Populism and Populist Discourse in North America

Description

This book examines the origins of populism in Canada and the United States and its development into a powerful and at times disturbing political force. Focus is on five historical periods: The Populist Party of the United States in the 1890s, Prairie Populism in Canada during the early and mid-20th century, the Reform Party of Canada in the 1980s and 90s, the ‘left’ and ‘right’ populism of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the early 21st century, and the phenomenon of Ford Nation in modern day Ontario, Canada. The author extends Ernesto Laclau’s analysis of populism as a ‘logic’ in On Populist Reason (2005) to explore how a ‘people’ come into being in their conflict or clash with an ‘elite,’ defined by Chartists in the 19th century as “idlers,” providing a contrast between ‘producers’ and ‘non-producers.’  The author examines the linguistic media (speeches, books, radio, twitter, Facebook) used in populist discourse to convey a political message and to articulate the needs, wishes and will of a newly born ‘people’ in their numerous guises and expressions, from “the plain people,” to “the little guy,” or to “brothers and sisters.” This volume will be of interest to researchers in an interdisciplinary range of fields, including discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, pragmatics, rhetoric and stylistics, political communication, social movements theory, media studies, and Canadian and American history. Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1: Introduction Introduction ‘What Is Populism?’ Margaret Canovan 1981 The Ideational Approach Ernesto Laclau (2007) Discourse Approaches to Populism Greimasian Narrative Chapters in this Book 2: The People’s Party Jefferson and Jackson People’s Party Platform: Preamble 1892 People’s Party Platform 1896 People’s Party Platform James B. Weaver, A Call to Action Conclusion 3: Prairie Populism Introduction The Farmers’ Platform, 1918 The Progressive Party William Aberhart and Social Credit William Aberhart’s Broadcasts The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Tommy Douglas’ Mouseland Conclusion 4: Constructed Populism: The Reform Party of Canada Introduction The Origins of the Reform Party Constitutional Reform: “A Fair Shake for the West!” Overt Populism Conclusion 5: Modern American Populism: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders Donald Trump Populism as Political Style Wilmington Ohio, September 1, 2016 “I Am Your Voice” Rupture Youngstown, Ohio Speech, July 25, 2017 “Make America Safe Again” Youngstown Speech, Part I Youngstown Speech, Part 2 Youngstown Speech, Part 3. The Politics of Fear January 6, 2021 Speech, ‘The Numbers Speech,’ Saving Democracy Weak Republicans The Voting System and The Numbers Bernie Sanders, The Survivor Council Bluffs, Iowa Speech, Rural America Part 1, Welcome to the Revolution Part 2, Unmet Needs Part 3, Rural America Conclusion 6: Ford Nation Introduction Transportation: Subways, Subways, Subways FordNation New Subway Proposal Announcement Doug Ford, 2018 Provincial Election, “A buck a beer” Thunder Bay, May 2, 2018 Ford Nation Facebook Ontario Place Final Debate Election 2018 Conclusion Untitled 7: Conclusion Prairie Populism Preston Manning and The Reform Party Resurgences of American Populism: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders Ford Nation Conclusion References Index