Dickson Igwe. Photo: Provided

Conservatism, the political idea of the right that believes in restraint, free markets, and in older ways of doing things, is no longer the force it once was.

In the 1970s and 80s, Conservatism, fueled by the political economy of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, ruled the political, social, and economic roost in the west. Fast forward to the 2000s, and today, especially among minorities and the under 40s, Conservatism is positively not cool.

Communism and Socialism are ideas of the left. Essentially economic, they are ideologies that exhort wealth redistribution, high taxes for the wealthy, and the efficacy of the Welfare State.

Between 1980 and 2008 Socialism was considered a bad word in most western democracies, especially the USA and UK. That is no longer the case. Socialism appears to be making a renaissance. Amazingly, in the US, the most popular politician in the 2016 political campaign is a socialist type named Bernie Sanders.

Now, the main reason for the jettisoning of ideological politics is voter anger and anxiety in the US and Europe. Conservatism has failed the working and middle class. Conservative economics has taken the limited resources of Joe Plumber and handed it over to the 1% led by a plutocracy of billionaires who practically own the world.

Conservatism led to globalisation. Globalisation allowed the super rich to turn the entire planet into a capitalist oyster for them and their families.

Meanwhile, John and Jane Average saw their standard and quality of life plummet as their share of the capitalist cake disappeared into the accounts of hundreds of millions of workers and families in the so called emerging economies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The super rich on the other hand retained ownership of the brands and capital that moved to China and elsewhere to the benefits of billions of the world’s poor. Their wealth since the 1980s has increased exponentially. Their capital helped create a new middle class in Asia, Africa, and Latin America of over a billion people. Alternately, in the west, especially the US, the middle class was decimated.

The result of these capitalist flows from west to east driven by conservatism is Cause and Effect.

Talk to a 55 year old white father in the US who has just lost his job to a worker in Mexico about Conservative Policy and he will punch you in the stomach.

Blacks and Hispanics have dwelled in poverty for decades. Improvement in their lives has been the result of Big Government and Social Welfare; in other words Socialism. Conservatism is meaningless to these demographics. That is one reason both these groups are the bedrock of the Democratic Party, and Labour in the UK.

Enter Donald Trump, and other populist type leaders like Marine Le Penn in Europe, who have taken up the cause of the white dispossessed. Populism is tribal. It is even fascist. It is non ideological, and depends on the personality and force of character of the leader. Populism is also parochial and narrow, and focuses on a narrow platform of ideas as the Great Cause. In the US the populist cause is anti immigration and anti free trade. Similarly, in Europe the rise of the angry right is Europe’s own unique brand of populism with its own anti immigration cry.

Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK are also Warriors of the working and middle classes. Both men are considered socialists. They preach unique brands of socialist policy. But in reality they too are agents of the anger of white voters who are angry with the status quo and the fact that their lives have seen no true material improvement since the early 1980s. Sanders and Corby promise aggressive wealth redistribution in their respective countries.

Pragmatism is the philosophy of Hillary Clinton the US Democratic candidate. Pragmatism does not sit on any ideological platform. It is a culture of convenience and opportunity. Its sole objective is the attainment of political power. Pragmatism could be left or right, capitalist or socialist. It is similar to populism in that it is ideologically free.

So where is the world headed? Well, if populism succeeds as the dominant political force in western politics, the US may well become Fortress USA, Europe may break up, and the risk of global conflict and war will increase dramatically as intolerance increases.

Globalisation was supposed to be the panacea for a better world. It appears to be making the world an angry and dangerous place.

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