So, Kier Starmer, head of the British labor party, was recently asked why he doesn't embrace the left in his own party. As we know from previous analyses into British politics, the left tends to...have issues. There was Corbyn, he was considered "too far left", it was claimed this cost them votes, and a lot of people have been trying to push the democrats in a more moderate direction a la democrats in the US. Really, a lot of democrats like to do this whole CENTRISM WINS thing where they think they're "the model" for the "the left" to follow, and its sickening. Anyway, when asked why they don't embrace their left, they said "Bernie Sanders". Allow me to laugh. And then Bernie shot back, basically saying that we have a moderate who has embraced the left in the form of Joe Biden. And Sanders' Biden simping once again makes me wanna puke.
Okay, look, I looked at British politics before. And here's my impression of it. The conservative party, which has an overwhelming majority, is very moderate compared to American policy. Johnson's policies look kind of similar to what Biden campaigned on. They even use the same slogan, "build back better." While Biden has admittedly shifted a little further left due to pressure from Sanders, all in all, they're not much different on economics. And given Biden's border policy, I'm beginning to wonder how different they are on immigration either, as Johnson is basically just a more sane version of Trump on that front.
The left wing party in Europe is crazy far left. Labor is basically a lot like the most die hard greens. They tend to have very strong marxist influences, and make Bernie look like a moderate. And it seems like their voter base generally speaking likes them that way. Do you think that there haven't been more moderate parties between the two over the years? I mean there is the liberal democratic party, and pretty much no one votes for them. A problem a lot of moderate parties have, especially in non FPTP systems, is they cant maintain their coalition. Democrats do it because we have a two party system and people have to either vote for democrats or get nothing. I don't believe a lot of people truly LIKE the democrats. They tolerate them, because they have nowhere else to go (which is why I'm leaning toward third parties like the greens and the forward party). But in Europe? That crap doesn't fly. People tend to vote more for what they want and don;'t need to compromise as much. And parties like the libdems end up alienating their voter bases after a while, which is why people are split either between the conservative party or the labor party.
Now, is the labor party too far left for the majority? Perhaps. But I don't see triangulation as helping. I've heard nothing but negativity toward Starmer, and believe that he's just causing labor to become more unpopular. Here's the thing. Anyone who isn't really on board with labor is gonna vote conservative anyway. And it seems like labor is shedding a lot of its older, rural, working class voters, in a similar trend to what's happening in America. A lot of people in the older generations are for Brexit, labor is kind muddying the waters in terms of what it's for, and it just isn't in a good position. I don't necessarily have answers here for the labor party. If they shift center, they'll likely lose more voters, and I don't see them picking anything up. As much as centrist dems in the US love to tout triangulation and moderation, I really don't believe that stuff is popular with anyone outside of a handful of people. Most people just seem to like what Johnson is selling. And until the conservatives lose their popularity, which they probably will with enough time, I don't believe the left can make a come back there. I'm just trying to discourage people from blaming the left on this front. No one likes a crappy compromise party. Crappy compromise parties don't get voters if people don't like what they're selling. If crappy compromise parties were popular, the liberal democrats would probably do a better job. And if anything, the conservatives are the crappy compromise party. They're moderate. They're the right side of the overton window and they're basically just to Biden's right. Isn't that a much more healthy dynamic than America where tea party and Trump whackos control one party and the other is controlled by moderates everyone hates? I'd rather have the UK's political spectrum than ours any day, and that's another thing centrists in America don't understand. Outside of their sacred cow social issues, most centrist dems in the US would probably be conservative voters in the UK, or be part of that tiny sliver of voters that actually votes libdem.
The US strategy only works because the democrats have enough institutional power to force themselves on everyone and enough propaganda machines to bully people into supporting them. If we had a UK type system, I bet the country's two parties would split into 4+ overnight. You would probably have a labor style party led by Bernie Sanders, a more moderate libdem party run by Biden, a Trump/Tea party party, and probably another conservative party madeup of moderate conservatives. And you might even see a Yang type party. So, five or more. And for all we know Biden might still win because that would also allow a German style CSU/CDU coalition (more on that in the next article). But, in that world, the republicans would lose a lot of right wing voters, and the democrats would lose the left and gain the center. And I bet over time power would shift between the various factions.
The fact is, the American political system as it exists is held together primarily by the two party system, and this can't be replicated elsewhere. And if the democrats were to succeed in a multi party system, it would be simply because they end up with a coalition similar to the CONSERVATIVE European parties. Again, Johnson isnt fundamentally much different from Biden. And for the record, CSU/CDU in Germany are the RIGHT wing parties. More on that in the next article since I feel like I gotta teach the neolibs a thing or two there too.
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