Lenin’s Ghost
16th September 2020
ZMan pulls in some history.
Probably the only thing that everyone in modern America can agree upon is that we now live in a hyper-partisan age. The modifier is needed, as we used to lived in a mildly partisan age. Before that, American politics was about coalitions. The parties represented factions willing to compromise to some degree. Either this hyper-partisanship is a natural end point of liberal democracy, perhaps a prelude to civil war, or something happened in the last quarter century to get us here.
The first place to start is with Lenin, as he is the man credited with introducing both the term and concept into the West. The term was coined to counter objectivity in political economic analysis. Lenin rejected the idea that there is some objective good for all of society, because true objectivity is impossible when the interests of one class of society conflict with the interests of other classes. Therefore, the only rational politics is one in which you expressly advocate for the interests of your side.
September 16th, 2020 at 11:25
Fangorn comes to mind He wasn’t on anyone’s snide because no one was altogether on his side. Of course, he was obliged to make a choice, and then persuade his brethren; they discussed the matter rationally for several days.