So, yeah. I've been saying it for a while. We need a new left, with a new new deal in America. BUT...it can't be like the old left. The old left made so many missteps it's ridiculous. So, we need a new approach to the left and this is why my ideology, I think, offers something new the old left doesn't.
Appealing to peoples' self interests
Too much of the current left's political trajectory seems to be about shaming people for not caring enough about X cause. I don't believe in shaming people. I believe in giving the people what they want. And what people want is better lives for themselves. I support the concept of enlightened self interest, the idea that through collectivism and limited collective action, we can advance individual causes. UBI helps up to 80% of people. Medicare for all does too. Free college would be a boon to millions and be a public good for all. I support the social justice stuff...without supporting the social justice stuff, simply be asking people to mind their own business and let others be free to live their lives as they want. I want the left to be the party of helping the people, helping the little guy. Doing what needs to be done. Sure, I'll tax you more, but you'll get more investment for your taxes, and you'll see how this benefits you in practice. Your living standard, should improve, simply by letting me do what I wanna do. if it doesn't, well what can I say you're probably part of the relatively well off minority who will be a net payer for those proposals. Can't blame 20% of the country for hating me, but to be frank, you're outnumbered, and that's the point.
Appealing to individualism and liberty
Americans love their individualism, and they love their liberty. I don't wanna tell people what to do, or control their lives. I admit, I do kind of infringe on property rights, but I do so in the realm of enlightened self interest, I basically want to take away a tiny bit of liberty, to give people more liberty. I want people to be able to do what they want, live as they want, and stay out of each others' way. They currently cannot do that. I want to enable them to do that through my policies. Not only do I take the liberty of the right, I expand it.
Government doesn't work, so let's make something that does
One of the failures of the previous generation of left is the bureaucracy. It's the fact that we need to means test everything, and control everything, and use government to dominate peoples' lives. While some americans to get off on telling others what to do, I want to oppose that, and call that out as it is. Another huge problem is that most government agencies are bureaucratic, and stuff is complex. I want things to be simple. I want it to be as simple as you pay X%, and get X money back. I want the process to be automated. I want the system to be fair, simple, and transparent. I want people to understand how it works and what they get out of it. This reduces resentment. It removes the "I dont get anything but X person gets something i dont think they should have" and weird accusations of cheating the system. Cant cheat a system that's so simple a third grader should get it. Because let's face it, being a bit real and elitist, that's where a lot of America is at. Dumb it down so no one can say it's broken and doesn't work.
Being the sane adults in the room
Look, I hate culture wars. Well, some culture wars. Correct, I hate DUMB culture wars. The previous culture war was religious fundamentalism vs secularism, and the left was winning it because the left looked like the sane adults in the room. The right was screaming about hurricanes being a sign of god's wrath over gay marriage, and they just wanted to control everyone, and the left started looking sane and chill as a result. Maybe new atheists are somewhat annoying, but they also had valid points about wanting governance based on facts and leaving people alone unless they're hurting others.
The new culture war is about woke and anti woke, and both sides are quite frankly idiots. We need to restore the sane, liberal middle. The ones who are like, you woke people mean well, but you're psychos/idiots, while also kinda taking the piss out of the right, who have been gaining appeal since they now come off as the more sane alternative to the pink haired college students showing self righteous statements and pushing pronouns on people.
Again, I think America is mostly libertarian. Most people wanna mind their own business. They wanna live their lives and not infringe on anyone else. Rather, we get vocal minorities of factions that wanna impose their will on people, whether it be the religious right, or the woke left. We need to oppose both of these factions, and vigorously, if we want to solve problems. That doesnt mean I dont lean left for the most part. i think that this stance requires a center left stance on social issues. But it also requires a certain level of tact and not "poking the beehive" as I call it. The left just has a habit of pissing people off and alienating people and it needs to stop.
Breaking the socialism obsession and offering a new utopianism
Ok, real talk lefties? Socialism is a politically toxic term in the US. Leaning into it is a mistake. Will Americans possibly go for large scale social programs that benefit them? Sure. But they won't go for literal socialism. What human centered capitalism offers is a new way forward, built around 20th century Keynesian utopianism, ie, a world with less work, and avoids the pitfalls of the failures of past ideologies. It distances itself from past failures, and embraces something new. And that's what we really need, a new ethos. A new way forward, something that works with the 21st century. This is supposed to be the century of flying cars and 15 hour work weeks. Not sure about the flying cars, but I'd love to see the reduced work weeks, and less focus on work. And it's all totally doable, if only we make the ideological changes to make it happen.
Conclusion
These are at least some of the top reasons why I think my ideology offers something the current left doesn't. Essentially, I want a new version of the left that doesn't ask for people to sacrifice themselves on the altar of altruism and caring, that helps people directly, that simplifies existing services, and that speaks to peoples' individualism and liberty. I want a form of social democracy that embraces 20th century Keynesian utopianism, leading to a work without work. Honestly, the left's current ways of doing things just aren't popular. The socialism obsession is harmful, a lot of public service proposals don't stick, the job retraining ideas are politically correct, but don't resonate. And honestly, we need a more libertarian left that knows when to mind its own business.
We need to counter the excesses of the current left, whether it be their fixation of superficial altruism and virtue signalling, the social justice fixation, the socialism fixation, and the obsession with the same old ideas that lead to the same old results. The left needs a renovation, and this is what I think my ideas offer that.
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