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Stoller being drawn to Hawley’s speech isn’t surprising. The Bernie left’s and the nationalist right’s anger at “elites,” is dangerous because it isn’t all that different. We’ve seen socialist parties in Europe adopt right wing nationalist points on immigration for example.
It isn’t impossible to see the followers of Bernie primarily who focused on the white working class and hate identity politics forming a union or agreement with the nationalist right who has rhe same greviances. They want to return to a bygone era
An era where the common white man had more economic and political power, where the elites were not multicultural. Much of the talk about “elites” is really bloviating about multiculturalism. Disdain for an era where average white people actually have to compete in the economy
The disdain for globalization-same ****. The west loved globalization from 1500-2000, when they primarily benefited. Now that nonwhite countries are gained wealth, prestige, and power, ostensibly at the west’s expense, all of a sudden globalization is bad. Give me a break.
Globalization has built a middle class and dramatically lowered poverty in a host of nonwhite countries. Look at a picture of Lagos or Beijing in 1950. Now look at the amazing development today. That’s the positive power of globalization!
But when the gains of nonwhite global middle class are ostensibly coming at the expense of working class whites in Europe and the US, all of a sudden “globalization is bad.” It wasn’t bad when globalization was working for you though was it?
The world is changing, and the reality is many US workers can’t compete in the global economy. The post WW2 era was an anomaly in world history, white US workers didn’t have to compete (for obvious reasons) & thus they lived on inflated wealth. Those conditions are gone for good
The reality is, absent war or massive techological innovation, globalization will only continue to increase. Western countries can slow it, but can’t stop it. Markets will get more efficient, & there’s billions of people living in rural 3rd world ready to start working/competing
I look at this like a global competition. Other countries are competing against US labor and winning. In a way, its wealth redistribution on a global scale. And jobs are disproportionately going to nonwhite countries and building a new global middle class. This is actually good
This also means that over time, nonwhite countries who have been historically marginalized will gain more political power and global influence, while the west will slowly see its power shrink relative to the rest of the globe. This is also objectively good. A more equal world
The anger at “elites” in the west is really disdain for this process, which most people can’t verbalize because they don’t see all the moving pieces. They see a rising multicultural bloc inside their country and outside of it, and it brings them fear. It upsets their worldview
All their lives they were told that “those people” weren’t good enough, not smart enough, that they couldn’t beat them at intellectual pursuits. When they lose to this group, it is soul crushing. That is what drives the fervor of right wing nationalism in the west.
