All human activity is just social activity, even political activity. Which means the categories of ‘Left’,…

All human activity is just social activity, even political activity. Which means the categories of ‘Left’, “Centre’ and ‘Right’ are meaningless, and need to be replaced with social descriptions. In reality Left-Centre-Right is a continuum of popularity or populism. /1 https://t.co/44UWmmg0l3

‘Left’ is the minimum of popularity in regulating human affairs. Officials and laws and regulations, working inside institutions. ‘Right’ is populism. The replacement of regulatory institutions with popularity-based rule. ‘Far-Right’ is extreme populism, or fascism. /2

Where a ‘Great Leader’, chosen by popularity, is the obligatory passage point for all social transactions. The ‘centre’ doesn’t exist. Even within the old Left-Centre-Right political categories, it always was a completely relative, positional term. /3

Defined *entirely* by where the ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ positions currently are. In reality (socially) it’s always just been people who see themselves as more ‘moderate’. Meaning with a distaste for conflict. With the hubris of seeing themselves as somehow above politics. /4

This continuum is defined exclusively by the degree of popularity used to transact human affairs. The Left/Right binary is meaningless. Team sports, artificially set up to allow the imitative rivalry of teams on each side. /5

Historically the terms are literal, deriving from positions inside a parliament, to the left or right of the Speaker. Which more deeply comes from the idea that contestation between two positions creates better decisions. We use it in law too. /6

There’s a prosecution and defence. The idea being that only contestation between these teams will force the revelation of the true facts. However the popularity continuum is part of law too. This team sports legal mechanism is more ‘Right’, more populist. /7

European legal process are often quite different. Their ‘civil law’ systems are based on foundation texts or codes, which skilled officials interpret for each case before them. That’s a more ‘Left’ process i.e. more about officials and regulations and institutions. /8

Anglo countries use more of a ‘common law’ system, where judges use (and make) case-based precedents, based often on persuading juries of guilt. That’s a more populist process, more ‘Right’. In the US for example even judges are elected, an obsession with popular input. /9

You can reframe all politics and even all law therefore with the much more accurate social continuum of popularity. Popularity is the central mechanism that societies circle around. As schools do, because it’s all culture, social behaviour. Adults disguise this mechanism. /10

With fancy names. But it’s all the same social process, of assembling teams, battling other teams, in the fight for social status. Because this imitative rivalry is so foundational, it also means the ‘Left’ side of the continuum is condemned to always eventually lose. /11

Popularity will out. We want our hierarchies and our status, our Kings and Great Leaders. Take them away and we just reinvent them in other guises. The best the ‘Left’ side of the continuum achieves is forming the checks and balances for populist rule. /12

The Magna Carta was this, with the nobles of the time wanting to restrain unfettered power of monarchs. The concept of ‘noblesse oblige’ is also this, the idea that the privileged have responsibilities to others. /13

The reason our leading people now seem to have such complete contempt for those less fortunate is our surviving welfare mechanisms. While those are present, they feel the idea of ‘noblesse oblige’ is unnecessary. Somebody else is looking out for the little people. /14

Our times are dangerous because they’re also removing these welfare mechanisms. Robodebt, anyone? But not replacing them with any noblesse oblige/mutual obligation for the privileged to look after others. It’s naked feudalism. Except feudal lords looked after peasants. /15

So it’s like a new historical low, of unbridled power, without checks and balances. Populism is surging, that’s what popularity-based governance is. If it’s popular, it wins. It even defines reality, it’s the same movement. Popularity is the key that unlocks all societies. /end