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On Thursday night’s show, Tucker Carlson of Fox News launched into a diatribe over the supposed injustices of Amazon’s pay practices . . .. . . Carlson is a talented host and a passionate expositor of his position. But he has his logic exactly backwards here: Amazon offers lower pay because there is a free market for labor in the United States, and because government benefits provide the base upon which would-be workers rely. Were we to cut government benefits for lower-wage workers, Amazon and other companies would have to pick up the slack or face a lack of labor. The laws of supply and demand work predictably in the labor market. Pay rates aren't the fault of Amazon. They're the fault of the government.With that said, Carlson’s rhetoric is indicative of a broader move by many on the Right toward a philosophy of populism — a populism mirrored on the Left, as Carlson’s comments about Bernie Sanders suggest.What is populism? It’s more a strategy than a philosophy — claiming to stand with “the people†is a time-honored political tool, often utilized by demagogues of every side. But there are certain factors the new populist upswells of Left and Right share: in-group loyalty; skepticism about free markets; and deep distrust of institutions. These three characteristics manifest in different ways. For the Left, in-group loyalty amounts to a constant harangue about the threat of “whiteness,†which includes everything up to and including references to the glory of the West; for the Right, in-group loyalty amounts to a backlash against an intersectional coalition and a profound distaste for immigration of all sorts. For the Left, skepticism about free markets manifests in the newfound desire to embrace democratic socialism; for the Right, skepticism about free markets manifests in the newfound desire to regulate corporations who refuse to abide by their political principles. For the Left, distrust of institutions amounts to a blanket critique of “institutional racism†and the repeated suggestion that “the patriarchy†has stunted the souls of Americans; for the Right, distrust of institutions looks like a warm embrace for conspiracy theories regarding government agencies, as well as enthusiasm for bad actors like Edward Snowden . . .
