Left or right? Some people talk about the death of ideologies, but what is the real situation, is it high time to scrap yesterday’s political thinking, or is it time for an overhaul and renovation?
If we start with socialism. There are a lot of people who are upset about the left and its foolishness. They are seen to have marched through the corridors and taken over academia, government and the media. Everything is left-wing and degenerate. But when was the last time you heard a leftist talking about defending workers? Or cutting taxes and fees for ordinary people? Making life easier for the working class? Rarely, if ever. The original left is stone dead. Nobody cares about the workers anymore. A few real socialists remain (such as George Galloway in the UK) but they are rarely seen or heard, and are often confused with populists, nationalists or the alternative right.
What about the right, the conservatives? Well, they are still there, and they are a kind of friction as always. The difference is that the time span is much shorter. Today’s conservatives want to return to a society that the progressives left behind 10-2o years ago. The gap between the conservatives and the other ideologies is constantly narrowing. Some are still pro-life, although the abortion issue may not be as clear a divide between the right and the left as many believe. They are often Christians and involved in church life. A bit contradictory when Christianity itself can be perceived as left-wing in nature, with a passion for the meek, a clear victim mentality, and turning the other cheek. Perhaps the right was strongest when it was more secular, during the Enlightenment’s return to Greek and Roman virtues, where vigour, learning and innovation were highly valued?
And the liberals, what about them? A lot has happened here. On the one hand, they are a kind of supra-ideology, strongly linked to so-called Western democracy, and on the other hand a school of thought that constantly seeks to win new positions through activism and alternative methods. The concept of freedom is extremely fuzzy. On the one hand, it works for the rights of all kinds of deviants, and on the other hand, it constantly traps the hard-working middle class with unfathomable laws, regulations and high taxes. Bans on bonfires, wood storage, snuff, smoking, straws, etc., the list gets longer and stranger. The activity sometimes resembles a kind of free church do-goodery, where mass migration is favoured while the situation of the indigenous population is constantly deteriorating. Modern liberalism may not be a clear-cut ideology. It’s more of an excuse for politicians to call the shots and for global players to influence local parliaments.
Finally, the environmental movement. A strong force that emerged from the nuclear resistance of the 1970s and later moved on to climate issues. Many sense a kind of religious undertone as it becomes increasingly clear that neither the oceans nor temperatures are rising, at least not in the real world. We also note that it is difficult to calculate the Earth’s average temperature, as there may be disagreement about the location of the measuring points, how the data should be processed, and which climate models should be used for further calculation and analysis. And that we do not have proper measurements from satellites, for example, very far back in time. The whole approach probably appeals more to those who think and feel than to those who really want to measure and investigate. Meanwhile, the environmental movement’s focus on real environmental degradation, toxins in nature, pollution, preservation of environments, the creation of national parks, the saving of animal species, etc. etc. is being reduced.
Both the left and the environmental movement have been absorbed into the mainstream of modern liberalism, where they have been tamed and given politically harmless tasks of a mostly symbolic nature. Conservatives are also partly caught in that web. And some people talk about “The uniparty”, a kind of all-party system, where you make a deal in secret, and regardless of how people vote in elections, politics slowly moves in one direction. Whereas real political resistance is despised and humiliated on a daily basis. These are populists, extreme right-wingers, nationalists etc (including the occasional old socialist). Their crime is that they defend political positions that many people take for granted: not letting in illegal immigrants, proper punishment for serious criminals, safety on the streets, protecting workers and the middle class, lower taxes and less political interference, and working for a cheap and secure energy system.
So, while the political ideologies are not dead, they have been filled with a completely different content. The left is not fighting for workers’ rights, but for the rights of illegal immigrants and transgender people. Green parties worship Mother Earth by chaining themselves to the motorway. Liberals liberate us from ourselves, while conservatives want to roll back the tape to where we were before the last news cycle. It’s a parody, and a caricature of a real political system. Many are calling it degenerate, that we are approaching the fall of the Western empire, the clash before the bang, a kind of modern Weimar Republic foreshadowing something even worse? Or merely the highest wave in the storm, in a soon-to-be calm and tranquil sea?
