the political revolution

Most people are aware that a cultural revolution took place in the West, beginning in the 60s and gaining steam in the 70s. In fact another revolution took place at that time, one with much more far-reaching consequences. It was a political revolution and some people are still not aware that it happened.

Starting in the late 60s the parties of the Left throughout the West abandoned left-wing politics. They embraced capitalism and they abandoned any thoughts of challenging capitalism. They adopted the economic policies of the Right. By the 90s the economic policies of the parties of the Left and the Right were effectively indistinguishable.

Politics came to an end. There have been no political debates for decades. Political debates used to be about things like whether certain industries should be nationalised, about how much protectionism was needed for industry, about the rôle of trade unions, about the degree of regulation of the banking sector that was needed and about whether government spending should be increased or decreased. Nobody debates such issues any more. Politics no longer exists.

This was a problem. If there’s no politics there’s no need for politicians. So a new kind of politics emerged. Politics was now about social issues which nobody in a sane society would regard as political issues.

When politics changed to being all about social and cultural issues the inevitable end result was that absolutely everything, except economics, became a political issue. What are the burning political issues today? Obviously the weather. Any opinion on the weather is now a political opinion. Medicine is a political issue. How you respond to an outbreak of disease has nothing to do with medicine or science and everything to do with politics. Science is all about politics. Marriage is a key political issue. Sex is a key political issue. Food is a political issue – if you eat meat you’re committing a political act and if you don’t eat meat you’re committing a political act. Obesity is a political issue. Race is a political issue. Popular culture is a political issue. Beauty is a political issue – if you compliment a woman on her looks you’re committing a political act and if you fail to compliment her on her looks you’re committing a political act. Fashion is political. Religion is no longer about religion, it’s a political issue.

Of course if something is a political issue that means the government should do something about it. The government should pass laws, and those laws should be enforced. If every opinion is a political opinion then it is up to those in charge (which means governments and large corporations) to ensure that everybody holds the correct opinion. If you believe that men and women are different you are a political dissident and your mistaken opinion must be corrected.

No-one realised it at the time but the inevitable result of the political revolution was always going to be totalitarianism. If every opinion is a political opinion then people’s opinions are no longer their own business. They are everybody’s business. And it is the duty of every citizen to hold the correct opinions. It is only right and proper that people holding incorrect opinions should be punished. Views on how the punishments should be carried out vary. In Britain the solution is to put people with wrong opinions in prison. The British police are now the Thought Police. In the United States the First Amendment makes that difficult but a solution has been found – large corporations take on the rôle of the Thought Police and people with wrong opinions are not imprisoned, they merely have their livelihoods taken away from them and their lives destroyed.

All of this is the result of the death of the Old Politics and its replacement by the New Politics. The result has been very satisfactory indeed from the point of view of politicians and the corporate sector.

The young have embraced the New Politics with enthusiasm. Young people are only too happy to act as volunteer auxiliary thought police. Enforcing the correct opinions gives them a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Never underestimate the appeal to the young of self-righteousness.