The typical Populist critique of society is that it is run
by elites for their own benefit. It argues that the wealthy people in a society are the
ones who typically benefit from things that the government does while the "common
people" are left to suffer.
The Populists of 1892 (the
People's Party) believed very much in this idea. They called for various government
actions that would curb the wealthy for the benefit of the common people. For example,
they wanted government ownership of utility companies and railroads so that wealthy
businessmen could not use their control of such necessities to squeeze the poor. They
also called for a purer democracy with, for example, direct election of Senators so that
the more numerous common people could influence the government more than the
elites.
Overall, then, their critique of society was that
it was controlled by wealthy elites and run for the benefit of those
elites.
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