. In both cases, the poor get trampled on; and in practice, it's mainly the rich who benefit.

Look at your Tea Party - would you like to see them involved in government???

Do you think that the CEOs are bothered by right-libertarianism? - they would LOVE it.

Left-right alliances, whether establishment or anti-establishment, generally end in the right holding the reins of power. I've experienced such coalitions twice in recent times in my country: Blair's alliance with Bush, and the LibDems' alliance with the Tories. In both cases, it led to the Right Ruling OK.

Ron Paul, except for the single issue of the war, is pure evil, or for those who don't like the word 'evil', a dangerous lunatic. He should not be given any encouragement!