Thursday, July 29, 2004
Explaining my apostasy to the Lefties – Part 1.
Greetings Comrades.
I used to think of myself as a “lefty”. Most of my fundamental beliefs have remained the same but I now I would fight against being labeled in this way. “Left” and “Right”* may make some sort of intuitive sense, but they are so nebulous that framing debates around this dichotomy is counterproductive.
I feel that they are functionally meaningless and should be avoided. We have “leftwing” economic policy, more or less: state ownership of the means of production. We have “right wing” economics too – laissez faire. A semi-planned economy lies somewhere in the middle. Lovely. Since 1989 belief that the former is workable has declined. So here in Europe we’re all to the right of the Soviet Union and the left of the United States. Great, as far as it goes… Now, the problem is: among many (especially the young) “left” has come to mean nice. Hip. Intelligent. Altruistic. “Good”. In contrast, “right” is selfish. Nationalistic. Materialistic. Concerned only with wealth creation and the preservation of privilege. “Evil”. You can make up your own examples, it really is very easy, but where does the legalization of drugs fit here? Or the introduction of gay marriage? Is a liberal position on trade and personal affairs on the left or on the right? Left on social, right on economic? Balderdash. Someone holding these (intellectually consistent) views would be what? Half left? Half right? Or the worst approximation: Centrist? On which side is a belief in fundamental human rights? The Left! No! What about protesting to ensure the protection of the individual from the tyrannies of the state? If it’s a tyranny you like (income tax, for instance) then complaining is right-wing selfishness, if you don’t like it (e.g. stop and search) then it’s an honourable leftist position. It needs to be understood that many "right-wing" policies come out of ideology and a genuine desire to do the "right thing", not just to shower pig-faced men in top hats with bundles and bundles of bank notes. These philosophies need to be engaged with - who knows, some of them might actually (whisper it) make some sense...
To reiterate and get the hell out of here: the majority of my most deeply held convictions have remained the same since I first became interested in politics. What has changed is that I no longer think of them in terms of left and right (although many would put me squarely in the former) but try and frame internal debates from positions which actually mean something – rights of the individual etc. These convictions will be explained in much more detail in following posts.
* When I use the terms "Left" and "Right" I am not referring to New Labour or the Conservatives. ("That's because they're identical. Ahhhh." "No. No, they are not.")
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Greetings Comrades.
I used to think of myself as a “lefty”. Most of my fundamental beliefs have remained the same but I now I would fight against being labeled in this way. “Left” and “Right”* may make some sort of intuitive sense, but they are so nebulous that framing debates around this dichotomy is counterproductive.
I feel that they are functionally meaningless and should be avoided. We have “leftwing” economic policy, more or less: state ownership of the means of production. We have “right wing” economics too – laissez faire. A semi-planned economy lies somewhere in the middle. Lovely. Since 1989 belief that the former is workable has declined. So here in Europe we’re all to the right of the Soviet Union and the left of the United States. Great, as far as it goes… Now, the problem is: among many (especially the young) “left” has come to mean nice. Hip. Intelligent. Altruistic. “Good”. In contrast, “right” is selfish. Nationalistic. Materialistic. Concerned only with wealth creation and the preservation of privilege. “Evil”. You can make up your own examples, it really is very easy, but where does the legalization of drugs fit here? Or the introduction of gay marriage? Is a liberal position on trade and personal affairs on the left or on the right? Left on social, right on economic? Balderdash. Someone holding these (intellectually consistent) views would be what? Half left? Half right? Or the worst approximation: Centrist? On which side is a belief in fundamental human rights? The Left! No! What about protesting to ensure the protection of the individual from the tyrannies of the state? If it’s a tyranny you like (income tax, for instance) then complaining is right-wing selfishness, if you don’t like it (e.g. stop and search) then it’s an honourable leftist position. It needs to be understood that many "right-wing" policies come out of ideology and a genuine desire to do the "right thing", not just to shower pig-faced men in top hats with bundles and bundles of bank notes. These philosophies need to be engaged with - who knows, some of them might actually (whisper it) make some sense...
To reiterate and get the hell out of here: the majority of my most deeply held convictions have remained the same since I first became interested in politics. What has changed is that I no longer think of them in terms of left and right (although many would put me squarely in the former) but try and frame internal debates from positions which actually mean something – rights of the individual etc. These convictions will be explained in much more detail in following posts.
* When I use the terms "Left" and "Right" I am not referring to New Labour or the Conservatives. ("That's because they're identical. Ahhhh." "No. No, they are not.")
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