After I posted my comment I thought of the title of a book about post-WW1 Germany called The Kings Depart, which the no kings slogan reminded me of with all the attendant irony!
The Left has a lot to grapple with, no doubt. Still, I reckon that some of your points thoroughly apply to the Right as well, for instance regarding the boringness of ordinary politics (see: Donald Trump) and disregard for how populations under dictatorship fare. Putin and Xi have fans from Left to Right, but for different reasons. You nailed them for the Left. But…Some of these patterns you mentioned cover both ends of the political spectrum.
Definitely appreciate and largely agree with this perspective. It is interesting how much the left adores third-world strongmen, as you say, and yet revile Donald Trump, who is modeling his entire presidency off those very same strongmen. (Though, judging by the 2024 election cycle, they don’t seem to revile Trump as much as they revile Democrats.)
I see so few people on either side embracing what I feel is the only rational position: opposing Maduro for being an authoritarian strongman, and opposing Donald Trump for being the same. While I’m glad the Venezuelan people may now have a chance to enjoy a more democratic state free of Maduro’s tyranny (knock on wood…I think that outcome is still a long ways away), Trump’s flagrant lawlessness should cause everyone to oppose him just as vehemently as they do Maduro. Either refusing to abide by democratic laws and customs is good or it’s bad, IMHO, and Maduro and Trump are cut from the exact same cloth in that regard, which is why I vociferously oppose them both. (Hell, Maduro even clearly modeled his successful coup on Trump’s unsuccessful one.)
I’d argue further that the Left embraces tyranny because every ideology that requires a boogeyman that is essentially evil no matter what it does tends towards tyranny. That is, ideologies that measure their success by the elimination of their enemies rather than by the prosperity they create for their people.
Like other commenters have mentioned, this is not unique to the Left. I argue that larger point about tyrannical ideologies in my latest piece on the reaction Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. I’d be grateful if you would consider reading it!
What strikes me is how little this posture is actually about the strongman himself, and how much it’s about the moral needs of Western observers.
Once tyranny is reclassified as “reaction,” agency disappears. The despot becomes a force of nature rather than a chooser of actions. That move doesn’t just excuse cruelty, it quietly denies moral adulthood to the societies living under it, as though they’re incapable of producing injustice on their own terms.
That feels like the unspoken insult sitting beneath the supposed solidarity.
After I posted my comment I thought of the title of a book about post-WW1 Germany called The Kings Depart, which the no kings slogan reminded me of with all the attendant irony!
Samuel, you made my morning! Gary
The Left has a lot to grapple with, no doubt. Still, I reckon that some of your points thoroughly apply to the Right as well, for instance regarding the boringness of ordinary politics (see: Donald Trump) and disregard for how populations under dictatorship fare. Putin and Xi have fans from Left to Right, but for different reasons. You nailed them for the Left. But…Some of these patterns you mentioned cover both ends of the political spectrum.
Definitely appreciate and largely agree with this perspective. It is interesting how much the left adores third-world strongmen, as you say, and yet revile Donald Trump, who is modeling his entire presidency off those very same strongmen. (Though, judging by the 2024 election cycle, they don’t seem to revile Trump as much as they revile Democrats.)
I see so few people on either side embracing what I feel is the only rational position: opposing Maduro for being an authoritarian strongman, and opposing Donald Trump for being the same. While I’m glad the Venezuelan people may now have a chance to enjoy a more democratic state free of Maduro’s tyranny (knock on wood…I think that outcome is still a long ways away), Trump’s flagrant lawlessness should cause everyone to oppose him just as vehemently as they do Maduro. Either refusing to abide by democratic laws and customs is good or it’s bad, IMHO, and Maduro and Trump are cut from the exact same cloth in that regard, which is why I vociferously oppose them both. (Hell, Maduro even clearly modeled his successful coup on Trump’s unsuccessful one.)
This is exactly it!
I’d argue further that the Left embraces tyranny because every ideology that requires a boogeyman that is essentially evil no matter what it does tends towards tyranny. That is, ideologies that measure their success by the elimination of their enemies rather than by the prosperity they create for their people.
Like other commenters have mentioned, this is not unique to the Left. I argue that larger point about tyrannical ideologies in my latest piece on the reaction Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. I’d be grateful if you would consider reading it!
What strikes me is how little this posture is actually about the strongman himself, and how much it’s about the moral needs of Western observers.
Once tyranny is reclassified as “reaction,” agency disappears. The despot becomes a force of nature rather than a chooser of actions. That move doesn’t just excuse cruelty, it quietly denies moral adulthood to the societies living under it, as though they’re incapable of producing injustice on their own terms.
That feels like the unspoken insult sitting beneath the supposed solidarity.
Bang on! Little wonder that the left is so antisemitic.