This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, May 10th, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The populist fervor that elected Donald Trump President is concerning for future prospects for liberty, but author and Cato Fellow PJ

Auroric says not to lose hope. He argues that populist movements tend to have a short half-life.

We spoke at the Cato Institute's 40th anniversary celebration held this weekend.

Sort of a parallel that you draw out in some of your recent work is an oppressive school marm.

Yes.

And the kids who are feeling oppressed in the classroom

turned to the class bully for something like protection or aid and that's paralleling our 2016 election.

Would you mind drawing that out a little bit?

Well, I think it's paralleling not only our 2016 election,

but something of a global phenomenon that we're seeing of a rise

and kind of angry populism and a rise in

authoritarian leadership or a tendency to that rise. What I meant by the oppressed school kids was really the

modern world is is scary and confusing and it kind of puts a monster at the blackboard.

We're going through times of very rapid social change,

times a very rapid economic change, both on a technological level obviously with the everything to do with the internet, but also

globalization on a trade level too and it just it's just even people who have

benefited from these social and economic changes are still knocked off balance by them a little bit.

It's disturbing and somewhat frightening.

And I think that tendency, normal human tendency under these circumstances is to look for a strong man.

If you've got a horrible teacher, yeah, you sort of side with the bully

...