The politics of Angst

From Wikipedia

Along with many other folk, I see political left and right as much the same. There is a tradition that this shouldn't be the case in a socialism versus free-enterprise sense, but this old distinction seems to have faded away. Political differences have largely disappeared as political  parties discover the advantage of collusion and global bonds sap their lukewarm appetite for change. Old political labels are rapidly evolving into brands with all the distinguishing characteristics of baked beans.

The real political divide seems to be between those mavericks who value ingenuity and creativity against a backdrop of enabling tradition against devotees of Angst who don't. By valuing ingenuity and creativity, I mean in it's widest sense, from relishing a piece of purple prose to a clever piece of engineering to a new musical performance.

Our three main political parties in the UK are all Angst with only a few stranded mavericks to confuse us. Angsts don't believe in ingenuity or creativity, don't accept they can be relied on to generate progress, much less that they should be relied on.

Angsts think resources are finite and don't understand how maverick ingenuity stretches resources and finds new ones, substitute resources, better resources. In the end, Angsts don't believe that two ears of corn may grow where one grew before.

Angsts think education must be applied to a child like jam to a slice of toast.Every one of them should be, as their crowning glory, smeared with a degree from the University of Angst. Tick!

Angsts take refuge in mantras about equality and environmental worries they never really understand. They affect to believe even the most ludicrous climate change nonsense, being anxiously suspicious of mavericks who make wild claims about liberty and even appear to enjoy creativity and solving problems.

Angsts are frightened of cigarettes, motorcycles or mavericks who value their own culture and those truly awful mavericks who threaten them with changing something sacred such as the tax system or the NHS or state education. They are anxious about alcohol while trying their very best to appreciate a chaste glass of wine from Waitrose.

Angsts dare not be outspoken about enabling traditions, such as the nuclear family, nation state, rigorous personal honesty and moral values that cast no anxious glance at political correctness. Once upon a time this would not have been the case, but by an ironic twist of political expediency, Angsts have been turned into anxiety-ridden parodies of the anti-tradition progressive, the social idealist of yesteryear where equality was the great totem of pseudo-reform.

Unfortunately our three main political parties understand only too well the politics of Angst. The lights are going out in more ways than one.