When discussing the meaning and value of the political Left, we should start by being honest about what people actually need. They do not need a more “just” distribution of wealth. They do not need reconciliation between labor and capital. Those things are merely instruments—means to achieve a deeper and more human goal.
What people truly need is this:
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Work that does not destroy dignity.
Not every job must be easy, but no job should be degrading. Hard work can be a source of pride when it gives a person the sense that he is building or providing something real. -
A wage that allows a decent life.
This is not only a question of pay, but of culture. If people are surrounded by a consumer society that tells them life is meaningless without diamond rings or luxury vacations, then no salary will ever be enough. A humane economy requires restraint in desire as much as it requires fair wages. -
Functional public services.
Health care, education, and transportation are not luxuries—they are the arteries of civilization. When they fail, social trust dies with them. -
Security.
First and foremost, protection from crime, terrorism, and uncontrolled migration. But also protection of children from ideological activists who seek to confuse them about their identity and push them toward gender experiments or other forms of social chaos. -
Preservation of cultural continuity.
People must be allowed to live according to their customs and traditions—to continue the patterns of life that give meaning to their days.
If some form of capitalism can secure these things, then that form of capitalism deserves to be supported.
But we must also recognize that the neoliberal version of capitalism now dominant in the West neither can nor wishes to provide them. It dissolves communities, erodes dignity, and replaces human flourishing with perpetual consumption. A society built on such foundations cannot last—and it should not.
Chcete, agente, abych k tomuto