The
victory of Donald John Trump on 8th November, 2016 in the US election felt like
a cyclone of Conservatism sweeping across the continents. This was the latest
in a trend that suggests the gradual rise of Conservatives around the world. This
rise has confounded much of the Left who we can argue control significant
segments of the establishment that include Government, Media, Academia,
so-called Technocrats and even Business. This “Quasi-Progressivist” movement
appears to be collapsing under the weight of its own delusion and hypocrisy and
would do well to take time out to reinvent itself.
The UK general election 2015 was a sign of this rise beginning to manifest. For
a party that struggled to form a government in 2010 and had to enter a
coalition with the Liberal Democrat to form a government, the Conservative
Party win in the 2015 election was the first surprise that hit much of the
Leftist establishment. In the month leading up to the 7th May, 2015 elections,
most of the polling suggested a hung parliament. It was beyond anybody’s
wildest imagination that the Tories would meet the required “absolute
majority”, but they did. Clearly, the polling was wrong and though I have read
several reasons for the inaccurate polls, the question
remains, why the shift? For me, the answer is simply a failure of the Left. The
people are beginning to see through its façade and are reacting.
The Brexit vote, the next big battle in the
ideological war, was a shock that jolted much of the Left wing establishment. It
is a widely acknowledged theory that the Conservative party promised an EU
referendum to stem the rise of UKIP that was progressively hemorrhaging the
party which included losing 2 members of the backbench. This in my opinion was a clever
move, vindicated by the outcome of the 2015 general elections and like the
elections; the polling were off the mark.
The result of the US presidential election surprised
many, largely because of what I considered to be “the dogmatic following of the
narrative” of large parts of the mainstream media and Leftist dominated
establishment. The Princeton election consortium survey gave Hillary Clinton a
99% chance of Hillary Clinton becoming the president; the New York Times gave
her an 85% chance while www.fivethirtyeight.com predicted that she had a 71.4%
chance of winning. At this point, considering the predictions, I would like to note that
Trump’s eventual victory was not even close. Both camps are at the moment
engrossed in a battle of what I refer to as “the politics of popular vote” in
order to seize the narrative on the elections. However, he won 10 more states than Clinton and should be awarded 74
more Electoral votes on 19th December, 2016. Remember, Obama won
plus 4 States against Romney and plus 6 states against John McCain. He took
3084 of the 3141 counties in America’s heartland. Let’s not kid ourselves that
his victory was in a way marginal or that he has no mandate. This was a
trashing whichever way you want to look at it.
We can lay the blame largely on the failure
of the Left and I have upon reflection identified 3 main reasons.
First, is the fatal disconnect between the Left and what it claims to
represent, Social Liberalism, in its ideal and truest form. Liberalism as a
political doctrine speaks to the need for freedom of the individual and the need
to enhance and protect this freedom. On the other hand, Socialism speaks equality
of all, commonality and the need to safeguard the interest of the weak in guaranteeing
their equality. However, it is my opinion that the Left have long departed from
the core of these ideals. They have been incapable of blending and presenting these
two philosophies into a coherent and consistent representation of their
movement. They have in an authoritarian manner moved to place a set value and
rights above others. We have seen an increasingly worrying attempt to suppress
people’s freedom of conscience, beliefs, expression and values because it is at
variance with a section of society. The weak and voiceless in the society at
every stage of life are constantly threatened, attacked and in danger of extermination
by the Leftist dominated establishment.
Secondly, the tone and nature of the debate
from most of the Left appear arrogant, condescending and demeaning. They assume
they know what is best for society and simply attempt to force it on everyone
irrespective of contrary evidence. It is common to hear Leftist refer to Brexit
and Trump supporters as ‘bigots’,’ racists’, ‘fascist’,’ xenophobes’,’
homophobes’, ‘Islamophobes’, ‘misogynist’, ‘bullies’ and so on. I find it
tiresome and intellectually lazy. They simply pass on the opportunity to lay a coherent argument on issues that a lot
of people genuinely feel have negatively impacted on their livelihood such as “uncontrolled
immigration”, “unfettered globalization”, “lopsided trade deals”, “terrorism”,
et al, but are instead happy to tag them with characterizations. This in my
opinion appears to be an attempt to shut down any form of reasonable debate for
lack of an appropriate counter narrative that speaks to the issue. This
pseudo-intellectual and pretentiously elitist style of dishing out these labels
at opponents is unintelligent and the “forgotten men and women” are simply not
buying it any longer and contrary to what so called progressives might think people
not stupid either.
Finally, it’s the hypocrisy of the Left, I
find most fascinating. The ease at which they flip positions that is contrary
to what they had previously argued against is astonishing. Let me lay down a
few instances.
The UK Government promised to implement the
decision of the referendum after parliament had passed the EU referendum act of
2015 by a ratio of 6 to 1. However, since the vote, there appears to
be an attempt by the establishment using the court and parliament to subvert
the wish of the majority of the British voters with arguments such as “the Brexit vote was based on lies and fear”
and “Nobody voted to leave the single
market”. Well, the former is tacit acceptance of the failure on their part
to articulate the “counter narrative”
to the “ordinary people” while the latter is simply untrue as the possibility
of leaving the single market as a result of Brexit was known and discussed.
In looking at the US elections, I vividly recollect
Trump being asked whether he would accept the outcome of the election during
one of the debates to which he replied “I will look at it at the time”. He was heavily criticized by the Left as
they claimed his response was a danger to US constitutional democracy and could
undermine peaceful transition as well lead to riots and protests if he eventually
lost.
I am however surprised that the same set of people are now justifying the protest
and riots by Clinton supporters as exercising their “first amendment rights”. Also
given the attempts for a recount in some states, they have clearly not accepted
the outcome of the result the same way they wanted Trump to at the time.
Neither have they demanded that Clinton and Obama call their supporters to
order.
On the charge of racist voters, let us
consider this: In 2008 and 2012, 93% and 95% of blacks voted for Obama
respectively, while 88% for Clinton in 2016. How is that trend not racist, but express
concern over race when only 58% of white votes for Trump. Trump won more Black
and Hispanics voters than Romney did in 2012. And besides swing states like
Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania all voted for Obama
twice, but flipped to Donald Trump in 2016. They do not have any coherent data
to support their conclusion that his victory was down to racist voters.
In this wave of Conservatism that is
sweeping throughout the world, France appears to be a fascinating place to
watch out for with the steady rise of Marine Le Pen and her National Front party
coupled with the emergence of Francois Fillion as Republican Party nominee for
Next year’s election. The elections are scheduled for next year and though I
think Le Pen’s chances are slim given Frances two tier presidential election
voting system that might see her losing out in the second round of voting, it
will be interesting to follow no matter the outcome as it now appears that France
will be tilting “Right” by next year.
Nigeria has lessons to learn from all of
these. A sign of Leftism with characteristics of incoherency, style of debate
and hypocrisy is gradually creeping its way into the sociopolitical space in
Nigeria. Some of it masked as feminism, which has for long aligned itself with
the Left and strikes you with its phony and pretentious outrage especially when
it comes to social issues. Someone commented that their C-in-C has turned
herself into a “mascot for Black Leftist Feminism”, which is sad as it demeans
her talent as a brilliant writer. It is important that Nigerians are able to
identify and reject it for what it is. We already have enough to deal with as a
nation.
In concluding, I would suggest that this might
be the best time for the Left to do some soul searching. The importance of the fall
of Leftism cannot be overstated because it gives them the opportunity to truly reflect
on the consequence of its actions over the decades and seek a return to the
true ideals of social liberalism.
