THE LEFT HAS LEFT THE WEST

The late 70s and the 80s were difficult but interesting years; in Italian one would say: “it was better when it was worse” because in hindsight we observe a precarious equilibrium but an equilibrium nonetheless; if we had a problem with a very aggressive element under Soviet influence we called Moscow and they would most likely take care of the issue; if the Soviets had a problem with one of those thugs that claimed to be one of us they called Washington and we would most likely take care of things. It wasn’t fair, but it was “stable”. Now there are so many different mediocre actors playing as if they were main characters and the powerful countries are more and more powerless everyday.

America was a country with two main right wing parties one of which was more to the right than the other. The left in the world; especially in Europe, was characterized by the rift between the socialists and the communists and in some cases there were social democrats, socialists and communists. Even within the communists a few enlightened politicians denounced the abuses and repression in the communist bloc. Mitterrand wrote one book after another distancing himself from “real socialism”. I remember reading his “Aquí Ahora” which I read in Spanish as prologued by his disciple Felipe Gonzalez of Spain. The book goes to great lengths to denounce Stalinism and Soviet totalitarism. Bettino Craxi, the Italian socialist leader, pushed Achile Occhetto and his communist party as hard as he could. Anti Sovietism was rampant.

Felipe Gonzalez himself became premiere of Spain and I can still remember him reading the speech in which he announced his country’s adherence to NATO; his Andalusian drawl impossible to subdue and the urge to reassure the world that the nation was undergoing a process of integration to the free world and not a relapse to the red “republic”.

I even remember a few years ago Tony Blair, a labor prime minister, putting his job on the line to support Bush. In a separate article we may discuss the globalist ambitions of some segments of the “moderate” left, but the fact is that they made it a point to position themselves far from the extreme left and the communists.

All of that has changed, probably the Soros of this world believe that the conditions are “ripe for the final insurrection of the downtrodden masses” and the subsequent subversion of our laws and institutions. The left has either succumbed to the pressure of its hardline components or taken off the mask once and for all, or a bit of both. There is an all out offensive against religion (although for now they seem to opportunistically respect the Muslim creed), family values, moral values in the broader sense of the word, and even the concept of nation. One only has to look at who has taken the leadership of the Democratic Party: a former communist (Perez) even though communists are hardly ever “former”, and a former Muslim extremist with evident anti Semitic leanings in his past; one would think that Chuck Schummer, of all people, would object, but they seem to get along just fine.

Meanwhile, what does the other side do? Other than a lot of noise and name calling, very little in the ideological front; a few conservative youths take the brunt of the loonies attack in campuses and academia around the world and we seem happy with our self commiserating statement that the left has infiltrated our society. Well, good luck with that, the civilized left is gone so no hope of a gentlemanly duel. Are we going to put up a fight or are we going to turn the other cheek; and since they have already slapped us on both face cheeks I’m afraid we will have to turn those other ones down there.