Legal Literacy - Let's talk straight. Amidst the hustle and bustle of politics, there is one commodity that always sells, especially when people are tired and disappointed. That commodity is called populism. It is wrapped in beautiful "pro-people" packaging, given a "against the elite" ribbon, and sold cheaply in the form of sweet promises. But make no mistake, behind its festive packaging, the contents are poison. Poison that doesn't kill instantly, but works slowly, eroding the vital organs of the state, and its main target is only one: the Constitution.

People are often mistaken. Populism is considered the same as being popular or pro-people. Big mistake! A leader who goes to the market, eats at a warteg, or is liked by many people, is not necessarily a populist. That's called a politician who is good at winning hearts. Populism is a disease of thinking, a dangerous ideology that divides the world in binary: there is "us", the holy and pure common people, and there is "them", the elite (politicians, businessmen, intellectuals, judges) who are considered corrupt and colluding.

Herein lies the problem. The populist leader then comes and beats the drum, appointing himself as the sole mouthpiece of the true "will of the people". Period. No comma, no room for "but" or "what if". If you don't agree with him, then you are not part of the "people". You automatically fall into the "enemy elite" box.

For anyone who has read even one page of a book about the rule of law, this logic should have set off all the danger alarms. Democracy lives on oxygen called pluralism—the recognition that there are many opinions, many interests, and many legitimate points of view. Populism comes carrying a sack to suffocate that oxygen. It is anti-pluralism. It wants the voice to be singular, namely its own voice labeled as the voice of the people.