So, with Biden essentially adopting practically the same border policy as Trump, I figure it might be a good time to discuss immigration and why the left needs to concede on this issue somewhat. I was originally planning to do this article before I heard the news, mostly in the context of Europe, but I might as well address the US here too.
First of all, as far as the US goes, the left is losing badly on this issue. As we know, immigration and inflation are the top issues this election cycle. And these are the issues Biden is doing weakest on. I admit, republican fears of the border tend to exacerbate concerns way out of proportion, but people do care about this stuff, and I personally ain't too willing to go down with the ship on this one. As I always say I'm an economic leftie first, and on immigration I'd a moderate. Ideally I'd prefer a grand compromise between left and right, but if the needle goes right, then that is where I go too. Because I'm a pragmatist on this issue, and I don't wanna lose elections over this. And I see this issue as the big election loser for the left. The polling shows it's doing bad for us here, and Europe? Well, that's what this post was gonna be about so let's talk about Europe.
In Europe, there's a lot of pushback to the EU these days. It's a neoliberal project in favor of open borders and a shared currency. It's kind of robbed social democracies in Europe to some extent from being able to successfully pursue their own projects, often forcing austerity on them. During the great recession we saw this, as the EU basically forced Greece, Italy, and Spain to cut down their safety nets, and then they elected leftists who couldnt do anything because they had to answer to these EU bureaucrats who wanted to focus on fiscal sustainability. Unlike the US which is sovereign over its own currency, the EU forces people to be budget neutral, and this kind of drives them toward relative fiscal conservatism.
And then there's the open border thing. Here's the thing. You got a lot of immigrants coming in from the middle east, a lot of them apply for asylum in one EU country with lax immigration, like Turkey, and then they can just go anywhere else in the EU. There's a lot of criticism of them not assimilating and causing problems, in part because of their religion. I'm not gonna dwell too much on this or the credibility of these claims (it's debatable), but yeah, the big takeaway here is the concern is driving people hard right. The austerity during the 2010s has already pissed off people, and the immigration dimension is also alienating people hard.
And keep in mind, if I were in Europe, my core goal would be to maintain and spread social democracy or my own custom variant thereof. And that requires more fiscal latitude over my country's finances, and I do think there is the question of immigration and who should be let in. And again, if the needle moves right, I'm going right with it, because I dont want the left losing elections over this crap.
But thats the thing, the left often IS losing support over this. We're seeing this in the UK in the most pronounced way. We're seeing a full on party realignment in the UK in recent years where older labor voters are shifting conservative over the brexit issue. And I've been seeing assorted sources indicating younger people are also going that way. I actually kind of believe social democratic ideas work best with a relatively closed border. You cant have generous universal safety nets and then have this open border immigration policy. You can have one or the other, but not both, unless you somehow restricted immigrants from benefitting from them. And we all know what side of the debate I'm on there.
And honestly? The social justice side of the left is OBSESSED with this crap. They don't care about the economics. They just care about the social. In the US, we've seen this with them crapping on FDR constantly and not wanting to go back to new deal economics because most supporters of new deal economics were racist at the time. The social justice crap has kinda replaced social democracy as the binding ideology on the left, and it's actually bad for economic lefties like me. I really do think that social justice concerns have been weaponized to bully the economic left out of prominence, as they must cede to social concerns or be cancelled, leading to economics to have a secondary priority, and often being ignored in favor of the social.
I think this is also happening in Europe. We're seeing the rise of the alt right all across Europe and it kind of scares me. I don't actually like the alt right. Shouldnt be a surprise for anyone who follows my actual political positions on things, but I need to state it in case anyone accuses me of being one because i reject the so called "woke mindvirus" as the right puts it. But, I fear the immigration issue is actually driving people to reject the left. And because the left is more obsessed with the social that they tend to sacrifice the economic in order to maintain rigidity on their social goals, the left is becoming wholly unattractive to a lot of people. it's doing little for them, and then any time anyone mentions their actual position on immigration or sees it as a problem, the left is there to attack and gaslight them into believing their concerns are racist and should be ignored. Sometimes it is racist, mind you, but if there are legitimate issues with crime and assimilation, I think that these issues should be taken seriously. Again, I personally would concede the issue just to keep social democratic policies going. I don't care. And I think that way in the US too, I'm a bona fide "Bernie Bro" "class reductionist" type, and I don't care what people think of me for it.
If anything, the woke left aligning with the neoliberals is problematic for me. Because it leads to the left just dying on their sword over unpopular social causes, while having a crappy economic policy. And that's bad. That's actually why i think the left is in a bad state right now in the US to some extent. Biden aint woke, but he is moderate, and I dont think people are happy with him in part because he doesnt do much. And people like presidents who do things. He comes off as ineffective and like a wet paper towel. And that aint good. i do have to say I have to agree with his decision to triangulate on immigration. I follow polls, I understand where the country is at, and it's a move we gotta do to maintain power. That's all there is to it. People might cope and seethe, but it has to be done. Sorry, that's just the electoral reality.
And I think that Europe has to do the same thing. It has to stop going in this weird neoliberal direction on economics, while going full "woke" on immigration. ESPECIALLY in Europe. At least the US has a "nation of immigrants" ethos. Europe doesnt, and they seem to be very sensitive on the issue in ways the US isnt for better or for worse. And a lot of the social justice stuff probably fares even worse there. If anything, i dont think the rise of the alt right is any coincidence. People are upset about this, and unless the left steps up and moderates, the right is gonna win elections. And that's bad. For ALL of us.
Heck, if political divisons tend to split societies into two camps, and i think this happens even in multi party democracies like Europe, if the left is woke and neoliberal, the right is gonna be fascist. it's gonna be nationalistic, racist, and economically populist. The same dynamics that are at work between the 2016 Clinton-Trump divide are at work through the rest of the western world. And that's NOT good. That's the division in society you dont want. And it's a battle we on the left can lose. it puts us in a position of having to fight just to maintain our democratic institutions from literal right wing authoritarians. We dont want that.
The last time, we were here, when FDR came to power, wanna know what he did? He basically built a coalition that destroyed the possibility of a fascist or communist coalition from forming. He did what he did to save liberal democracy itself. And now woke people in the 2020s call him a racist for it. But his coalition improving the living conditions of millions of people, leading to the greatest era of economic prosperity we've ever known. And you know what? he defeated fascism, both at home and abroad. He was a hero for it, and despite whatever racism was present in his administration and his coalition, he was working within the political realities dealt to him.
And so must we. If we have to compromise on immigration, then we compromise on immigration. if doing so takes the fire out of the alt right, then isnt it worth it? We're literally defeating the fascists at the gates by undermining the underlying appeal they would otherwise have. Fascists thrive when the alternative is woke and neoliberal. They fail when the alternative is economically left wing, and willing to make compromises to defang the greatest strengths the right has.
Wokeism is actually one of the worst things to happen to the left. Dont get me wrong, those people mean well, but their desire for ideological purity drives all of the dissenters into a coalition that can oppose them. What makes the economic left powerless in this alignment is the fact that we're divided. We cant get all the people who want change in one coalition. We have some on the right, some on the left, and with the primary divide being culture war crap.
But the same works on suppressing fascism. If we win over people with social moderate and economic progressivism, we get all the economic progressives in one party, then the opposition party are conservatives, and because the pendulum swing after the neoliberal alignment should lean to a rise in left wing politics, the right wing alliance should be the less dominant faction, much like during the new deal era. As far as those with fascist leaning, the racists, the sexists, the nationalists, they might be all over the place. We'll ahve a moderate national consensus on those issues, but what we won't have is a fascist coalition that actually poses a real threat. But that's what's happening. Because the left has failed to gain power in the US and Europe, the right is becoming the de facto alternative to the neoliberal consensus. And that is BAD. because it's leading to the rise in right wing coalitions. Coalitions that we havent seen since the 1940s, and that any sane person should want to stay gone. So...yeah. In order to save ourselves, we kinda need to give up the immigration issue. Let the right take the W on that, shift to the center to ensure it doesnt go too far, and focus on economics. That's how we win.
I know that aint what the SJWs wanna hear, because they want ideological purity, but their quest for ideological purity is gonna doom us all. It's gonna be massively unpopular with the masses and actually fan the flames that are the alt right. And they will win that tug of war. That's the scary part. They will win in the long term. because we're forced on the defensive and them on the offensive. The party on the offensive is the one that normally wins ideological gains long term. The one on the defensive has to concede issues. ideologically rigidness on unpopular issues just guarantees that we lose and they win.
Heck, that's also why im kinda relaxing my own standards this election. I kinda realize being the UBI guy in the middle of an inflationary crisis is political suicide, so im wisely conceding the issue and backing biden this election cycle. Doesnt mean it's a permanent concession. it's just until the current storm passes, but it's necessary. If I took the same approach to 2024 that I took in 2016 and 2020, it would be political suicide. I'm reading the room. I suggest people read the room on immigration. it's a losing issue for the left. Adapt or die, and I'd rather we not die. So adapt. We can shift back left when the public lets us. But that's not now, and that's not this election cycle.
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