The Populism Liberalism Approach in Times of Depression and Their Future' An Introspection

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The Populism Liberalism Approachin Times of
Depression and Their Future.An Introspection

• By Claudia-Valentina Gîdea and Lucian Bogdan

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• Two major political approaches that generally
  tend to collide
• Populism champions extensive government-sponsored
  intervention in order to (allegedly) solve the
  problems and restore prosperity
• Liberqlism does everything in its power in order
  to safeguard the necessary degree of freedom for
  things to settle back on track by themselves

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What does populism mean?

• Populism is the political ideology which defends
  the peoples interests and aspirations.
• Populists criticize representative democracy and
  elites, through the people, and helped by this
  one, they become leaders with charismatic
  figures. Theyrespond to public insecurities by
  attacking prominent figures and their values
• Populism always claims having absolute solutions
  for present and future problems.

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Which are the causes of populism

• The populist ideology relies mostly upon ordinary
  citizens who dont view the government as
  legitimately and properly representing their
  interests
• The concerns of people regarding economic
  security lead to an increase in calls for
  protectionist measures, which are highly
  beneficient for populist governments

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• However, there are new approaches, as the latest
  developments show modern populism denies the idea
  of communitarian solidarity of the initial
  populism which was concerned by reciprocity,
  being more preoccupied by individualism

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The roots of state interventionism

• "Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it
  frankly, and try another. But by all means, try
  something (FD Roosevelt)
• In order for the problems to be solved, bold,
  persistent experimentation from behalf of the
  government was needed
• However, this approach, though sound for social
  reasons, which hence generally tends to prove
  extremely popular amongst the electorate is not
  exactly the most favorable one for solving the
  problems both the economy

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• On the contrary, it is far more likely that
  governmental intervention in the economy may, if
  not deepen, at least prolong the depression
• Murray Newton Rothbard, Americas Great
  Depression (1963) it is often that governmental
  interventionism may actually make tings worse
• The Great Depression constitutes an excellent
  case study for both approaches, but offers
  arguments for the liberal one

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• G overnments, however legitimately appointed in
  the first place, would tend to treat their
  constituents not inasmuch as citizens, but as
  subjects and impose a set of arbitrarily-devised
  policies upon them (A de Tocqueville)
• The greatest threat to the liberal order it is
  the economic depression that citizens perceive as
  most threatening to their way of life, and not
  governmental intervention

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• Leaders associate their discourse shunning the
  capitalist evil-doers with what appears to be a
  bold platform of reforms, in order to appear more
  active in the eyes of their constituents
• Franklin D. Roosevelt argued for the need of
  saving capitalism from itself
• A recent exqample B.H. Obama was elected on a
  ticket of change, the nation desiring a proactive
  figure at its helm

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• However, shunning businessmen as mere
  malefactors of great wealth, does not
  constitute the most appropriate attitude and,
  contrary to the benign, socially-prone intentions
  standing at its groundwork, may actually prove
  detrimental before accomplishing anything
  favorable
• in popular usage the word ltltselfishnessgtgt is a
  synonym to evil the image it conjures is of a
  murderous brute who tramples over piles of
  corpses to achieve his own ends, who cares for no
  living being and pursues nothing but the
  gratification of the mindless whims of an
  immediate moment (Ayn Rand)

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• However, selfishness is definable as concern
  with ones own interests, including nothing of a
  malevolent component, but simply a desire of
  self-fulfillment, having as highest purpose the
  achievement of his own happiness
• The pursuit of happiness is from certain
  standpoints tantamount to the right to owning and
  aggrandizing ones property
• the greedy, rapacious robber baron is in fact
  nothing but the bona fide businessman, aho
  enriches humanity

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• if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world
  oh his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood
  running down his chest, his knees buckling, his
  arms trembling but still trying to hold the world
  aloft with the last of his strength, and the
  greater the effort the heavier the world bore
  down on his shoulders what would you tell him
  to do? What could he do? What would you tell
  him?
• Id tell him to shrug (Ayn Rand)

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• by cutting down the worlds main (and probably
  sole) source of progress, human initiative driven
  by the desire of ones betterment of his or her
  life, you could literally bring the world to a
  standstill and destroy the fabric holding
  civilization as we know it together
• politically higher taxes will simply give the
  government more money to spend, so that
  expenditures and therefore deficits are likely to
  rise still further (M Rothbard)

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• Only by imposing a determined quest for
  efficiency and hence li,ited government can the
  budget rebalance itself and, moreover, can the
  nation come back to a pre-depression situation of
  prosperity.
• The soundest the liberal perspective of a pure,
  unvitiated capitalism

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We thank you for your attention