The political causes of populism

The alarm for the danger of a European disruption due to growing populism is becoming increasingly clear. The growth of populist movements, which is accompanied by the equally dangerous movement of an increasingly extreme right, contaminated by fascism and Nazism, seems to have arrived as an unexpected and unexpected factor; in fact neither the institutions of Brussels, nor those of the individual states nor the progressive parties, those of the center and those of the moderate right have been able to build a valid strategy to predict, first, and then deal with the populist drift, with everything what it entails. The causes, however, come from afar and concern first of all the distortion of the objectives pursued by the left parties. The run-up to the center electorate, with needs also contrasting with those of the lower classes, the unemployed, workers and low-level employees, has shifted the attention from issues of great social value to more particular interests, which have disoriented the usual electorate of that political area. A sort of political abandonment has been generated of vast social areas, which have no longer seen their demands and their needs protected, generating a progressive separation from politics, merged first in the practice of abstention and then in the protest vote in favor of populist movements. Even those who were directly involved in active politics have left the parties and circles due to the abandonment of the central structures against the model of the widespread party in favor of lighter structures but increasingly distant from the peripheries; this separation has created leaders totally unaware of the real needs of the people, who, in the meantime, has had to face economic crises often caused by characters who have become close to the leaders of the progressive parties. Not only that, the recipes to remedy these crises have concerned penalizing measures for the lower classes and this has increased the resentment for the betrayal suffered. Instead of worrying about creating poles for social inequalities and for the redistribution of income, the parties that remained progressive only in the name, have implemented economic measures that have increased these inequalities, also harmful from the economic point of view, because they have never helped to raise the national economies with an increase in spending, never arrived by the wealthy classes. The English lesson, where Blair's failure, has not taught anything to the progressive political forces, has determined the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, while on the continent it has reached a stage where the major countries, governed by popular forces or of the self-styled left, eliminated the union achievements and reduced the welfare state in favor of banks and finance, that is, those who were the material managers of the economic crises. If in the progressive parties there has been a transformation against nature, in the central or classical right parties there has been an equally clear transformation, which has betrayed the policies of social cohesion and meritocracy in favor of positions of convenience, which are often resulted in episodes of technocracy in favor of certain social sectors, and, however, that have gone, in the results, in the same direction of progressive parties. Therefore, the current prevalent presence of populist movements, which are increasingly joined by those of the extreme right, is an element of great concern, but from which we can not ignore a careful analysis of the responsibilities and the causes of their affirmation. Without this derives from the ideals of the left, center and even right parties, populism would remain a numerically contained phenomenon and confined to the margins of political and social life, just as there would be no recovery of the extreme right, able to capture the needs of the most unfortunate classes and address them against migratory phenomena in a war between the poor in a nationalist version. The discomfort and discontent of the European population is a tangible element that we wanted to underestimate in order to follow policies that have exalted inequality and still do not present effective corrective measures. A full assumption of responsibility with a consequent revision that starts, first of all, from political behavior and that invests the organizations of the structures of the parties, with a view to returning to the past to favor the territorial dimension, appears the starting point that must lead to a profound change oriented to the real problems of citizens, in open contrast with theoretical programs and detached from reality. Only in this way can a real confrontation be made with populist policies and, perhaps, prevent the dangers of their effects.