The mainstream political left have, over the last two to three decades, gradually shifted to the right and wholeheartedly embraced the globalised free-market. They have bought into the neo-liberal economic agenda, as if it necessarily has to go hand-in-hand with a liberal and progressive social policy platform. But whilst the latter helps to bring about freedom for the individual, a liberalisation of economics has brought about the opposite effect for many – enslaving them in an economic system which leaves them powerless.
The current backlash against the political and economic status quo in elections and referenda across the western world is largely fuelled by anxieties amongst many of those who were the traditional supporters of the political left – low-skilled manual workers. Yet the politicians themselves, and the left-leaning media, seem reluctant to address these anxieties – instead dismissing them as being symptoms of people’s ignorance or intolerance. “Post-truth” is a term that has been coined to patronisingly refer to people who don’t seem to want to vote according to the facts that are placed before them.
All facts based on economic statistics are generalisations and are therefore subjective – they hide the losers in a system beneath the majority, and claim that this proves that we’re all getting better off. But the losers in this game are not insignificant if you’re one of them.
So much political decision-making has been surrendered to the will of business and the free-market. The search for cheaper goods and a cheaper labour force has left many without any sort of income or job security, and decades of lack of public intervention in the UK housing market has meant housing costs spiralling out of the reach of many working people. All this adds up to an increasingly precarious existence for some, and the supposed benefits of a wider, freer, more “flexible” labour market will mean nothing if you don’t have a lot of skills to offer. Not everybody can thrive in a more competitive world.
At the moment, the political left seems to be slow in recognising and responding to these concerns. The rising popularity of Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, which both took the more established centre-left by surprise, is a sign that many on the left see a return to a more sceptical appraisal of globalised capitalism as what’s needed, but as yet these have failed to bring about many significant new policy ideas. And that’s what’s needed – new answers to the problems faced by those who are economically vulnerable in our society. It’s the left who should be offering these.
The political right are always more than happy to offer simplistic answers, which scapegoat minorities for people’s economic problems. In the absence of coherent ideas from the left, the right will continue to increase it’s support amongst those who should be its natural enemies. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.