1/ For what it's worth, on communism, capitalism, fascism... big ideas, history, how to move forward.
The first thing is that big ideas and ideologies are hugely complex. Communism, Marxism, socialism, capitalism in a place and time may seem and look quite different to another
The first thing is that big ideas and ideologies are hugely complex. Communism, Marxism, socialism, capitalism in a place and time may seem and look quite different to another
2/ They aren't mutually exclusive. Our 'capitalist' economy has taken on socialist elements, such as the welfare state, free healthcare. It's not just a binary choice.
And liberal capitalist democracies are far, far from perfect. Income inequality, environmental degradation etc
And liberal capitalist democracies are far, far from perfect. Income inequality, environmental degradation etc
3/ But here's where I am. You can roughly grade societies in history over how free individuals have been to get on with their lives, not be attacked for their race or background, not subjugated to some great cause which is beyond their control and probably against their interests
4/ If you strip a society of the language of its ideology (whether from left - communism/sociaism, or right - fascism, ethno-nationalism) and look at whether individuals can or even survive if they don't buy into the ideology, it's a good indicator of whether it's good or bad
5/ That's where the modern idea of human rights came from. A blueprint for a free society. The drafters of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (70 years old this year) and European Convention had seen up close the damage totalising ideologies do to individual rights
6/ Human rights are a kind of litmus test which helps us understand where individuals are being swallowed up by a state, and act as a early warning system for totalitarianism.
7/ Having spent a long time thinking, studying and experimenting, the best idea I could find for protecting societies from alluring ideas which led to the mass murders of the 20th century was an enforceable system of individual rights supported by the rule of law and democracy
8/ The problem with 'knock everything down and start again' ideologies is that they require the state, and so millions of individuals just trying to get on with their lives and raise their families, to be entirely focussed on change and upheaval for some indistinct future purpose
10/ Another litmus test - the less those who sell an idea are willing to listen and be self-critical, the less able they are to run complex socieites. That's another lesson from history. It's the wisdom of democracy - power corrupts so limit it. And ideas *must* be challenged
11/ The scary thing about the current re-rise of totalising ideologies, with people earnestly telling us our society needs to be upended and reconstituted around *their brilliant idea*, is that history teaches these kind of revolutionary ideas usually lead the same dark place
12/ I'm not offering an answer - which "system" is best for running societies of 10s of millions of people. But flawed democracy allows for testing of good and bad ideas with essential safety values of individual rights protections (which sound alarms) and regular elections
13/ I realise "democracy with individual rights and the rule of law" isn't sexy or exciting. But, frankly, exciting isn't good when you're responsible for 10s of millions of individual lives. The lesson of 20th century is we need to be so careful not to destroy ourselves again
