Left to blame

“The world is moving towards the extreme right.”
“The right wing fascism is on the ascendency. ”

I am sure all of us have heard of these amazing stories. From the US to Europe to Phillippines, there is a growing movement towards politically and socially conservative parties. If you look for common traits amongst these political parties, we will definitely find racism, bigotry, nationalism, discrimination, violence and an ability to galvanise people. Does this actually mean the people who voted for all these parties fall under the same category? To simplify, do they fall into the Hillary Clinton’s “Basket of Deplorables”? My short answer is “NO”. Here is my explanation on the same.

• People who voted for the left have moved to the right.
• People who are winning, are the anti-establishment candidates.

As a product manager, I find a similarity between this thinking and most companies. I have got a great product and users are dumb to not use it and pay for it. This is a very primitive thought process and something which is not grounded in reality. Further, it is a very elitist attitude to the society.

Society is a complex structure of a myriad of species and their needs. Humans have put themselves in prominence, to create kind of a homino-centric model. Not everyone understands economics, geopolitics, theoretical research or different governing models. The common citizen of the world is engrossed in making ends meet. They understand politics with reference to their environment, and as pattern-seeking mammals, we tend to attribute situations to those patterns. This vague abstraction of the human behaviour can be used to explain the current turmoil.

The deep rooted reason for this global shift is fundamentally economical. I suggest people watch the video on Global Trumpism by Political Economist Mark Blyth. Since 70s, the traditional left (especially in the western nations) has moved away from its stronghold and become more centrist. While they have maintained a liberal position from a social perspective, they have become more elitist and ignored the plight of the power and lower middle class. Over the last 35+ years, the base for the left has slowly been eroded.

Recently, one of my colleagues introduced me to JTBD and the four forces. I wanted to use those four forces to provide my understanding of the why people voted for Trump this time around. I am using President Donald Trump as an example, but the same can be said about any other developed economy.

As you might see from this, it is rather obvious why people either refrained from voting or went towards Donald Trump. For people who claim that Hillary Clinton got more votes, I request you to look at the states she won. She won in states, which haven’t been affected by this crisis, namely California and New York. If you belong to a minority community, you might have mostly refrained than voted for Trump.

This situation is no different from all the other European countries. There is a strong push towards nationalistic parties as the traditional left has decided to sell its followers and get into bed with the rich corporations. Do I believe people like Trump are going to live up to their promise? Definitely, no. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that people are in distress because of the left. The right wing has always remained divisive, nationalistic, racist and economically illiterate. It has remained that way across the globe consistently for decades. The only change to the situation has been the behaviour of left, who have been sold out to the rich. What we are seeing is a rude awakening to that reality? It is right on the ascendency, but the left has to be blamed for it.