Radicalism is the product of individual courage, not Party polemics

‘Radical’ is one of those terms that gets bandied about a lot. ‘Progressive’ is another. Over time, however, they have been compromised as terms – by both Left and Right.

Left Labour currently positions itself as a radical tendency, but it is no such thing. If a person is merely recycling the ideas of the nineteenth century philosopher Marx (who said himself towards the end of his life that his theories were wrong) then that person is the representative of an Establishment. If they are presenting utterly discredited command economy ideas as progressive, then the term only applies if they’re happy to progress backwards.

Similarly, the Tory Right says it is radically Thatcherite. That’s an oxymoron given all the consequences of Thatcherism that have been studied by empiricists over the last three decades. Deregulated job markets and unregulated financial services have had their shortcomings examined minutely under the harsh light of consequences. If a person is merely reclycling the ideas of the twentieth century philosopher Friedman (whose ideas have proved disastrous wherever and whenever applied) then that person is the representative of an Establishment. That sort of ‘progressive economics’ is merely a fast lane back towards mediaeval views of social strata.

By definition, an Establishment falls back upon its shibboleths, articles of faith, and associated polemics. As such, it is an obstacle to creative progress.

None of the hardliners we see today can be considered credible radicals.

The real radicals are those who reject Big State, Big Business, Big Media, Big Globalism, Big Ego…..and most of all, Bigotry. The real radicals are those who embrace the human race:  individual creativity, personal liberty, and social responsibility. The real radicals are those who demand accountable leadership from those in power, and expect such powerful people to have a capable grasp of important apolitical disciplines: social anthropology, psychiatry, cognition theory, and neuroscience. The real radicals are those who look forward to a future in which science, intuition and artistic freedom make every form of superstition a thing of the past.

The Slog is a genuinely radical site. It sees the need for root and branch constitutional change in the West, the replacement of Bourse monopolism with national and community creative capitalism, the ring-fencing of social weal services inside a mutualist environment, holistic education that produces citizens able to think for themselves rather than along Party tramlines, the removal of all monied interest from politics, the complete rejection of multiculturalism in favour of inclusive communities, the ejection of non-dom media ownership, and the maximum diminution of influence of all those who blindly assert and believe….as opposed to examining current reality in an attempt to make it better in the future.

The banker, the Unite organiser, the Hard Left polemicist, the Brussels Eurocrat, the globalist multinational manager, the ISP censor: all these people are the enemies of progress and freedom. The desire to keep an open mind applied to human problems is the mark of a true Progressive.

When is a radical not a radical? When he or she is a robot.