The right and left mantras can be traced back to real, earlier — but now far outdated — historical roots. To understand the terms, one must recall the historical development of the system of capitalism.
Capitalism is based on the continuous and irreconcilable conflict of interest of two social groups: the owners of capital and the workers. The struggle between the two opposing interest groups has historically been waged within national confines. Even then, there was a nation-state, such as imperial Germany, where the importance of social peace between the two interest groups was recognized — Chancellor Bismarck’s reforms exemplified this.
According to Marx, the free-competitive phase of capitalism began to be replaced at an accelerating pace by the internationalization of large corporations. The contemporary monetary system (gold-based, standard) also provided an opportunity for this, as the movement of money (capital) was free of restrictions.
Translated into the language of politics, the capitalist class was well ahead of the working class when it occupied positions on an international scale, so it globalized while labor remained within the nation-state framework. The globalization of capital after World War II, with the dollar becoming the world’s dominant currency, took major strides forward, as all barriers to globalist, private money quickly disappeared. Privatization, deregulation and liberalization have become the slogans.
At the national level, the two political viewpoints are becoming increasingly more polarized, but it is no longer appropriate to label them right-wing and left-wing — the political debate has long moved on from these outdated terms.
Based on the example of the United States, the Republican Party is said to be right-wing and to prioritize American interests. However, this was not the case with many of their presidents, including the entire Bush family, McCain and Mitt Romney. The German CDU after Helmut Kohl still claims to be right-wing and Christian, but who would dare say it has behaved in a patriotic or Christian way over the past decade?
It is time for the left and right political divisions in public discourse to be replaced by globalists and patriots, ignoring the old mantra, and we should not be afraid to name the globalists based on their actions and statements, whether they proclaim themselves to belong to the left or right.
