‘Populist’ party

As a truly swinging voter, having voted over decades for one or the other of Labour, Greens, National, Social Credit (the Beetham-Knapp days), NZ First etc., I was bemused by Guy Williams’ derogatory dismissal of NZ First as ‘‘populist, reactionary and exploitative’’ (‘‘What’s up with the Greens’’, Culture, July 24). Does populist mean appealing to popular opinion? So what? Isn’t popular opinion the majority opinion? In democracies don’t the majority win the day?

Still somewhat confused, I headed to my dictionary. ‘‘Populist’’ was defined as ‘‘a politician who campaigns for the little man against the elite, big business, the establishment etc’’.

Well, if NZ First are populist, good on them. Tony Orman, Marlborough