Last week in the National Post, Stephen Harper’s former senior economic advisor, Sean Speer, warned that any class of people who feel left behind by a country’s economic growth could easily become populists.
“An economy that has nothing to offer people is going to create not just economic consequences, but political ones that can possibly cut much deeper,” Speer said in an interview.
And Speer, who is now with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank, is absolutely right.
Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. and the Brexit victory in the U.K. were both fueled, in part, by voters who had once seen themselves as secure and prosperous, but who felt they had lost out – on jobs, status, future prospects – as a result of globalization.
Working-class men make up the largest faction among these “dislocated” voters.
However, while Speer is correct, he could go farther. The frustration that fuels populism goes way beyond economic matters.
Ordinary people are subjected daily to elite scolding, preaching and nagging.
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