Populism is the slur term used by those who don't like what is being said. Often used by those people who believe they know better then others.

The reality is in a democracy all parties aim to be populist, because without popular support you don't get elected.

There is a simple distinction between populism and elitism. Populism is democratic; elitism is totalitarian. Any discussion as to which is 'best' is absurd – elitist. This over-long article is elitist. All you need to know is that:

Populism is: “A political strategy based on a calculated appeal to the interests or prejudices of ordinary people”

That was probably written by an elitist, who deems most people to be 'ordinary' and to have 'prejudices', “...opinions(s) formed beforehand, esp an unfavouble one based on INADEQUATE FACTS...”.

The elitists, on the other hand, don't have prejudices; they have 'opinions' based on their 'gifts' and and 'high education'.

The elities currently wrecking this country don't seem to be conspicuous for their 'gifts' or 'high education'.

The writer denigrates democracy (rule of the people by the people for the people) by noting the small size of the ancient Greek republic and a couple of Swiss cantons using it. It fails to scale up, the elitist writer claims.

Well it scales up OK in California, with a much higher population than Australia and which operates Binding Citizen-Initiated Referenda (BCIR).

If we had it in Australia we wouldn't be saddled with the highly regressive GST brought in by representative government which is rule of the people by the political parties for those who purchase them.

Swiss style Direct Democracy is not only true democracy, allowing you a say in what happens in your street, to what happens in the nation, but also is less expensive, more efficient and effective than our broken 200 Westminster system, which was designed to accommodate The Lords on the UK during transition to democracy. Our so-called 'representative government' system does not really represent what the populace wants, but is closer to representing what the PM wants.
The origins of Australian democracy started as Direct Democracy in the townhalls and miner's meeting places in Ballarat. Pity we never stuck to this form of democracy

The last election was a perfect example of a two faced extremist person wanting to be elected for his own unannounced agenda.
We had an election run on lies to suite the populous, for a specific reason, we largely only heard from one person. We were completely overtaken by the wording and heartfelt policies of this man.

Whe vote was an abnormal proportion in favor of policies that were all a fraud. A set up to defraud the people of Australia.
The person sprucing all of the fraudulent lies was in fact a totalitarian. He had no compassion for the people for Australia and proved his agenda was to drag the people that voted for this man into poverty stricken hell.

This man still roams the corridors of our parliament without any assault from his own party members.

This is where our parliament has denigrated to. Where it is possible to lie your way to power, be removed, and still be a parliamentarian with full entitlement.

It is going to take a change of govt to bring this fraud to justice.

The elites will not allow us CIRs; they deem us to be too ordinary and prejudiced to handle full democracy.