The Impending Self-Destruction of the Left Wing in Washington - Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Libertarianism

[The Sauce Boss]

I can't be the only one who's noticed that in the past decade, the political 'left of center' has completely imploded, slowly and violently committing suicide by ten thousand cuts.

When I was growing up and first paying attention to the wacky politics man on the news, the left was mainly just 'the party of welfare'. That was it. Better social safety nets, better health care, better services for women and the poor. It was a position I could sorta identify with as a young teen and somewhat embrace, as conservatism really lost its shine to me.

That being said, in the past decade (I'd say from around 2013 if I had to put a concrete year on MY PERSONAL observations), the left has been cleaved in two. Formerly, the divide was between the Blue Dogs and the party line, but the Blue Dogs have pretty much all migrated to the Republican Party by this point, and what we have left is the Pelosicrats on one side, the ones who pay lip service to progressive ideals but mostly just toe the line of piecemeal reform and just 'repealing whatever the last republican put in place, and the Social Democrats like AOC and Bernie, who are rapidly attempting to shove the party line closer to straight up socioeconomic Marxism. It's like a weird reversal of the 'rise of the alt-right', where the alt-right tried to present itself as a viable alternative to contemporary conservatism and has basically just become a sort of buzzword, but the progressives are actually gaining ground.

Some people I know are of the belief that this will be another 'bull moose' situation where the democratic party will eventually split permanently, leading to a Republican majority for some period of time, while others believe such a thing would finally create a viable 'three party' system (which I personally find ridiculous). Others think that either the progressives will take over the party, or we'll have a repeat of the situation with the 'alt-right' where eventually, the progressive wave dies down and the democrats just inch a couple of feet to the left and resume business as usual.

I personally believe that we are seeing the self-destruction of the Left as we know it. The Left has lacked identity since the days of FDR, relying instead on charisma and whataboutism rather than firm policy and facts, and now, it is coming to bite them in the ass, as the Far-Left has no shortage of charismatic idealogues. What do you lot think?

 

[BlueSpark]

I think it's less that it's destroying itself and more that it's moving further and further "left" and shedding people that don't meet the purity standards.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

I think it's less that it's destroying itself and more that it's moving further and further "left" and shedding people that don't meet the purity standards.

But is that behavior in and of itself not self-destructive? The simple fact is that the far-left 'social democrat' strata is not the political majority at the present moment, and even if it is, it is politically untenable to alienate wide swathes of your base by cutting off allies in your voting bloc. Cancel culture, in and of itself, is a self-eating hate machine, and some of my progressive friends are starting to acknowledge this, but the movement as a whole wholly embraces purging that which they find problematic, even if it means sustaining a hit at the polls or the pocketbooks.

 

[ProgKing of the North]

In 2012 the Republicans were gonna be gone soon. The tea partiers have taken over, they’ve gone off the deep end, the lunatics are running the asylum (even though they nominated a milquetoast moderate)
Now they’re saying the same thing about the Democrats
When the next Democrat prez wins a second term they’ll be saying the same thing about the Pubs again

 

[The Sauce Boss]

In 2012 the Republicans were gonna be gone soon. The tea partiers have taken over, they’ve gone off the deep end, the lunatics are running the asylum (even though they nominated a milquetoast moderate)
Now they’re saying the same thing about the Democrats
When the next Democrat prez wins a second term they’ll be saying the same thing about the Pubs again

Wasn't that something the left was screeching about, though? I don't recall hearing anyone on the right complaining about the tea party.

I should have clarified: I was talking more from the perspective of left-leaning political ideologies, the progressives are gaining a lot of ground. I'd say more than I can recall the Tea Party EVER getting.

 

[BlueSpark]

But is that behavior in and of itself not self-destructive? The simple fact is that the far-left 'social democrat' strata is not the political majority at the present moment, and even if it is, it is politically untenable to alienate wide swathes of your base by cutting off allies in your voting bloc. Cancel culture, in and of itself, is a self-eating hate machine, and some of my progressive friends are starting to acknowledge this, but the movement as a whole wholly embraces purging that which they find problematic, even if it means sustaining a hit at the polls or the pocketbooks.

It's destructive for the Democrats as a political party, but leftism is more than just a single party. Traditionally, the Democrats are just liberals with left leanings, - so moving further left means removing liberals from power because leftism and liberalism become mutually exclusive when you really start exploring them. Like, I can't see liberals wanting to "eat the rich" or "abolish capitalism," liberals only support the the more palatable aspects of leftism like worker rights.

I guess what I'm saying is that it wouldn't be a detriment for leftists if the Democratic party imploded because the liberals that make up the majority of its ranks are just getting in the way of the leftists that want to turn the U.S. into a leftist state. For a leftist state you can't tolerate liberals anymore than you can tolerate the "right".
It's a necessity for leftists that the Democrat establishment is abolished.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

It's destructive for the Democrats as a political party, but leftism is more than just a single party. Traditionally, the Democrats are just liberals with left leanings, - so moving further left means removing liberals from power because leftism and liberalism become mutually exclusive when you really start exploring them. Like, I can't see liberals wanting to "eat the rich" or "abolish capitalism," liberals only support the the more palatable aspects of leftism like worker rights.

I guess what I'm saying is that it wouldn't be a detriment for leftists if the Democratic party imploded because the liberals that make up the majority of its ranks are just getting in the way of the leftists that want to turn the U.S. into a leftist state. For a leftist state you can't tolerate liberals anymore than you can tolerate the "right".
It's a necessity for leftists that the Democrat establishment is abolished.

I see. The main issue is that, unless a LOT has changed in the past four years, the 'left' in this case is outnumbered by liberals by a rather comfortable margin. In Europe, most left-of-center parties coalition together, while more center-leaning and center-right parties do the same. Why would the progressives think it's a good idea to try and rip the party away from the liberals instead of pulling a libtard and saying 'vote blue no matter who', especially during the proverbial Trumperdammerung?

It just makes more sense politically to pull up stakes and live to fight another day.

 

[Bravefart]

But is that behavior in and of itself not self-destructive?

It is, purity spirals can only ever get smaller. But until government and businesses realise that the howling sociopaths on twitter aren't worth pandering to they will be the noisy wheel that gets the grease. Personally I think it will take a massive shock. Here in the UK the Labour party basically became unelectable by going so far left they completely alienated the people on the centre left whose votes they took for granted. Even on the election day the twitterati were sure they would win. How could they not? They were the pure, the correct, the morally good and they were fighting the evil natzeez on the right wing. After all, everybody they knew was going to vote Labour!

The result? An 80 seat Tory majority, much squealing and crying and a new leadership of Labour trying to take them back to the centre ground.

I don't know if another Trump win will be enough to do that in the US.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

It is, purity spirals can only ever get smaller. But until government and businesses realise that the howling sociopaths on twitter aren't worth pandering to they will be the noisy wheel that gets the grease. Personally I think it will take a massive shock. Here in the UK the Labour party basically became unelectable by going so far left they completely alienated the people on the centre left whose votes they took for granted. Even on the election day the twitterati were sure they would win. How could they not? They were the pure, the correct, the morally good and they were fighting the evil natzeez on the right wing. After all, everybody they knew was going to vote Labour!

The result? An 80 seat Tory majority, much squealing and crying and a new leadership of Labour trying to take them back to the centre ground.

I don't know if another Trump win will be enough to do that in the US.

I'm not English, but the anglos I follow on my social media make it sound like thesocdems are actually angry at Labor for not going farther, and are thinking of making a splinter party.

 

[Bravefart]

I'm not English, but the anglos I follow on my social media make it sound like thesocdems are actually angry at Labor for not going farther, and are thinking of making a splinter party.

Sure, maybe they will. But certain political irrelevance awaits any new socialist party. And anyway, while I'm sure playing at being a political party is very attractive to the socialist mind, what with all the rules you can make, all the people you can exclude and all the enemies you can feel superior to, it takes more work and effort than moaning on twitter. Give it 6 months and they will still be having a great time making up charters and groups and committees and deciding on what their new parties name will be. While moaning about things on twitter.

 

[Made In China]

You sure it's not the right that's been self-destructing over the past 50 years?

 

[The Sauce Boss]

You sure it's not the right that's been self-destructing over the past 50 years?

There's plenty of turmoil on the right, as well, but they haven't really 'imploded' so much as have multiple failed rebrandings over the years and have returned to 'the party of how things used to be'.

 

[East_Clintwood]

and are thinking of making a splinter party.

Won't actually happen because it would dies on it's arse like the last attempt at a labour split, the CUK party. Splitting from Labour would mean losing out on all it's financial/political clout, not to mention losing what remains of the tribal voterbase Labout still has.

 

[Unassuming Local Guy]

In 2012 the Republicans were gonna be gone soon. The tea partiers have taken over, they’ve gone off the deep end, the lunatics are running the asylum (even though they nominated a milquetoast moderate)
Now they’re saying the same thing about the Democrats
When the next Democrat prez wins a second term they’ll be saying the same thing about the Pubs again

The difference is the tea party never had establishment support, never had media support, never had corporate support, and never had academia support. Not even for one second. The far left, on the other hand, has not only the support but the fealty of all of them. The tea party died ten minutes after launch because it didn't have a planet full of powerful billionaires manipulating it under the guise of support. The far left does.

With the amount of effort the elite have invested into identity politics and social justice, they couldn't stop it if they wanted to. The corporations can't stop because they're built on the shoulders of the golems they created. If they tried to divest themselves from the Fuck Whitey movement, they'd lose their loyal base of unthinking consumers. Academia has radicalized its students so badly they would literally burn it to the ground if the propaganda signal went away. Silence is violence, you know. No left wing politician can espouse a view other than "kill whitey, then give his money to everyone based on how many victim points they have" without destroying their career.

The crazy train can't be stopped this time, and eventually it's going to run out of track.

 

[BlueSpark]

, the 'left' in this case is outnumbered by liberals by a rather comfortable margin

Is this actually true, though?
Black Lives Matter is an openly Marxist group and yet has almost universal support among liberals. Openly criticizing "capitalism" is now mainstream and leftist politicians like Sanders and Cortez are extremely popular. People are getting more radicalized day-by-day by leftist propaganda and the liberals that don't at least partially agree with it seem like a minority to me (but it's not like I've interviewed every American liberal so maybe I'm completely wrong).

You've got to remember that the leftists don't need the ardent support of left-leaning liberals, they just need them to be sympathetic (or afraid) to not oppose them.