Far-right populist movements making a last desperate stand for liberalism and democracy against a rising tide of progressivism and globalism

Donald Trump is still popular. In 2018, Republicans used to call Ronald Reagan the best president in US history, but now, in 2021, it`s Donald Trump, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll. Trump is at the top (36%), while Ronald Reagan is second (18%), followed by Abraham Lincoln (13%).

Among all Americans, Donald Trump comes in third at 13% with Barrack Obama on top of the list at 18%, followed by Abraham Lincoln at 17%. President Joe Biden is not on the list at all, as he had served less than 20 days when the survey began.

I support all the presidents no matter what side they are on, but that doesn`t mean I agree with all they do and say. Right now, Biden is the president, and he has a lot of things to fix. And Trump talked about it in his speech at CPAC.

«We`re in the middle of a historic struggle for America`s future, America`s culture, and America`s institutions. Our very identity as Americans is at stake, like perhaps at no other time, so no matter how much the Washington establishment and the powerful special interests may want to silence us, let there be no doubt; we will be victorious and America will be stronger and greater than ever before,» Trump said in the speech.

Much of the crazy ideas are coming from the left side. Ideas like language are violent, don`t practice yoga or cook Chinese food, there is no such thing as biological sex and only white people can be racist. Many people are confused by these ideas.

Do you wonder how some people on the left side have managed so quickly to challenge the very logic of Western society?

What`s going on in America is not unique. It`s the same playbook in Europe as well. President Macron talked about it a few days ago and said he doesn`t want all these crazy ideas from the left in France. Sorry Macron, but it all started there; in France.

It`s an evolution from French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Today we can recognize it by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media:

knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play, and language is dangerous. As they warn, the unchecked proliferation of these anti-Enlightenment beliefs presents a threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself.

This is what authors Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay talk about in their book; «cynical theories.» While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluchrose and Lindsay break down how this often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalized communities it claims to champion.

They also detail its alarmingly inconsistent and illiberal ethics. Only through a proper understanding of the evolution of these ideas, they conclude, can those who value science, reason, and consistently liberal ethics successfully challenge this harmful and authoritarian orthodoxy, in the academy, in culture, and beyond.

During the modern period in the last two centuries in most Western countries, there has been developed a broad consensus in favor of the political philosophy known as «liberalism.»

The main tenets of liberalism are political democracy, limitations on the powers of government, the development of universal human rights, legal equality for all adult citizens, freedom of expression, respect for the value of viewpoint diversity and honest debate, respect for evidence and reason, the separation of church and state, and freedom of religion.

These liberal values developed as ideas and it has taken centuries of struggle against theocracy, slavery, patriarchy, colonialism, fascism, and many other forms of discrimination to honor them as much as we do, still imperfectly today, Pluckrose and Lindsay said.

But the struggle for social justice has always been strongest when it has cast itself as the defender of liberal values universally, insisting that they are applied to all individuals, not just to wealthy white males.

It must be noted that the general philosophical position that we call «liberalism» is compatible with a wide range of positions on political, economic, and social questions, including both what Americans call «liberal» (and Europeans call «social-democratic») and modern forms of what people in all countries call «conservative.»

This philosophical liberalism is opposed to authoritarian movements of all types, be they left-wing or right-wing, secular of theocratic.

Liberalism is thus best thought of as a shared common ground, providing a framework for conflict resolution and one within which people with a variety of views on political, economic, and social questions can rationally debate the options for public policy.

However, we have reached a point in history where liberalism and modernity at the heart of Western civilization are at great risk on the level of the ideas that sustain them.

The precise nature of this threat is complicated, as it arises from at least two overwhelming pressures, one revolutionary and the other reactionary, that are waging war with each other over which illiberal direction our societies should be dragged.

Far-right populist movements claiming to be making a last desperate stand for liberalism and democracy against a rising tide of progressivism and globalism are on the rise around the world.

Trump said in the speech that his movement is successful. «We began it together four years ago and it is far from being over,» he said.

To contact the author: post@shinybull.com

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