Monday January 2, 2012

I've Been Thinking:

Rick Santorum announced that unless they let International Observers into their nuclear facilities, he would bomb Iran's nuclear sites.

The Republican nominee wannabe described the current US position developed by President Obama as one of turning the United States "into paper tigers."

The statement is POPULIST. We are seeing more and more of this populist jargon as the Republican primary and the presidential campaign chug along.

Populism has its great benefits. Populism is an attempt to emote a folksy political point of view. Populism represents the masses against the detached leadership.

Then again, populist political platforms almost always oversimplify to the point of being dangerous - and yet, populist points always sway voters, they fuel the momentum which brings voters to a candidate.

Rick Santorum is correct to push for action because he will get support. Where his populism fails is that bombing the nuclear sites does not solve the problem - it opens up a series of other, very complicated, problems.

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