Normally, I talk American politics on Wednesdays, but this is an issue that really spans both the US and Europe. If anything, it affects Europe to a much greater degree and will be much more difficult for them to deal with. There’s a poison going through Western democracies – leftism. It’s insidious as it masquerades as concern for the underprivileged but instigates policies that do underprivileged people far more harm than good.

Leftism is a spectrum – most political movements are – comprising socialism, communism, revisionist history (we old people call these lies) and an authoritarian to totalitarian mode of getting its way. Basically, leftists believe that government knows best and you should just shut up and let them rule the world.

Yes, yes, we all know very nice people who lean left. But who wants to discuss politics with them these days? No one sane as the left has used so called ‘cancel culture’ and outright violence to keep other voices silent in the public square. It’s risky to merely disagree on minor points with some of these crazies. They are known to attack their own supporters for even the slightest infraction. So while your cousin may be a nice guy, you haven’t told him you voted for a Republican, have you?

Leftism is no longer an ideology or a pseudo religion: it’s an outright cult. There’s no dialogue, no talking to them, and certainly no disagreeing with them. They scream in your face; they never even listen to your actual point of view. That is by design. See, cultists that are exposed to outside ideas have the potential to start questioning the cult dogma. Can’t have that – sooner or later, their brains will unscramble and they will leave the cult.

This wouldn’t be a national problem if it were reserved to just a few cells of nut jobs who can’t define ‘woman’. Unfortunately, it got trendy and popular in a lot of really unfortunate places like universities, corporations, bureaucracies, and the lamestream media. Basically, this insanity is everywhere and has infected almost everyone to some degree.

Woke is just its latest permeation. This has been going on since at least the 1920’s. You’d think they would have gotten a clue after the Nazi’s – and yes, they were leftists – but no, the left just got all pouty and dug in their heels, waiting until they could effectively spread their poison again.

So that’s it, we’re doomed, right? Not a chance. I am all too aware of how pervasive the wokeness / leftism is at present. But we’ve been on this merry-go-round before and it was going a LOT faster last time. Remember the Sixties?

Okay, did you at least take history in school?

Viet Nam ring a bell?

Sigh… Okay, I’ll rant about the lousy state of American education another time. Let me just sum it up this way: Substitute LSD for fentanyl and you pretty much have the Sixties repeating themselves but on a smaller scale. And without the bra burning.

Europe is further sucked down in this muck and is hampered with parliamentary systems but it, too, is showing signs of having had quite enough, thankyouverymuch. The Russo-Ukrainian War is making European governments have to start acting like grown up governments again. Don’t expect this to be smooth sailing but it should start shaking out the crazier factions pretty quickly. Europe’s political bell curve is more like a political uneven line but it is showing some rightward tendencies of late.

Now, I’m skipping the indications that Russia and China have been playing dirty pool by inserting themselves into European and American politics – that will play itself out in the international arena – other than to say that their influence, assuming they actually have influence, is waning.

There are old leftists. These are mostly well to do elites. Young leftists tend to be college age idealists with little experience or common sense to guide them. This is a problem for the left in two ways: the young stupid kids mostly outgrow the idiocy by their thirties and preaching against family life for fifty years means most of the ones that don’t grow out of it don’t have kids.

Now you know why they want to teach their insanity in schools. Otherwise, it will die with them in another generation or two. But if they can sway the minds of all those little conservative babies…

They might get three or four generations. Leftism really is on its last legs. When you need censorship, cancel culture and insanity to keep your political ideology in power, you are already on your way out.

I suspect this process will take a bit longer in Europe but I do see some signs that it won’t. Europeans are waking up to the need for strong free speech protections like those enjoyed by the United States. Americans are already pushing against the anti-First Amendment movements from the left. It’s all still pretty subtle but it does appear to be real and it is a good sign if so.

A world without an effective left is still going to be messy. We’re still going to have problems and disagreements about how to solve them. But we stand a much better chance of improving the world if we aren’t hampered by idiots trying to destroy everything they don’t like and building nothing in return.

Building your sand castle, even if it isn’t perfect, is always better than kicking over the other kid’s. As you build, you learn and become even better at building. We won’t build a better world. But we can leave a better course for the next generation to build on.

Especially if we leave leftism in the dustbin of history where it belongs.