My kids started school yesterday and I’m so excited! (50 percent fewer kids to entertain for 7 hours? …. Yes, please!) As social media fills with cute pictures of kids wearing brand-new backpacks and holding signs announcing another year of learning, I am inspired. Education is one of those things that can greatly improve our quality of life.
As an adult, I’ve tried to take to heart the idea of “lifelong learning”. But I’ve gotta tell ya, politics doesn’t make it easy. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about politics that makes it scary and intimidating, it’s all the vocabulary. Words get thrown around by experts and the rest of us are left in the dust.
Personally, I love researching and picking apart words. It’s interesting to understand where words come from and what they mean. That’s why I’ve decided to add a section to my blog…..
Mompolpedia.
It’s basically “Mom’s political encyclopedia” where I can give a little more information on common terms used in the political environment. I’ll share them as regular posts first and then store them on a separate tab for future reference.
If there are terms you’d like explained better, send them my way and I’ll start researching them. There won’t be much in Mompolpedia at first, but eventually we’ll get a good amount of words and phrases.
And allow me to extend the invitation to you! If there are terms you would like to define or help research so the rest of us can better understand them, you are most cordially invited! Comment on my blog or send me a personal message, whichever works best for you! Also, as I make an effort to define words, I welcome additional information and context to help us all understand the terms better.
So… are there any words or phrases you’d like defined?
Mom Talks Politics 
Populist. As I’ve heard the word used I thought it meant making policies and focusing on your own home country first and foremost. But I read a definition recently that said it meant something completely different (more like us vs. them or elite vs. poor). I would love more clarification on that word, and if there IS a word for focusing on your own country first I’d love to know what that is. Thanks so much!
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This is a good one! Populist, as I understand it, is a word that means a politician is trying to appeal to those who are being disregarded by the elite — usually the rest of us who aren’t part of the elite. So your understanding of the word and the new definition you encountered are kind of mixtures of the definition. In our current political climate those who are trying to be populists are trying to appeal to those who feel like the political elite aren’t paying enough attention to national level problems. The “us” vs “them” also becomes a factor when a political leader points out the abuses made against those who have been disregarded. “They don’t care about us. They don’t care about what we care about.” Anyway… this is something that definitely needs an article of its own.
The word “nationalist” means a person who focuses on the concerns of one’s own country and puts that as number one. A nationalist doesn’t care about international affairs or what’s going on “over there”. They are only concerned with their home country. Nationalists are also sometimes lumped in with those who do not like foreigners, known as xenophobia. While there are some nationalists who are definitely like that, not everyone who is a nationalist is also xenophobic.
These are great terms!! I need to get to work creating these entries!
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