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The Self-Destruction Party
How far-right populism ends up killing the people who vote for it
As far-right populism sweeps the world and blustering demagogues seek to shatter everything upon which our peace and prosperity depended, two rather interesting phenomena are going unremarked. The first and more banal phenomenon is the ineradicable stupidity of politicians. The second and far more interesting phenomenon is the fact that so many of the actions taken by far-right populists once they gain power end up killing the people whose votes elevated them from obscurity.
Let’s begin with the persistent idiocy of conventional politicians, because that is in part what has aided the far-right populists in their quest for power.
We’ve seen the same scenario play out repeatedly over the last decade and it always results in the same outcome. Nevertheless, thanks to the enduring obduracy of the average politician, no lessons are ever learned. Here’s the dynamic: some blustering low-IQ populist demands some ludicrous harmful policy that’s framed in such a way as to appeal to low-IQ bigots and racists. Naturally, given that all societies by definition have half the population with an IQ under 100 and there will always be a significant number of bigots and racists thanks to the way evolution has hardwired the human brain, the populist garners…
