Beyond left
The last three years have been a political roller-coaster for me. I started out with well established political views but post the EU referendum many started to become unpicked. I am not sure when or how exactly, but like a controlled demolition of a building my entire political viewpoint got brought down.
I didn’t really notice at first; I suppose habit rather than active thought kept me going. But at some point once I had talked to enough people and read enough books, it became obvious that many of the views that I used to hold just didn’t reflect how I felt anymore. I am still trying to work out what I do think. I feel like I have political whiplash, things are on the move so quickly.
Barely a day goes by that I don’t have to stop and think “Do I really think that?”. It's tough but it is also exciting. You see I have exited from the bullshit zone where you take sides based on your gut instinct and instead am actually thinking. It’s like a political rebirth, where fire and brimstone scours you clean of your past views and allows you to become something completely different.
It is painful at times - leaving your tribe is never nice - and it can be very scary. You have to go off into the wilderness and hope to find another tribe, or even start your own. It’s also not very natural because humans are tribalistic, but sometimes it has to be done. I suppose I am lucky I have over these years found people on Twitter and beyond who are also searching. Many will end up in a different place, but at least you can share your sense of loss and hope for the future.
I no longer fit into any of the main political tribes in my country. My views have progressed on from the traditional left-right divide. I find that a pointless description for modern politics. There are few people who want to abandon capitalism for some sort of Communism, nor are there many people who want to abandon the welfare state for some Libertarian utopia.
That debate has finished - all we are left now asking is where should free markets extend to and what should be provided under the welfare state. I think the debate or the fight is now around culture, community and fairness.
These are some of the questions that I think we need to be talking about:
Can we continue to atomise society based on identity politics where every single race, religion, gender and so on has different rights and responsibilities?
What level of migration do we want and should the host country forever adapt for the new entrants or do we all need to agree on a core or intrinsic national identity?
How do we empower everyone when over the last 30 years all economic, political and cultural power has been grabbed by a small elite?
Can we make trade free work for all the country and not just the ones who are working and thriving in globalised industries?
How will we survive if we continue to uproot both community and family from the root of our society?
How can we bring democracy closer to people and make it more responsive?
More broadly, has Liberalism become inherently illiberal and damaging to our societies?
I don’t have hard answers to these questions, or the many more that may be pertinent. These are merely the ones I am pondering and which are driving my political realignment. They are questions that in my view will define the coming decade in the UK and across much of the West.
In my experience, so many people are myopic in their political outlook. They are so obsessed with their own country they don’t raise their head up and glance over at others. If they did, they would realise that many if not all of the traditional West is now struggling with these questions. Brexit, Trump, or the current preoccupation of any given national media are not unique events but the first signals of a broader change in Western societies.
For some they are simply ‘populism’: something to be feared as reflective of the rise of the ‘far right’. I disagree, I think ‘populism’ is democracy trying to reset itself by allowing the voices of the many who have been left behind economically and feel uncomfortable culturally to be heard. If ‘populism’ is driving people to talk and think about the above, then it is only bad for those who do not want to enter the debate.
I didn’t really notice at first; I suppose habit rather than active thought kept me going. But at some point once I had talked to enough people and read enough books, it became obvious that many of the views that I used to hold just didn’t reflect how I felt anymore. I am still trying to work out what I do think. I feel like I have political whiplash, things are on the move so quickly.
Barely a day goes by that I don’t have to stop and think “Do I really think that?”. It's tough but it is also exciting. You see I have exited from the bullshit zone where you take sides based on your gut instinct and instead am actually thinking. It’s like a political rebirth, where fire and brimstone scours you clean of your past views and allows you to become something completely different.
It is painful at times - leaving your tribe is never nice - and it can be very scary. You have to go off into the wilderness and hope to find another tribe, or even start your own. It’s also not very natural because humans are tribalistic, but sometimes it has to be done. I suppose I am lucky I have over these years found people on Twitter and beyond who are also searching. Many will end up in a different place, but at least you can share your sense of loss and hope for the future.
I no longer fit into any of the main political tribes in my country. My views have progressed on from the traditional left-right divide. I find that a pointless description for modern politics. There are few people who want to abandon capitalism for some sort of Communism, nor are there many people who want to abandon the welfare state for some Libertarian utopia.
That debate has finished - all we are left now asking is where should free markets extend to and what should be provided under the welfare state. I think the debate or the fight is now around culture, community and fairness.
These are some of the questions that I think we need to be talking about:
Can we continue to atomise society based on identity politics where every single race, religion, gender and so on has different rights and responsibilities?
What level of migration do we want and should the host country forever adapt for the new entrants or do we all need to agree on a core or intrinsic national identity?
How do we empower everyone when over the last 30 years all economic, political and cultural power has been grabbed by a small elite?
Can we make trade free work for all the country and not just the ones who are working and thriving in globalised industries?
How will we survive if we continue to uproot both community and family from the root of our society?
How can we bring democracy closer to people and make it more responsive?
More broadly, has Liberalism become inherently illiberal and damaging to our societies?
I don’t have hard answers to these questions, or the many more that may be pertinent. These are merely the ones I am pondering and which are driving my political realignment. They are questions that in my view will define the coming decade in the UK and across much of the West.
In my experience, so many people are myopic in their political outlook. They are so obsessed with their own country they don’t raise their head up and glance over at others. If they did, they would realise that many if not all of the traditional West is now struggling with these questions. Brexit, Trump, or the current preoccupation of any given national media are not unique events but the first signals of a broader change in Western societies.
For some they are simply ‘populism’: something to be feared as reflective of the rise of the ‘far right’. I disagree, I think ‘populism’ is democracy trying to reset itself by allowing the voices of the many who have been left behind economically and feel uncomfortable culturally to be heard. If ‘populism’ is driving people to talk and think about the above, then it is only bad for those who do not want to enter the debate.
The left behind. Like my parents and their friends who have nice pensions, paid for houses. It's a myth.
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