pianogonzology: populism

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Elections . . .

https://www.egr.msu.edu/swe/news/january-elections

(from 'and yet . . .' Christopher Hitchens Essays)

". . . Where would we be without the tradition of American populism, which adopted for itself the term hurled as an insult by Teddy Roosevelt - "muckraker"? What goes for muck should go for mud. Who would wish to be without that "used-car salesman" innuendo against Richard Nixon, or the broad hint that Barry Goldwater was itchy in the trigger finger? Just let's have no whining when the tables are turned. . . In the election that pitted Thomas Jefferson against John Adams, the somewhat more restricted and refined electorate had its choice between the president of the American Philosophical Society and the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. . . Yet it's worth looking up what was said, especially about Jefferson, in those days: he was called adulterer, whoremaster, atheist, even deserter in the face of the enemy. There's no doubt that the emergence of parties or "factions" after the retirement of George Washington gave voters a set of clear and often stark choices - and a good thing that was, too. . ."