Post by @johnzajac@dice.camp

Because liberals are obsessed with process and not policy + delivery, they see things like the right wing's support in the UK as something that "won't budge".

But they're the classic "we've tried nothing and none of it worked!" people.

Of course folks are grasping at sectarian identity in an age of inchoate policy, captured government, and bad faith politicking: at least, they think, *this can be held in my hands*.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/05/andy-burnham-reform-uk-labour-rightwing-voters

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John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 5 hr. ago

Liberal ideas/policy are like sand: they are mostly shapeless and difficult to grasp. Sometimes, they take on shapes, and forms, like sandcastles on the beach, only to be quickly and effortlessly swept out to sea the moment the tide shifts.

Liberal politics are the opposite: they're almost laser-focused on "solving the 'right-wing problem'", i.e. "creating 'unity' with the right wing". But that's like treating the cough and not the lung cancer.

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 5 hr. ago

IF you want to "solve the rightward shift" of society, you ignore it and *solve the problems of society*.

"Rightwing shift" in human communities is a direct symptom of insecurity, a lack of trust, generalized anxiety and fear, and injustice in both social and govt spaces.

Solving those problems is the "one weird trick" for solving the dominance of right-wing political thinking and social movements.

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 4 hr. ago

Liberals are hamstrung in two ways when confronted with this phenomenon: 1) their ideology is simply not able to solve society's problems, and so real solutions lie outside of their grasp, and 2) they fail to understand that debating the relative merits of murdering everyone is not a valuable or useful debate to have.

And so they host and fete the murdering bastards, tear at their hair and clothes at the rightward shift, and then throw their hands up and decide they'd rather reign in Hell.

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 4 hr. ago

The reason "appeasement" or "cooperation" doesn't work with the right wing isn't really for the reasons people think it is.

"Right wing politics" is a reflection of desperation coupled with the legitimately malign efforts of a *very* small number of people to use that desperation to attain power and wealth.

When you "appease the right wing", you're *doing what that small group is demanding* NOT *alleviating whatever is causing the sense of desperation*.

Cough syrup for lung cancer.

~6 more replies

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 4 hr. ago

When you slam cough syrup for 50 years, and the cancer has metastasized to the point where it's hard to tell what's normal cells and what's cancer cells, and you're *still* slamming cough syrup, we gotta send you back to your mom.

That's why I say that until liberailsm and centrism are burnt out of government, we will continue to not have nice things: facts in evidence.

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 4 hr. ago

It's frustrating bc the solution is *right there*: free healthcare, guaranteed shelter and food, no means tests, no fines or fees, and a govt that is fully funded and staffed that actually does what it says it wants to do.

(The real solution is no State at all, but this conversation is in the auspices of *what we've got*, not *what we should be trying to get*)

If nobody was insecure, nobody was desperate, and nobody was afraid, the right wing would fizzle.

But libs can't do that, so 🤷‍♂️

/fin

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 3 hr. ago

BTW, *this* is why right wing politicians routinely enact policies that make shit a lot worse: they're creating the conditions for their continued power and wealth.

But there's these pesky people (most people) who want things to be good for (mostly) everyone.

That's where neofascism comes in: you have the ratchet and the release. The right wing ratchet guarantees the power of the right, and the centrist release guarantees the obeisance and passivity of the left.

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 3 hr. ago

Do I think all centrists are in on it? I know some of them are. And the others are just useful idiots and marks.

Do I think all right wingers know that their power comes from shit being really bad for most people and that's why they make shit really bad for most people? No, but I know some of them are. And the others are just useful idiots and marks.

Neofascism's greatest insight was that if you change the *culture*, you'll dramatically increase the number of *marks* in the right and center

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 2 hr. ago

And, through cultural technology, you'll deradicalize the left and place limits on positive change that aren't just buoyed by intransigent politicians, but by *the psychology of the people*.

Essentially, for 50 years politicians (mostly) didn't *need* to betray the people, because the people *betrayed themselves*.

What else is "vote blue no matter who" if not a polity betraying itself every two years like clockwork?

John

@johnzajac@dice.camp 2 hr. ago

Progressive change is inevitable at this point.

But expect both parties to fight it tooth and claw, because they know that their power and wealth and position *100% rely* on everything being shit, the right always being "ascendant", and everyone else just being terrified in their house, voting blue and hoping it does something, this time.

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