I’m missing some of the geopolitical content Wisdom of Crowds used to have in the past. I’d love to heard Shadi’s take on the fall of Assad, US failures there, what it means for Russia/Iran, and how Syria will go on from here
Sam, Roussinos, and Zakaria are all wrong. Not only does the Left have no ideas, it has all the ideas. As radical critics from Mill to Corey Robin have pointed out, conservatism is merely an irritable mental reflex in defense of class privilege.
The Left has won the battle of ideas among the American public. According to recent polls, 60 percent of Americans regard economic inequality as a serious problem; 65 percent favor sharp increases in taxes on the rich; 67 percent want increased government spending on healthcare; 66 percent want increased spending on education; 66 percent want increased spending on infrastructure; 58 percent want increases in Social Security. These are longstanding preferences, which have long been ignored by both parties when in power, in deference to the corporate and financial elites who, in fact if not in theory, own the government.
The Right has not won, or even waged, the battle of ideas. It has instead waged class war, using its comparative advantage -- money and the political resources money can buy -- to construct an ubiquitous and tightly integrated infrastructure, including lobbyists, consultants, lucrative jobs for ex-legislators and regulators, talk radio, websites, Tea Party chapters, law school and economics faculty members, Evangelical pastors, and other institutions and operatives. There are no ideas anywhere in this world, except the most vacuous and threadbare: government bad, market good; government action always curbs individual freedom; business is always more efficient than government; etc.
How the left (ie, ordinary people) can overcome this juggernaut, I don't know. But I know that's what Sam, Roussinos, and Zakaria ought to be brooding about, rather than pontificating about the War of Ideas.
Happy New Year WOC team! I find 'the Left is dead' discourse interesting because I think it does a disservice to those within leftist politics who subscribe to a markedly socialist/communitarian form of economics without being socially 'woke'. It begs the question, does one have to be socially liberal to be considered a leftist? I would argue that wokeism is a phenomenon that, already in it's death throes, will be looked back upon as a weird identitarian cult that briefly strangled centre-left and left wing governments. I wonder if the left/right continuum needs re-examining, and whether a new form of non-identity driven left-populism might emerge in the coming decade? As an Englishman, I could see such a brand of politics in such a unequal society as ours doing quite well. Looking forward to another year of supporting this platform!
I sure hope you're right about the woke tide. The coalition you describe would be my coalition if I thought Democrats were capable of being socially reserved. I've yet to see that level of self-awareness... but maybe losing a few more elections will help!
Hopefully the Labour government here learn from the Democrat's disaster in November, unlikely though. I fear a populist right surge here in the UK... particularly with Mr Musk now taking an interest in our politics...
Even if Roussinos is right that every "all-consuming ideology" is dead (and I wouldn't rule out new ones emerging), that doesn't mean liberalism is. A liberalism that's more selective in its goals and interventions, rather than trying to be universal, can still be a liberating and democratizing force. Western military intervention was always selective (Rwanda was left to suffer, for example), but interventions in small countries generally worked well: Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone. The fact that invading Iraq was a big mistake isn't an argument for limiting uses of force to simple self-interest. Lord knows "pragmatists" of the kind Roussinos praises can dip their hands in a lot of blood, too (see: Cambodia, Nixon and Kissinger in).
I’m missing some of the geopolitical content Wisdom of Crowds used to have in the past. I’d love to heard Shadi’s take on the fall of Assad, US failures there, what it means for Russia/Iran, and how Syria will go on from here
I’m pretty sure Jen Brick-Murtazashvili also has some interesting comments to make on the goings-on in Georgia as well!
I second this
Sam, Roussinos, and Zakaria are all wrong. Not only does the Left have no ideas, it has all the ideas. As radical critics from Mill to Corey Robin have pointed out, conservatism is merely an irritable mental reflex in defense of class privilege.
The Left has won the battle of ideas among the American public. According to recent polls, 60 percent of Americans regard economic inequality as a serious problem; 65 percent favor sharp increases in taxes on the rich; 67 percent want increased government spending on healthcare; 66 percent want increased spending on education; 66 percent want increased spending on infrastructure; 58 percent want increases in Social Security. These are longstanding preferences, which have long been ignored by both parties when in power, in deference to the corporate and financial elites who, in fact if not in theory, own the government.
The Right has not won, or even waged, the battle of ideas. It has instead waged class war, using its comparative advantage -- money and the political resources money can buy -- to construct an ubiquitous and tightly integrated infrastructure, including lobbyists, consultants, lucrative jobs for ex-legislators and regulators, talk radio, websites, Tea Party chapters, law school and economics faculty members, Evangelical pastors, and other institutions and operatives. There are no ideas anywhere in this world, except the most vacuous and threadbare: government bad, market good; government action always curbs individual freedom; business is always more efficient than government; etc.
How the left (ie, ordinary people) can overcome this juggernaut, I don't know. But I know that's what Sam, Roussinos, and Zakaria ought to be brooding about, rather than pontificating about the War of Ideas.
PS - Second sentence should read, of course "Not only does the Left NOT have no ideas, it has all the ideas."
Happy New Year WOC team! I find 'the Left is dead' discourse interesting because I think it does a disservice to those within leftist politics who subscribe to a markedly socialist/communitarian form of economics without being socially 'woke'. It begs the question, does one have to be socially liberal to be considered a leftist? I would argue that wokeism is a phenomenon that, already in it's death throes, will be looked back upon as a weird identitarian cult that briefly strangled centre-left and left wing governments. I wonder if the left/right continuum needs re-examining, and whether a new form of non-identity driven left-populism might emerge in the coming decade? As an Englishman, I could see such a brand of politics in such a unequal society as ours doing quite well. Looking forward to another year of supporting this platform!
I sure hope you're right about the woke tide. The coalition you describe would be my coalition if I thought Democrats were capable of being socially reserved. I've yet to see that level of self-awareness... but maybe losing a few more elections will help!
Hopefully the Labour government here learn from the Democrat's disaster in November, unlikely though. I fear a populist right surge here in the UK... particularly with Mr Musk now taking an interest in our politics...
My sympathies, Mr. Musk is the worst Robber Baron in recent memory, so in some ways the most American!
Even if Roussinos is right that every "all-consuming ideology" is dead (and I wouldn't rule out new ones emerging), that doesn't mean liberalism is. A liberalism that's more selective in its goals and interventions, rather than trying to be universal, can still be a liberating and democratizing force. Western military intervention was always selective (Rwanda was left to suffer, for example), but interventions in small countries generally worked well: Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone. The fact that invading Iraq was a big mistake isn't an argument for limiting uses of force to simple self-interest. Lord knows "pragmatists" of the kind Roussinos praises can dip their hands in a lot of blood, too (see: Cambodia, Nixon and Kissinger in).