This paper investigates the nature and change of American populism in the 1970s. I examine both distinct and common characteristics of left-wing and right-wing populisms.<BR> Populism of the 1970s was rooted in economic hardship as its predecessors had been. However, the newly revived populism had some additional dimensions: it battled against centuralization of power, bureaucratization, and government itself or politicians.<BR> This populism had two distinct strands: a left-wing and a right-wing version, Left-wing populism emphasized egalitarian redistribution of wealth and tended to be more concerned about the size and power of big business. Left-wing populists made efforts to create a fair tax system and place big banks and corporations under greater government control. In order to bee reform, they sought to build a political coalition of ethnic minorities, women, youth, and working people, while opposing big labor. Left wing populism viewed government as an instrument to protect consumers from big businesses and special interests<BR> On the other hand, right-wing populism arose from the fear of losing good things that the American people had achieved through hard work, and was more concerned about the size and power of governments. Right-wing populists regarded government, especially big centuralized one, as a threat to traditional ways of life. They supported school prayers, tuition tax credit, privatization, and tax cuts, while opposing abortion,<BR> Despite these divergences, the two strands of populidsm shared common concerns about large, unresponsive, bureaucratic, and unaccountable institutions. Both rejected elitism and intellectualism as well as advocated direct democracy, popular control of special interests, and strong work ethic. Populist movement in the 1970s intended to return political power to the people by challenging the dominant power and values of the establishment.
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