The previous blog outlined the history and structure of leftist thought - please check that out. This one looks at some practical implications.
Coming to terms with reality
We express outrage and surprise at the policies of the elites, the left-wing parties (and of the 'conservatives' to a only slightly lesser degree), but they all make sense when you see what they grew up on. This is not just a general philosophy but a rigid belief system, their true view of reality. This is why they cannot understand the trenchant protest, other that to write it off, as with the BBC's falsification of Trump's Jan 6 speech. They decide what's true and arrange the narrative to support it!
The language of the New Left is a language of accusation and defiance Roger Scruton
These are not even 'beliefs', as beliefs are more or less consciously held, we came to faith. 'I believe in God...', we know that there are alternative conclusions. The left cannot own up to that – it's just true, end-of! This inevitably results in 'cognitive dissonance' (lies) when in contact with reality.
Right-wingers may lie or spin, sure, but on the Left it's practically pathological. Their blind spots are legion: ethnicity, crime, cultural differences, free-rider problems with the welfare state. These are truths they refuse to touch. Yet their belief in their own honesty is so deep-rooted that to challenge it is like desecrating a holy text. Mike Jones
That's not the picture that the Labour party conjured up in their election manifesto: good, reliable leadership, not ideology. If anyone believed this they have been disappointed and the vacancy of logic is seen in Government announcements all the time:
Shabana Mahmood will today say migrants in the UK will have to volunteer, have a “spotless” criminal record, speak English to a high standard and be a net contributor to stay in the UK. In other words, all the things Keir Starmer said, only yesterday, “are racist” Matt Goodwin
These views are not just academic they are deadly. One historical detail: we've heard of the spies Blunt, Maclean etc who betrayed wartime secrets to the Soviets. That may feel rather distant and esoteric, but they also betrayed the contacts the British had in what became the Soviet Bloc countries. These were to be the key leaders post-war, relying on Allied support, and the Soviets murdered each group, making the communist takeover easier.
They are also deadly today and behind many evils. We must realise that we need conviction to defeat them, these are not just political or spiritual games.
What the left are for
Roger Scruton says of the American Ronald Dworkin 'Briefly, if conservatives were against it, he was for it' which sounds a lot like the serpent's 'Did God say...'
There are masses of leftist literature so surely there must be something positively structural, but it appears not. The central principle 'equality' is neutral at best so it's mostly what they are against.
The French Revolution was the throwing off of monarchical (and ecclesiastical) rule, but as statesman Edmund Burke argues in 'Reflections on the Revolution in France', some judicious reform would have been better for everyone instead of terrible economic and communal chaos – but they do love blood - and the result: Napoleon to unleash terror across Europe.
Marx was a contemporary of Spurgeon in 1870s London, and Spurgeon perceptively noted: German rationalism which has ripened into Socialism may yet pollute the mass of mankind and lead them to overturn the foundations of society. Then “advanced principles” will hold carnival, and free thought [atheism] will riot with the vice and blood which were years ago [French Revolution] the insignia of “the age of reason”.
Jamie Bambrick adds: He also recognised that many had confused the gospel of Jesus Christ with the secular knock-off promoted by Marx.
Incidently, the terms left-right originated with the seating arrangements in the French National Assembly, but for us it's not 'left' or 'right' that matters – it's 'up' or 'down'!
For the leftists, man is a 'noble savage', fighting to be free, not a fallen free-man needing to be restored by grace. Marx blamed man's problems on the structural inequities caused by capitalism and enforced by the bourgeois (townies). For others it's the identification of 'the Other' who is your oppressor, thus the sense of institutionalised envy and victimhood. For the Frankfurt school, it's 'The Patriarchy', Hegemony and the manufactured divisiveness of Critical (Race) Theory.
Leadership
All these try to throw off perceived organisational oppression and because they are against 'the hierarchy' they have no model to replace it, so those who end up leading are the ones best at projecting an air of invincible secret knowledge (like Gnosticism) with a bit of help from 'the muscle'. They gain virtue by the amount of 'oppression', real or imagined, they have deposed. Far from being humble they quickly grasp material and reputational benefits, asserting that these are the just reward for their 'virtue'. As in Animal Farm: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
This leadership is supposed to be transitional, to get to the egalitarian utopia, where everyone is as well-off as them (almost). But that always seems just out of reach, they need more power more money, more suppression of the opposition. Being virtuously self-referential they brook no challenge. So free speech is curtailed, praying in your head (to a rival 'hegemonic' power!) criminalised.
Law
Customary law must be overthrown as it's seen as codifying oppression. Divine Law is included so we have the necessity of atheism. Psalm 2 notes this rejection 'Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from us'. In its place is the unchallengeable right of the elite. Britain's reduction in jury trials, expansion of magistrate's powers and two-tier justice is an out-working of this. Likewise under Blair the advancement of politicised law, reduction in representative government and rise of unelected quangos.
Instead of public law – as God delivered on two tablets of stone for all to see and no one to be above – there is arbitrary law, and the abuse of it with lawfare.
This explains much of the failure of socialist states, and the attraction(!) - as it suits our rebellious natures. Roger Scruton, Oxford Don, recognises that this is at heart a religious issue. It's about the moral centre of mankind: truth, responsibility, ethics. There is a better way and His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism is natural for the left (including Stalin et al), as Jewish people are an archetypal 'Other', who have a separate allegiance (more or less strongly) to God, can look different, tend to work hard and are better-off, have close-knit community, love families and some have a different second language - therefore they are a threat to imaginary 'proletariat' class cohesion that the elites have appointed themselves to defend. The 'Ally-ship' of the left and Islam, with the perception of Muslims as an oppressed class, (or more cynically the need for the Islamic vote). It is also fueled by the historic Islamic lack of regard for outsiders, especially Jews and Christians.
Bureaucracy
Creating lots of rules that reduce responsible freedom and agency mitigate against the best outcomes. They also leave a Pandora's box of things that people can be found to have failed in when you want to get rid of them. If things go wrong, legalistically citing the policy rules to deflect blame comes easier than common-sense judgements.
If there is an inconsistency in the rules (as there can easily be) the people requiring them are often reluctant to resolve it – showing it's not really about getting it right but about avoiding accountability and asserting authority. I'm sure we've all seen that…
The best thing though, from an authoritarian perspective, is that the conformative 'bourgeois' do it to themselves!
As Chesterton observed You can have the 10 Commandments or the 10,000 commandments. See 10 laws of life. Working to cut red tape is a genuine virtue!
In part 3 we'll breakdown some current policies and actions into their left-ist rationale and propose some Christian responses. God has massively worked in our peoples in the past and we're still enjoying the fruit of that in social behaviour, economy and politics (although now down to the pips!) but none of this decline is inevitable.
