Democrats today are the New Left that emerged after 1965

Liberalism after 1965 attempted to remove government by consent

The political movement responsible for rejecting the Progressive understanding of “uplift” and preparing the transition to post-1960s politics was the New Left.

 

Following 1965, the dominant view of government holds that protecting the least advantaged is the primary purpose of government and using reallocation to that end.

 

New Left intellectuals believed that the new freedom brought about by the Progressives was not true freedom. The prevailing cultural norms were oppressive laws and morals.

 

According to New Left intellectuals like Paul Goodman and Norman O. Brown, sexual liberation

would usher in a new era of human happiness and well-being and bring about an end to threats like nuclear war. Earlier progressives like FDR and Wilson talked about “happiness” but did little to bring it about.

 

One of the New Left’s goals was to bring about a transformation of the moral life of the country through an attack on the traditional understanding of the family. The traditional family suppressed the natural human desires that result in true happiness e.g. Sexual Liberation versus monogamy.

 

At the heart of post-1965 politics is a conception of equality that emphasizes not only political equality, but also equality of self-esteem. Equality of opportunity was insufficient, therefore, government and to create a new “equality” that produced equal self-esteem.

 

Post-1965 immigration policy should privilege immigrants from non-European countries. Closed borders suppressed the Least Advantaged.

 

John Rawls’ “difference principle” asserts that inequality of wealth and privilege is justified if it serves the common good. That is reallocation to the least advantage was the justification.

 

Post-1965 foreign policy is primarily concerned with promoting democracy abroad than the protection of American citizens rather than. The opposite of what the Founders put into place.

 The American people rejected radical Socialism on Tuesday

While some House and Senate races are still being decided, it’s already clear there’s no mandate for the policies the far-left dreamed of passing in 2021. 

Democrats were banking on a “blue wave” that would give them a majority in the Senate and a larger majority in the House. It didn’t happen. This takes a lot of policies off the far-left wish list, from packing the Supreme Court, to passing the Green New Deal, to putting identity politics into federal law. While socialism is still rising on the left, it’s no closer to seizing the reins of power.

Still, there was one clear loser in last night’s election: identity politics.

Recall that the summer of 2020 was the summer of wokeness. Everyone was supposedly now consumed with the nation’s systemic racism. Everyone was a rioter. The only cause was anti-colonialism. Nothing else mattered. Right?

No? Most people ignored this narrative about American life.

And, in fact, it turns out that the very voters being targeted most heavily by this scare campaign about pervasive, ubiquitous white supremacism, specifically nonwhite voters, were not persuaded to support Democrats in larger numbers. Instead, those voters increased their support for Trump over 2016 levels. In fact, if he wins, he almost certainly owes his victory to gains among black and Hispanic voters.

This welcome news extended to the state level, too — we’ll see more of that in the coming days. In the meantime, the message from the American people is clear: we don’t want what the far-left is selling, which is why we didn’t buy it on Election Day.