“And, tragically, this means that the very term of “the Left” has become tarnished by progressivism, reduced to a caricature of unseriousness held with serious conviction.”
Brilliant, Alan! This is a wonderful articulation of the problem.
Thanks mate, I'm glad that line resonated! It's even more tragic thinking about it here in the UK, as this tarnishing ironically comes from a country (the U.S.) with no real traditional of Leftist politics at all.
I think another very interesting dimension along this divide between class and identity becomes very apparent is international trade. There is plenty of sound economic (empirical) research that trade liberalization (ironically often implemented by "leftist" parties), whilst growing the pie nationally and benefitting the hubs of progressivism, has had a devastating impact on certain local economies (you mentioned the rust belt). And even if you believe that free trade is good overall, you could still have softened the blow by implementing social and economic programs to aid the hardest hit. Doing so could have prevented the assaults on democracy, we have seen in the last couple of years.. But obviously those are questions of a too nitty-gritty and technical nature for progressive warriors and would help people you actually deplore 🥴
This is a great point, and you're right to state that this is a well-supported position evidentially, too. Deaton and Case's 'Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism', if you haven't already read it, is a great book for me on these forces of globalisation aligning to devastate rural and former industrial areas. A similar trend has been observed in the UK since the Thatcher years in the 1980's.
And the link with the assaults on democracy is also clear, as evident in the mobilising rhetoric of "global elites" that the Right utilises to lure working class voters away from the formerly Left-wing parties that used to stand for their interests. Any serious rethink of the relationship between democracy and capitalism is going to have to redress this impact of globalisation.
There are times now that I (romantically) see myself as the one of the last old leftists in the U.S. (I'm not just an old leftist; I'm an old, old leftist.) But of course, this isn't true. There are plenty of us left. It's just seems as though, these days, we have little influence within the Democratic Party anymore.
I too follow The Liberal Patriot substack, and Ruy Teixeira's work especially. I think he has a new book coming out soon.
There are others too. Though you're likely aware of these folks and their work, Adolph Reed Jr and Walter Benn Micheals just put out a great book, No Politics but Class Politics, addressing these topics you highlight.
Unfortunately, I just don't think the Democratic Party is listening. As you pointed out, the Dems are hemorrhaging working class voters, and I'm not hopeful this trend will abate any time soon.
Anyways, I'm glad I discovered your work. Great writing.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate your thoughts.
I think the Democrats stopped listening under Bill Clinton, when they morphed into neoliberalism...as we would joke over here in Europe, "there are two parties in America; the Republicans and the moderate Republicans". At least that was before the GOP itself morphed into insanity.
Adolph Reed Jr, I am familiar with, but not Walter Benn Michaels; thank you for bringing him to my attention. It is interesting because we don't tend to think of America as having much of Leftist tradition. The nativist movements of the 1860's to 1920's were met with staunch labour organising, but as a political force it was confined to more local level politics.
The New Deal era would certainly be strongly centre-Left in policy and actions. But I've never been able to shake the idea that Vietnam, in one of its myriad seismic impacts on America, also heralded in the decline of any genuine Left-of-centre politics.
It is nice to know there are holdouts like yourself, holding a flame.
“And, tragically, this means that the very term of “the Left” has become tarnished by progressivism, reduced to a caricature of unseriousness held with serious conviction.”
Brilliant, Alan! This is a wonderful articulation of the problem.
Thanks mate, I'm glad that line resonated! It's even more tragic thinking about it here in the UK, as this tarnishing ironically comes from a country (the U.S.) with no real traditional of Leftist politics at all.
A very interesting read! Thank you :-)
I think another very interesting dimension along this divide between class and identity becomes very apparent is international trade. There is plenty of sound economic (empirical) research that trade liberalization (ironically often implemented by "leftist" parties), whilst growing the pie nationally and benefitting the hubs of progressivism, has had a devastating impact on certain local economies (you mentioned the rust belt). And even if you believe that free trade is good overall, you could still have softened the blow by implementing social and economic programs to aid the hardest hit. Doing so could have prevented the assaults on democracy, we have seen in the last couple of years.. But obviously those are questions of a too nitty-gritty and technical nature for progressive warriors and would help people you actually deplore 🥴
Thanks Paul, I'm glad you enjoyed the read :)
This is a great point, and you're right to state that this is a well-supported position evidentially, too. Deaton and Case's 'Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism', if you haven't already read it, is a great book for me on these forces of globalisation aligning to devastate rural and former industrial areas. A similar trend has been observed in the UK since the Thatcher years in the 1980's.
And the link with the assaults on democracy is also clear, as evident in the mobilising rhetoric of "global elites" that the Right utilises to lure working class voters away from the formerly Left-wing parties that used to stand for their interests. Any serious rethink of the relationship between democracy and capitalism is going to have to redress this impact of globalisation.
There are times now that I (romantically) see myself as the one of the last old leftists in the U.S. (I'm not just an old leftist; I'm an old, old leftist.) But of course, this isn't true. There are plenty of us left. It's just seems as though, these days, we have little influence within the Democratic Party anymore.
I too follow The Liberal Patriot substack, and Ruy Teixeira's work especially. I think he has a new book coming out soon.
There are others too. Though you're likely aware of these folks and their work, Adolph Reed Jr and Walter Benn Micheals just put out a great book, No Politics but Class Politics, addressing these topics you highlight.
Unfortunately, I just don't think the Democratic Party is listening. As you pointed out, the Dems are hemorrhaging working class voters, and I'm not hopeful this trend will abate any time soon.
Anyways, I'm glad I discovered your work. Great writing.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate your thoughts.
I think the Democrats stopped listening under Bill Clinton, when they morphed into neoliberalism...as we would joke over here in Europe, "there are two parties in America; the Republicans and the moderate Republicans". At least that was before the GOP itself morphed into insanity.
Adolph Reed Jr, I am familiar with, but not Walter Benn Michaels; thank you for bringing him to my attention. It is interesting because we don't tend to think of America as having much of Leftist tradition. The nativist movements of the 1860's to 1920's were met with staunch labour organising, but as a political force it was confined to more local level politics.
The New Deal era would certainly be strongly centre-Left in policy and actions. But I've never been able to shake the idea that Vietnam, in one of its myriad seismic impacts on America, also heralded in the decline of any genuine Left-of-centre politics.
It is nice to know there are holdouts like yourself, holding a flame.