Sherrod Brown

Donald Trump is a populist. So are Marine Le Pen and Steve Bannon.

Really?

Populism does not divide our society into these people here or those people over there. It doesn’t fan resentments and exploit grievances. Populism never excludes based on race or gender or religion. It doesn’t appeal to some by pushing others down; it embraces everyone.

Populism speaks out against a church shooting, or a threat against a Jewish center, or the bombing of a mosque. A populist stands in solidarity against all acts of hate.

Populism is a belief that you build the economy from the middle class out, not by demanding tax cuts for the most affluent, with the long-discredited argument that prosperity will trickle down.

Populism is a trade policy that puts American workers and small businesses first, but never pits foreign workers against our country's workers. We never confuse populism and jingoism.

Populism doesn’t preach hate. Populism preaches hope — hope that all workers will have the opportunity to build better lives for their families. I hear that same hope all over Ohio, from the young, diverse workers at a software company outside of Cleveland, to coal country, where people aren’t willing to give up on their hometowns.

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I heard it in Cincinnati, where I met with janitors who had just signed their first union contract. One woman told me this was the first time in her 30 years of working she would be able to take a one-week paid vacation.

A true populist looks out for people like her, because populism values work and it respects the people who do it — every last one of them. Our society doesn’t value work the way we once did; Americans work harder and have less to show for it.

If you want to call yourself a populist, you better be ready to stick up for the little guy — whether she punches a time clock or earns tips. Whether she works in a call center or a hospital or on a factory floor. Whether he is a contract worker or a temp.

And you better be willing to be straight with the people you serve. A true populist tells the truth, because she respects people’s intelligence.

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Of course we’ve always had cynical politicians. They — and the media that cover them too — often confuse popularity with populism. Populism and popularity may share the same Latin root, but not the same political home. An opportunist politician divides people and kowtows to the powerful. He spreads blame instead of solutions, and lies about bringing back an idyllic past that never was. And he often treats those with less power and privilege with disdain.

In Matthew 25, Jesus said, “When I was hungry you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick, you visited me. ... What you did for the least of these, you did . . . .”

Wait. Not exactly. Jesus would never have said that one human being is less than any other. Certainly Mohammed or Moses or Gandhi would never have preached that the worth of one human being is greater than the value of another.

In the translation published by the American Bible Society, the Poverty and Justice Bible, Jesus said, “What you did for those who seemed less important, you did for me.”

A populist recognizes that no one is less important or of less value. That’s the heart of populism: respect for all people — their work, their dignity, their intelligence. Our spiritual leaders embrace everyone. So must we.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee.

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