Doing sociology and philosophy in real time by looking at developments in contemporary Western politics and culture, from a Moral Libertarian perspective. My mission is to stop the cultural systemist left and the authoritarian right from destroying the West's Enlightenment traditions.
Why Jeremy Corbyn is NOT the British Bernie Sanders | TaraElla Report Radio
Welcome to TaraElla Report Radio, where we revisit and Rethink the fundamental Classical Liberal ideals and values for the 21st century. We look at free speech, individual liberty, equal opportunity, civilizational values, economic policy, culture, and most importantly, maintaining a truly open minded stance on everything. I hope you subscribe if you are interested.
Today, I want to talk about British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and why I don't really like him very much. Now, before you Corbyn fans start yelling at me, please hear me out. I understand that Jeremy Corbyn has a cult-like following in Britain, mainly among the young and well educated. His popularity is also beginning to be felt in America, where he is sometimes described as Britain's Bernie Sanders, something that I will dispute. Outside of his cult following, Corbyn is actually quite controversial. He certainly doesn't have the general goodwill and popularity that Bernie Sanders has. I mean, Corbyn certainly wouldn't be able to go on the British equivalent of Fox News and expect the warm reception that Bernie received a few weeks ago. In fact, even rank and file members of the British Labour Party are deeply divided on Corbyn.
I think the problem with Corbyn is that he is stuck in the past. And it is not just my view. A few weeks ago, a piece in the left-wing Guardian newspaper said that Corbyn had probably anticipated a revolution all his life, but he just isn't interested in the one actually going on in Britain right now, because it is not what he has in mind. His disinterest in all thing Brexit means that Labour is essentially paralyzed on this issue, hence its poor showing in the European elections. From what I see, Corbyn is disinterested in 2019 because he is stuck in the 1970s, when a different kind of revolution was in the air. Unlike Bernie Sanders, Corbyn's policies are old and stale, many of them recycled from the discredited radicalism of the May 1968 generation. Corbynism is straight out of a world where radicals thought that everyone should live in Yippie communes, and the internet wasn't a thing. Comparing Corbyn to someone like Andrew Yang further illustrates this point. I don't even know if Corbyn has ever considered a UBI, I really don't think he has, because I really don't think he graspes the problem we have with increasing automation at all. This, in turn, reflects a very narrow perspective on things overall. Instead of talking to people of diverse backgrounds like Sanders and Yang, Corbyn surrounds himself with other older socialists with similarly stale views, who probably haven't noticed that their ideology expired at least 30 years ago. No wonder his support among the British working class is actually quite low.
I guess the divide in politics today isn't so much progressive vs conservative, or even nationalist vs globalist, but in fact open-minded vs close-minded. There are close-minded people on both the left and the right, there are close-minded people on both the nationalist and globalist sides, and none of them are good for our future, because none of them have the willingness to listen to the diverse demands out there, and none of them have the creativity to come up with new solutions to balance and satisfy these demands. For me, the first and foremost thing I look for in someone is whether they are truly open-minded. As much as I love Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard for their open-mindedness; I feel really uncomfortable about the close-mindedness of people like Jeremy Corbyn. No, he is definitely not the British Bernie.
That's all for today. I'll be back next time to discuss another big idea. Subscribe if you want to follow our story. The transcripts are available on my website, and my Medium profile. And remember to resist the hive mind and stay individualistic. The world depends on it.
