Understanding the Great Divide in Our Politics

“How could a movement predicated on free expression and identity-blind principles come to be associated with the Right and described as reactionary by smart progressive critics like Vox’s Ezra Klein?”

In a recent Merion West article entitled “Coleman Hughes And Critiques Of The Left: An Open Letter To Matt McManus,” I followed-up on a request to outline some criticisms of modern left-wing thought: an airing of grievances, if you will. My arguments could be condensed as follows: 1) The expressed excesses of the Left implicitly signal the expressed excesses of the Right 2) Those excesses include an obsession with group identity over class inequalities, a tendency to presume injustice based on group-based disparities alone, and a seeming denial of progress 3) It’s incumbent on the Left to open up space for those who are concerned with injustice and inequality (like myself) but who don’t buy into the cosmic injustice of inequality per se.

Subsequently, the prolific McManus (whose work rate is admittedly jealousy-inducing) wrote a pointed response in short order that I would condense as such:  1) On the question of line drawing, respect for democratic pluralism and civil liberties is the litmus test for a more effective and enlightened Left 2) Identity can be a useful barometer for injustice and inequality that should be taken seriously alongside economic inequalities and other forms of inequality (geographic, cultural, etc.) 3) A great deal of human suffering can be attributed to our collective inability or unwillingness to grapple with principles of fairness, as opposed to a strict utilitarian outlook and presupposition that most suffering in modern life isn’t based on policy or socioeconomics. And 4) In what I believe was McManus’s strongest point: “The mirror image of leftist pessimism is conservative indifference to the problems we face, which are often brushed aside by pointing out that things could be worse.” McManus, here, means that the conservative penchant for focusing exclusively on progress (often, in a mustache-stroking panache) can be used to dismiss honest social concerns and, in the process, to cast their proponents as merely “Social Justice Warrior”-type cretins.

My response is not particularly interesting:

1. Agreed.
2. Agreed.
3. Half agreed.
4. Agreed.

What I think is interesting is that despite our prevailing agreements, it’s still quite obvious to me that McManus and I both still have a conflict of visions. That this is the case speaks to the complex and counterintuitive nature of the political divide.