New vs Old, Left vs Right

I've been arguing for some time that there is a change in this country, that the "Old Left" and "Old Right" - the parties we know as our left and right wing parties - is on the way out and the "New Left" and "New Right" is on the way in.

We saw a similar change 100 years ago when Labour parties replaced Liberal parties as the voice of the left, and we are now seeing another major change as Conservatism morphs into Nationalism and, for lack of a better term, Trumpism. I am, in fact, working on a post about nationalism in Europe, and have been stuck as to how to finish it for weeks now. With this post, and the kernel of this old VS new idea in your head, I think I can finish that post by tomorrow.

With that in mind (the new vs old) watch this video from John Oliver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCnjlTfXDw&ab_channel=LastWeekTonight

You'll see how this is starting to impact US politics as a whole.



Here is something I wrote in 2012. I may not agree with all of it today, but it does explain this change.

Between 1900 and 1940 there was a great shift in what Left and Right meant for the political spectrum.

Prior to this, Left was allowing women the vote, allowing non-property owners to vote, allowing non-Christians to vote even, while Right was standing up for the powers that existed.

After this, Left was for Socialism, redistribution of wealth, giving money to the poor, larger governments with larger supports, so on and so forth.

Left and Right is changing again. The old left-right argument is over. We found a balance that works. There is a new left-right argument out there.

In the old Left, the Green Party of Canada is moderate and somewhat centrist. In the new Left, the Greens are firmly left-wing. The new Left is about a Global unity of ideology, doing for others, working for the world and the community, thinking universally, ignoring national boundaries, and so forth. The new Right is perfectly exemplified by the things Harper stands for. His stances on Kyoto, Abestos, the Environment at large, the Gun Registry, etc, are all firmly in the new right, even if they fit the old right as well.

Our system is changing. Look at Canadian elections and UK elections for example. From 1960 to 1990 both countries had instances where we only had 3 parties in the chamber. Compare this to elections in both countries from both 1930's and today, and you'll see the growth in parties and ideologies, etc. Our entire worldwide political system is changing, and that is why there is so much apparent chaos. The Tea Party VS Occupy debates are not just last vestiges of the old system; they are the founding sparks of the new system, and this will be the new left-right debate. 

Beyond that, the US election does show a great example of this. While folks like Cruz and even Clinton have policies within the transition, Trump and Sanders are not. Trump is fully "new right" while Sanders is fully "old left". The overlap in the two, such as opposition to TPP, show what kind of policies will be changing.