New Left: A rising political movement that sullies a country

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While I have always admired the left for its values — including the fight for those without voices in the public and for freedom of thought and expression — there has been a new wave of thought that undermine these achievements.

For the past decade, especially during the current election, we have seen a number of leftist groups emerging and espousing a slightly different ideology from the left I grew up loving. It’s an ideology of adults needing “safe spaces” equipped with coloring books and videos of puppies frolicking.

It’s a new culture that seems to enjoy prohibiting the spread of individual opinions on university campuses and other bastions of knowledge — at any cost.

Root of the problem

This is in stark contrast to the heyday of the left’s accomplishments in the 1960s and 1970s with Berkeley students vehemently fighting for free expression and speech.

Where has this “New Left” come from? How long has it actually been influencing the left, a.k.a. Democrats?

We have to go back to the middle of the 20th century to look at an important figure, Herbert Marcuse, or “Father of the New Left.” He was a founding figure of the social theory school called Frankfurt School, which adpoted a new outlook on Marxism using critical theory and a Freudian approach to understand class struggle.

For the Frankfurt School, it was no longer about the economic bourgeoisie versus the downtrodden economic proletariat. It was about the cultural bourgeoisie versus the cultural proletariat (minority groups).

It’s a strange concept for those of us familiar with classic Marxism, which is mostly interested in economic disparities. Throughout the 20th century, however, most economists — including Marxian — began to understand that it was incapable of leading to long-term economic prosperity.

From there we have the three main modern schools of economics from Milton Friedman, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.

Voices get stifled

This was problematic to the Marxist doctrine and led to philosophers contemplating new alternatives to the classic criticisms Marx had about capitalism. As a result, cultural Marxism was born and the Frankfurt School was at its forefront.

A new Marxist outlook on society began to grow. Not on the economic haves and have–nots, but the culture in which a group had the hegemony to direct its cultural predominance and the “minority groups” that must be protected from the status quo.

Of course, this assumes that “cultural minorities” were being oppressed to begin with.

In many ways, this was a productive occurrence that led to many strides in our society since the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. It has also, as Marxism tends to do, led to a now-authoritarian control over culture — especially in our current political and cultural environment.

A sense of “greater good” seems to always pervade Marxist ideologies. It has definitely not been lost upon the cultural Marxist. Marcuse particularly thought that curtailing language to control people’s thoughts was morally OK.

This is prevalent within the third-wave feminist movement to further its agenda.

This goes radically against classic liberalism (Libertarian) and social liberalism (old Democrats). It is the direct result of the Cultural Marxist ideology of realizing Cultural Revolution through altering individual’s thoughts and feelings by limiting speech.

Collapse in sight

The modern left has been growing during the last 10 to 20 years and has definitely used specific tactics according to these cultural Marxist principals. They are inherently un-American and opposed to the freedom we love.

What will end it?

Cultural Marxism has been growing slowly in the U.S. for the past 70 years. It is now boiling over as many Americans tire of having their lives and thoughts controlled either through the New Left or the old Religious Right.

That is why it is reaching its downfall.

If ideas like these persist and permeate in an ultimately rebellious culture without opposition, regardless of how ridiculous and unrealistic it sounds, something is going to come about and counteract it.

Columnist Stephen Nunez is an economic sophomore and can be reached at [email protected].