Pendulum at the Other Extreme

Andrew Sullivan is a right-of-center guy in American politics. His article on the state of American politics makes one realize the left-right polarization is pretty much the same across the world.

 

Even though he is right of center, he was among those who voted for Biden. Why?

“There was no choice in 2020, given Trump. I understand that.”

Now he is thoroughly disillusioned with Biden and his policies. He feels that Biden has gone overboard in championing the “entire far-left agenda”. In American politics, being “far-left” means (1) Excessive increase in government spending, which if overdone then leads to inflation. As has happened now; (2) Increasing receptiveness to immigrants; (3) Excessive catering to the gay/lesbian side, far beyond just ensuring that those groups aren’t discriminated against; (4) A belief that it’s better to go soft on crime if the alternative will result in even more blacks landing in prison; (5) Individual debts (e.g. student loans) should be wiped off by government proclamations; (6) Everyone is equal, merit be damned.

 

In the upcoming US mid-term elections, Sullivan says Biden doesn’t talk of any policies. Rather, his pitch to voters is:

“He returned instead to his previous 2020 electoral blackmail: you have no choice but to vote for Democrats because the far right is so hostile…”

Fear mongering again, feels Sullivan.

 

Even worse, Sullivan says the moderate right (folks like him) are angry with Biden & Co. Once they realized the moderate right would vote for Biden as long as the alternative was Trump, they just “pocketed my vote and ignored all of my concerns”. Their thinking is that:

“If he (Trump) runs again, we’ll have no choice one more time.”

 

He says Biden & Co don’t accept nuances. Everything is black or white. If you’re not with them, then you must be with people like Trump. And that infuriates Sullivan – the us v/s them mentality on the far left and the far right.

 

And then he reminds us of the danger of history of repeating itself (or rhyming, as Mark Twain said). He says the similarities with the period leading to World War II are worrying: (1) Polarization between left and right, as it was between democrats, fascists, and communists back then; (2) A recession that is getting started as it happened in 1929 then; (3) Inflation starting to spiral out of control as it happened in Germany then.

 

He calls all this the “Weimar dynamic”, a reference to the German regime that fell and paved the way for the rise of Hitler:

“The Weimar dynamic is a simple one. The left and right polarize; the middle collapses; inflation takes off, unnerving everyone and discrediting government; and at some point, as liberal democracy breaks down, voters are asked to choose between the extreme left or the extreme right.”

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