It used to be somewhat easy to differentiate between the core essentials of the ‘left’ from that of the ‘right’, at least in the world of political analysis, if not praxis. Even though there are ideological beliefs (stated or otherwise) that are foundational to the respected adherents of these declared groups, the inclination not to be tied by strict doctrinal rules permeates general belief in the western world. To be sure, the distinction between ‘left’ and ‘right’ was never hard and fast in the West, particularly in the USA. What actually obtains is a conception that some issues are essentially regarded as ‘left’ issues while some others belong to the ‘right’. Theoretical, principled and thoroughgoing convictions in social thoughts never really caught in the ‘land of the free and home of the brave.’ Empiricism is what reigns in the Anglo countries. As a result, not-so-deeply principled arguments tend to sway day-to-day narratives, be they in politics, economics, etc.!
The neoliberalism of late 20th and early 21st century obliterated, to a large extent, the already superficial distinction between the traditional ‘left’ and ‘right’, to a point where differences arise mostly due to exigencies, rather than substance! What is currently witnessed via elections in the West is a testimony to the unraveling of the ‘old left’ and the ascendance of the ‘new right’. If truth be told, the ‘left’ in the West never really moved left of ‘social democracy’. By the same token the right or the general right, always tempered by labor, militant or otherwise, didn’t manage to go beyond ‘crony capitalism’, at least up to now. But things-are-a-changing! The custom in the core countries of the West (OECD=rich countries) used to be; any politician insisting his/her country leave NATO, a military treaty whose mandate has long expired, would be considered a ‘radical left’. Le Pen of France, a ‘rightist’, is one current politician advocating the withdrawal of her country, not only from NATO, but also from the EU! The lady commands significant followers in France. Jeremy Corby, head of the UK’s Labor party, considered a ‘lefty’ by many, also supports the idea of pulling UK out of the belligerent institution! So the two are in agreement in this particular issue. What is a ‘left issue’ or a ‘right issue’ is becoming difficult to answer.
What is not being revealed in the labeling game is the fact that many of the emerging right and the old left ensemble share one thing. They are willing to investigate ‘the truth and the whole truth’ behind many of the issues being pushed by the entrenched establishment. By doing so, they (the old left & the new right) have started to cover the same grounds and are discovering their current common enemy; ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’, to use Twain’s aphorism. Global dominant interests have leveraged all that is at their disposal to continuously hoodwink the gullible sheeple (human mass). So far the status quo has gotten away with murder, but now the sheeple is waking up. It has started to investigate/explore matters outside of establishment discourse, duly assisted by activist intellectuals. This is where the empowering & liberating feature of modern informatics comes in! To its dismay, the sheeple is finding out that almost all narratives of the status quo are, at the end of the day; lies, damn lies and statistics. For example, MSM (Main Stream Media) was forecasting that Mrs. Clinton would win the election hands down. Some forecasters even claimed this with a 90% probability! This numbing and misdirecting of the sheeple’s was done intentionally. Prior to this, Bernie Sanders’ chance of wining the democratic primary was systemically thwart off by the ever-manipulative ‘deep state’, which incorporates the MSM. When the sheeple, out of frustration, finally decides to go its own way, i.e., vote Mr. Trump, a candidate deemed an ‘’outsider, the deep state went berserk. Pathetic! After such obvious incidents, our extended definition of the ‘deep state’ is gaining traction amongst serious and independent articulators. Our definition of the ‘deep state’ is: It is the military-intelligence-industrial-banking-media-complex of (mostly) strong states.
When the likes of Wikileaks came to the fore, few years back, the global status resolved that they should be crushed. All sorts of pretexts, not excluding blackmailing, was/is used to achieve the objective. Nonetheless and gradually, the global sheeple developed the taste and the trust for alternative media outlets, thereby undermining the establishment’s outdated and lopsided narratives. Recent survey conducted using a large sample of people (about 100, 000) came up with the following astonishing result. Only 17% of those surveyed trust the government (CIA, etc.) or the MSM. The rest, 83% of them, trust Wikileaks! We think that says it all! The skewed narratives of dominant interest, fully enhanced by the MSM on Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Iraq, etc. were found to be outright lies, damn lies and statistics! The current on-going campaign of misinformation/deceit on; various issues like, ‘Russia hacking the US election, as if it were a mere ‘banana republic’ (Putin’s words) or ‘Trump is a Russian hand’ or ‘Syrian citizens being exterminated in Aleppo by their very liberators’, blah, blah are lies, damn lies and statistics!
One thing must be emphasized; at a deeper level there are thorny issues of principles that still separate the left from the right. Frankly speaking, there isn’t much one can do about the real foundational differences, except to appreciate and respect the other’s point of view and hopefully try to coexist harmoniously, assuming of course, the success/triumph of one is not predicated (necessarily) on the elimination of the other! As it stands, lies, damn lies and statistics is bringing the two traditional poles of political orientations together.
The ‘deep state’ has been implementing very destructive projects across the world and it is instructive to have a glimpse of the thinking behind the continuous atrocities. “The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities. ” Zbigniew Brzezinski (1970). Good Day!