Thursday 1 April 2010

Neo-Con, Neo-Lib?

It is no accident that the first people who called themselves neoconservatives (see Irving Kristol) were Trotkyites and the first neoliberals (see John Maynard "The Beast" Keynes) were Marxists. These people come from the Lefty end of the spectrum - politically, morally, and economically. I would argue this is perhaps the main problem with today's politics. There is no more right-wing! People tend to think Hitler was a far right-wing politician! They couldn't be more wrong... Adolf Hitler was known for being a Nazi (German: Nationalsozialismus) which means National-Socialist. I do not agree with any definition of "far right" or "right-wing" which includes socialism. Socialism is in fact the essence of the left! The real far right is clearly represented by anarcho-capitalists like Murray Rothbard. Mr.Rothbard was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century and his works (although I have only had time to study a minuscule fraction of them) have left a clear imprint on my own thought. He argued, as do all real far right radicals, that statism is always absolutely evil. How can such thought be at all related to Hitler? It seems to me to be the opposite of what the Nazi doctrine was. Similarly, today's "right" is not really on the right. It is simply a sub-section of the left (today's entire political spectrum from the greens and communists all the way to the fascists and neo-nazis IS in fact on the left). There are a few rays of light that shine through this "leftness", most notably the figure of Congressman Ron Paul in the USA. Although he believes in constitutional authority and is a moderate proponent of democracy (on a limited scale) he is as far right as we can hope for from politicians today. Being surrounded, however, by neocons and neolibs, he doesn't have much power to change anything...

1 comment:

  1. I cannot understand your desire to divide the world in left- and/or right-wing politicians or ideologies.

    One word in not sufficient to describe my political convictions. And considering their origin (French Revolution) I refuse to be classified as right- or leftwing.

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