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I'd like to provide an alternative to Dr. Bastiat's recent post Leftism is based on individualism. Conservatism is not.
The good doctor observes the behavior of "the modern left," searches for an underlying ideological consistency, gets frustrated, and eventually settles on the title. Which, I'm sorry to say, doesn't make any sense.
So perhaps the situation needs to be examined from a different angle.
Consider the possibility that 1.) "the modern left" is really the Democrat Party and that 2.) the goal of the party is to win elections at any cost, because then you can enjoy the fruits of a corrupt bureaucracy.
Cool. So to that end, it seems pretty clear that they have developed the following strategy:
- Fabricate an issue to create division and unrest.
- This opens up an opportunity to take a virtuous position.
- And blame the problem on the other party.
- Once elected, implement programs full of opportunities for corruption that make the problem worse.
This is simple, elegant, economical, and effective.
Here are some examples:
- Organize race riots, take a stand against racism, call the Republicans racist, implement programs to encourage more racism.
- Global warming: we're saving the planet, Republicans value themselves over humanity, implement programs that cause more air pollution.
- Transgenderism: take a stand for tolerance, accuse Republicans of being transphobic, fund Drag Queen Story Hour to groom kids.
- Open borders: sympathy for the "newcomers," accuse Republicans of being xenophobic, crime and fentanyl.
Once you know the pattern, you can see it all over.
Traditionally, none of these are issues of political ideology. Yet they have been placed in the political forefront. Which will throw people off.
And this isn't new; Karl Marx did the same thing with his "class struggle" between the "proletariat" and the "bourgeoisie." So they're in good company.
Of course, this is an oversimplification. But my point is that there's no money in abstract ideology. The big money is in political corruption, so it is important to consider the strategies to get there.
Discussion (28)
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Do we have here a simple case of the elimination of most forms of community between the individual and the whole society/government? (Not church, family, or chess club--it's just me and the federal government, or me and the Party!)
Thus--communitarian to an extreme, but simultaneously strongly individualistic when it comes to all the old traditional forms of responsibility and obligation to family, parents, children, the past, the religious community, etc.?
(On individualism in economics but something else in other areas: https://ricochet.com/374269/where-can-we-find-knowledge/.)
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Leftism is everyone doing the exact same cool thing!
You want to be cool, right? Everyone wants to be cool. Not wanting to be cool is weird. You don't want to be called weird by Tim Walz.
It's all about individually being like everyone else.
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So, my understanding of your position is that the modern left really has no underlying ideology - it's all just a money making scheme. Is that a fair summary of your viewpoint?
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This is true. It is related to Leftism promoting more government, since more government means more opportunity for corruption and more power to suppress dissent.
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I don't think that this is correct.
Look up a picture of a so-called "pride" parade. It is not everyone being like everyone else.
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