The Left's 21st Century Project Has Failed
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Soapbox
Madotsuki_the_Dreamer — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 05:53 PM)
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-lefts-21st-century-project-has
The 20th century encompassed the era of social democracy followed by an attempt to resurrect the left through the Third Way after that era’s ignominious end. In the 21st century, the left embarked on a new project they hoped would remedy 20th century weaknesses and inaugurate a new era of political and governance success. We are now a quarter of the way through the 21st century, which has witnessed both a genuine “crisis of capitalism” (the Great Recession of 2007-09) and the systemic breakdown of the COVID era (2020-22). Enough time has gone by to render a judgement: despite ample opportunity to advance their cause, the left’s 21st century project has failed and failed badly.
Consider:
• It has failed to stop the rise of right populism.
• It has failed to create durable electoral majorities.
• It has failed to achieve broad social hegemony.
• It has failed to retain its working-class base.
• It has failed to promote social order.
• It has failed to practice effective governance.
• It has failed to jump-start rapid economic growth.
• It has failed to generate optimism about the future.
Of course, the project hasn’t been a complete failure. Left parties, including the Democratic Party, have succeeded in building strong bases among the educated and professional classes and, if they have lacked broad social hegemony, they have generally controlled the commanding heights of cultural production. As a result they have mostly set the terms of “respectable” discourse in elite circles.
But that’s pretty weak beer compared to all those massive failures and the heady aspirations of those who presume to be on “the right side of history.” Most on the left would prefer to believe that the left’s 21st century project is basically sound and just needs a few tweaks. This is whistling past the graveyard. After a quarter century, it is time to face the facts: the project is simply not fit for purpose and needs to be jettisoned.
When we look at what has been distinctive about the left’s 21st century project, it is not hard to see why it has not had its desired result. Here are the key strands of the project:
Mass immigration
. In the 20th century, the left was generally suspicious of uncontrolled immigration. But all over Europe in the 21st century, immigration surges abetted by the left have contributed to results like these:
At the end of Milan’s M1 metro line you’ll find Sesto San Giovanni, a sizable blue-collar city. It was once called “Italy’s Stalingrad,” not only for its Brutalist concrete block apartment buildings and hulking steelworks, but also because Sesto San Giovanni was consistently one of the most left-wing towns in Italy…
That’s all over. In 2017 Sesto elected a right-wing mayor for the first time in 71 years. And in 2022, Sesto voted for Giorgia Meloni’s right-populist alliance by double-digit margins. Over the same period, Milan, rich as ever, has drifted to the left.
Immigration was the issue at the heart of these elections.
Such trends have been repeated in working-class areas in the rest of Italy and all over Europe. And of course we have many such equivalents in our own country as working-class areas have moved to the right, with the immigration issue playing a starring role. But, as in Europe, the American left has repeatedly refused to see anything wrong with a
de facto
policy of mass immigration, which is considered an unalloyed good contributing to a more diverse society. Therefore, to oppose mass immigration is to oppose diversity, which can only mean that you are racist and xenophobic. It’s that simple.
This attitude is a huge mistake because in fact there
are
rational reasons for voters to oppose mass immigration that cannot be reduced to racism or xenophobia. As Josh Barro notes:
Democrats…need to get back in touch with the reasons that both uncontrolled migration and excessive volumes of migration really are problems—not just political problems, but substantive ones. That is, they need to get back in touch with the feeling that illegal and irregular migration reflect a failure of our civic institutions, a misuse of the social safety net, and a breakdown of the rule of law, and that all of that is actually bad…
Illegal immigration, and other forms of irregular migration that happen with the authorization of the executive branch, really do hurt Americans by putting strain on public resources, imposing costs on taxpayers, and undermining social cohesion. And this has been particularly noticeable because of the huge surge in three categories of migration over the last few years: old-fashioned illegal immigration; migrants abusing our asylum system to gain years of legal access to the U.S., even without claims that are likely to be judged valid in the end; and the Biden administration’s large-scale use of the Temporary Protected Status designation to admit about a million mostly low-skill, mostly non-English-speaking migrants into ou -
Steve_Lake — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 08:40 PM)
As a multimillionaire, I consider your post about wealthy elite bankers to be hate speech. I've reported your thread and this site to the NYPD and they will be raiding your house and nimda's house shortly.
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Steve Lake — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 08:56 PM)
Imagine being you.
You claim to hate me. But you so desperately wanna be me.
That you spend 24 hours a day every day impersonating me.
I mean I am laughing at you.
It's hysterical. And I know you will keep this up until you stop living.
How do I know?
Three reasons
You're mentally ill
You're pathetic
Also you are really poor.
Not just financially. But in spirit.
What's even better is that are 4 or 5 others just like you.
So you all wanna be me and yet you all claim to hate me.
The only poster who had his account banned 4 times without ever breaking any rules each of those times. -
元才 — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 09:23 PM)
That's an incredibly well put forward pitch, and one I'd buy into
The Left destroyed itself through personal gain along the way (No doubt aided by external factors such as banks and external agencies looking to weaken the market to their benefit) and has done nothing but remove trust from anything, anything other than the "Not Left".
That's how Trump got elected, that's why people are pushing back against "The science" and that's why journalism and education are the two biggest problems in the West today. Who dispels information is responsible for it. Not its accuracy or its sensitivities, but what comes from it. The output.
Champagne socialists climbing up their framework of virtue signalling forgot that the entire framework is based on everyone working together. When people feel that they have no voice, are cut off from having an opinion and treated like crap they'll do what they've always done - revolutionise.
The "Left" have always been about revolution, but when it's against them it's unbearable. It's wrong. It's, it's, well it's everything they can possibly throw at it accept acceptance that they became the very things they claimed to be rallying against.
Every member of the Forth Estate has to be taken up to a wall, shot to death and the whole thing has to be shown, and voted for, on TikTok.
Now, the big question then becomes - who are into this Forth Estate are you? How many likes and retweets does it take to be accountable? -
Soul_Venom — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 11:13 PM)
I respect the fact that you are willing to wave the white flag. Most of your contemporaries are still blaming everyone else for the loss in 2024. This is actually an intelligent post ono your part. That doesn't happen often.
Trump is still your President. Charlie Kirk still Wins! -
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LorqVonRay1999 — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 11:41 PM)
Constantly insulting people seems to be about all you ever do.
That's the mentality of a liberal.
You lash out. Almost immediately.
Instead of any coherent, level-headed response.
So you see your response to me reinforces my belief you are not a centrist at all.
Rather far to the left. -
Madotsuki_the_Dreamer — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 11:51 PM)
That's the mentality of a liberal.
Well, for starters, liberals don't call people retards and *******, you retarded ******.
Secondly, considering that all
you
ever do is spew empty insults, strawmen, and equivocations, I guess that means that you're a liberal too. -
LorqVonRay1999 — 2 months ago(January 25, 2026 11:57 PM)
Your starter put the kybosh on your second statement.
Liberals do call people those names, feeling that denigrating and calling people offensive names effectively replaces critical thinking and rational discourse. And, most of all, peace. Chaos is the liberals' best friend.
That's you. That's liberals. One and the same. No difference.
And my 'insults' towards you are more simple statements of opinion and not intended to be insults.
That's doesn't mean they are inviolable and to be accepted without some resistance.
So you see I do not think you are centrist at all.