What Is a Populist?

Populist: noun: a supporter of the rights and power of the people.
Populism: noun: working class activism

Sounds pretty harmless right? So why should I be insulted if someone calls me a Populist?

BECAUSE

1. Historically Populism has strong ties to the fascist movement in Nazi Germany.
2. Typically it's very liberal on economic and national security issues; socially conservative.
3. David Duke (former Ku Klux Klan leader) used a Populist Platform to run for president in the 1980's.

From reading wikipedia everything it seems like you can believe any number of things and still consider yourself a Populist (if that's what you want to be considered). In fact, we suspect that no one Populist has the same views or agenda as another. (example: Ross Perot does not = Glenn Beck). So being a populist is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has some very unfortunate connotations.


What do you think? Are you a Populist?