The Populist Delusion

<p>The 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump unleashed a wave of populism not seen in America since the Nixon era which carried him into the presidency. Seen widely as a vindication of the people over elites his failure to bring about any meaningful change was then seen as an aberration a departure from a natural state where the people are sovereign and their representatives govern by their consent. This is the <em>populist delusion</em>.</p><p>This book explodes that delusion. Beginning with the Italian elite school Parvini shows the top-down and elite driven nature of politics by explicating one thinker per chapter: Mosca Pareto Michels Schmitt Jouvenel Burnham Francis and Gottfried. The sobering picture that emerges is that the interests of the people have only ever been advanced by a tightly organized minority. Just as fire drives out fire so an elite is only ever driven out by another elite.</p><p><em>The Populist Delusion</em> is the remedy for a self-defeating folk politics that has done the people a great disservice.</p><p><br></p>