Yes, on a casual level, when one speaks to people, one finds that we are taking pride in finding reasons to disagree these days- we can only agree on a certain percent of any platform, and on the points we do not agree, we are holding firm. And on those points, the person we are talking to also holds firm. So we find ourselves divided into every smaller factions, sometimes factions of one. This is a pandemic.
The last paragraph of this thoughtful piece gets to the heart of Western fragmentation. We need a new vision. The old visions of left and right are exhausted, bankrupt, illusory. It's not hard to envision a reasonable path forward. A path, perhaps, that attempts to decouple politics with utopianism or transcendence. Sounds boring? Well, that's the challenge.
Can't many of these trends be explained by the political systems where they exist? For instance in Mexico it is normal to see more parties popping up because by law parties are given an "allowance" from tax payers' money to sustain themselves as well as assigned seats in congress automatically as soon as they are able to get beyond a threshold percentage of the vote. I'm not sure about Spain but my impression is that it's similar. Plus, of course it seems reasonable that voters will react positively to a message that is specifically tailored for them; I am surprised that the author would expect people to prefer a local message for a more global one.
Yes, on a casual level, when one speaks to people, one finds that we are taking pride in finding reasons to disagree these days- we can only agree on a certain percent of any platform, and on the points we do not agree, we are holding firm. And on those points, the person we are talking to also holds firm. So we find ourselves divided into every smaller factions, sometimes factions of one. This is a pandemic.
The last paragraph of this thoughtful piece gets to the heart of Western fragmentation. We need a new vision. The old visions of left and right are exhausted, bankrupt, illusory. It's not hard to envision a reasonable path forward. A path, perhaps, that attempts to decouple politics with utopianism or transcendence. Sounds boring? Well, that's the challenge.
Can't many of these trends be explained by the political systems where they exist? For instance in Mexico it is normal to see more parties popping up because by law parties are given an "allowance" from tax payers' money to sustain themselves as well as assigned seats in congress automatically as soon as they are able to get beyond a threshold percentage of the vote. I'm not sure about Spain but my impression is that it's similar. Plus, of course it seems reasonable that voters will react positively to a message that is specifically tailored for them; I am surprised that the author would expect people to prefer a local message for a more global one.