Populism need not be Right Wing. Dems can ride the wave, or be drowned by it.

[gulliver]

1. Dumb labels that people think are "smart"

Bernie might be President but for the self-label "Democratic Socialist." Populism, in the sense of people joining together to work toward the common good, is not possible while we embrace dumb, divisive, pseudo-intellectual labels like that.

Really, I've said it before, our main problems are rooted in standard human foibles like unrecognized laziness and self-indulgence. We mouth the word "whiteness," for example. And we think we are being sophisticated and "fighting for the cause." In fact though, we are hemorrhaging votes among the stronger minded of all demographies over this dumb word. It's intellectual laziness that incorrectly thinks it's smart. It's self-indulgence that thinks it is self-sacrificing and brave.

If we really want to help people, we're going to have to get serious. And it's going to feel like we're sweating and confused. It's when we feel like we have done the work and we're sure of ourselves that we have the most problems.