Why the left is unable to win
March 29th, 2017A pro-government philosopher thinks the left has lost its drive by espousing individualism instead of its original collectivist mission. The Right, on the other hand, offers its constituency the idea of nationhood which enables it to unite emotions with reason.
On Válasz, András Lánczi, a political philosopher who serves as chairman of the pro-government Századvég think tank and as rector of Corvinus University finds attempts on the Left to explain their hopeless electoral chances futile, because analysts refuse to face the crucial issue – namely why the left is unable to create a community around itself. The classical left wing, he elaborates, used to be collectivist, while today’s left-wingers follow various individualist world-views. As long as they continue to rank individual interests over the interests of the community, Lánczi writes, left-wingers will remain unable to build a community. They may accidentally win elections here and there, but in the long run the winner must be able to radiate political cohesion by merging faith with reason. That is precisely what in Lánczi’s view Hungary’s governing forces are doing by building a community around the idea of nationhood which served as a liberating force in the 19th century and which still prompts Hungarians to believe that they belong to a larger community.
Tags: individualism, Left, nation