Realist left

{{significantly problematic}}{{Politics}}
The '''realist left''' is a new loose political grouping which seeks to retake "the left" (broadly defined) from what it perceives as an excessive and reputationally-harmful focus on [[identity politics]] issues as opposed to economic progress for the [[working class]] and middle class, and to move the [[left-wing]] away from [[neoliberal]]/[[centrist]] politics. It is a broad church, having few defining principles aside from the aforementioned opposition to identity politics "excesses" and to neoliberalism.

Certain statements by politicians and commentators on the left could be argued to place them in the realist left's ambit:

* "I think people are tired of the same old [[politically correct]] rhetoric." &mdash; [[Bernie Sanders]], discussing [[Donald Trump]]'s election victory in the [[2016 U.S. presidential election]] and Trump's use of politically-incorrect speech, by stark contrast to [[Hillary Clinton]]'s prominent embrace of [[feminism]], diversity, and pro-immigration rhetoric.
* "The huge mistake we've made, we have played the game of identity politics and identified groups, whether it is by [[ethnicity]] or [[sexuality]] or whatever you might want to call it, rather than say, 'we stand up for everyone in this country and that includes you, the white working class'."<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-must-stop-being-obsessed-with-diversity-says-stephen-kinnock_uk_58342344e4b09025ba335e02 Labour Must Stop ‘Obsessing’ About Diversity, Says Stephen Kinnock: MP tells party to end 'identity politics'] by Ned Simons (22/11/2016 13:16) ''Huffington Post''.</ref> &mdash; Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP in the UK.
* "This move of the new Left, or new radicals, towards a problem of identity politics (minority politics, [[gay rights]], etc.) lacks a certain more radical insight into the basically antagonistic character of society. This radical questioning has simply disappeared."<ref>[http://www.believermag.com/issues/200407/?read=interview_zizek Slavoj Žižek interview with ''The Believer'']</ref> &mdash; [[Slavoj Žižek]]
* "During the same period in which socially accepted [[sadism]] diminished, economic inequality and economic insecurity have steadily increased. It’s as if the American Left could not handle more than one initiative at a time — as if it either had to ignore stigma in order to concentrate on money, or vice versa."<ref>[http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/9/14543938/richard-rorty-liberalism-vietnam-donald-trump-obama This philosopher predicted Trump's rise in 1998 — and he has another warning for the left] by Sean Illing (9/2/2017) ''Vox''</ref> &mdash; {{wpl|Richard Rorty}}
* "Liberalism today is an expression of an enlightened professional class, and their core economic interests simply do not align with those of working people. One thing we know about professionalism is that it exists to shield insiders from public accountability. If coming up with a solution to what ails liberalism means listening to people who aren’t part of the existing nonprofit/journalistic in-group, then there will be no solution. Liberals would rather lose than do that." - {{wpl|Thomas Frank}}<ref>Thomas Frank, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/29/how-the-democrats-could-win-again-if-they-wanted How the Democrats could win again, if they wanted].  ''[[The Guardian]]'', Nov. 29, 2016.</ref>

The Realist Left and a large portion of its members also has a focus on economic issues, particularly to heterodox economic theories like [[Post-Keynesian economics|Post-Keynesian Economics]] or Modern Monetary Theory, which are skeptical of [[fiscal responsibility|deficit hysteria]]. Thus, in addition to its criticisms of the identity-politics-based post-structuralism, [[postmodernism]] and critical theory within academia, the Realist Left also is critical of "mainstream" neoclassical economics (in particular in Macroeconomics) and libertarian-based [[Austrian economics]] and its relative, [[neoliberalism]].

The Realist Left also tends to be anti-[[war|interventionist]] in foreign policy, and moderately [[Environmentalism|environmentalist]] - e.g. supporting investment, research and regulations in support of [[clean energy|green energy]].

==Alt-left==
Possibly the earliest reference to an "alternative left" comes from the blog of freelance journalist Robert A. Lindsay in August 2015.<ref name='Mashable'/> Lindsay, describing some on the "far"-left moving away from identity and social justice politics and moving towards focusing more on Economic [[Populism]], proposed the alt-left as a "mirror" of the [[alt-right]] and described it as left-wing on economics and right-wing on social issues.<ref name='Mashable'>[http://mashable.com/2017/08/16/donald-trump-alt-left/ Donald Trump's dangerous new low: alt-right vs. alt-left]. Mashable. August 17, 2017.</ref><ref>Lindsay, Robert A. [https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/proposal-for-an-alternative-left/ Proposal for an Alternative Left]. Beyond Highbrow. August 18, 2015.</ref>

In general, the "Alt-Left" could be considered more radical than the "Realist Left", being to their right on social issues and to their left on most everything else. 

According to a Brian Dean, who claims to have once called himself "alt-left", the term was coined in the 1990s to describe leftist people who defended then-unfashionable ideas like [[basic income]] and anti-work notions.<ref>Dean, Brian. [https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alt-left-alt-right-trump-internet-subculture-90s-cyber-what-we-stood-for-a7906246.html I was in the original 'alt-left' and this is what we really stood for.] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20201112015838/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alt-left-alt-right-trump-internet-subculture-90s-cyber-what-we-stood-a7906246.html Archived version.])</ref>

===Unrelated uses of the term===
{{See also|Alt-right glossary#Alt-left|Alt-right glossary § Alt-left}}

The '''Alt-Left''' (also '''CTRL-Left''') is a term that was made up by the right to create a sense of [[False equivalency|false equivalence]] between the far right and "anything vaguely left-seeming that they didn't like."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/alt-left-alt-right-glossary.html Alt-Right, Alt-Left, Antifa: A Glossary of Extremist Language] by Liam Stack (Aug. 15, 2017) ''New York Times''.</ref> 

It also originated as a term used by centrist and moderate Democrats against the [[Far left|"far"-left]] people within the party (as well as left-aligned independents) who support "progressive ideals" (like pushing [[Seth Rich]] murder conspiracies, praising Assad, claiming chemical attacks were false flags, and still denying that Russia meddled in the US election).<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8noaimoNzk</ref><ref>http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/16/what-is-alt-left-myth-215496</ref><ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/08/17/the-alt-right-didnt-invent-alt-left-liberals-did/?utm_term=.9d3d73ec5065</ref><ref>https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbbvbx/stop-saying-alt-left</ref><ref>http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-alt-left-20170816-story.html</ref>

The term has even been used by [[Sean Hannity]] to describe [[mainstream media]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/heres-the-best-thing-the-media-can-do-when-reporting-on-antifa/2017/09/02/e387e6a6-8e71-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html Here’s the best thing the media can do when reporting on ‘antifa’] by Margaret Sullivan (September 3, 2017 at 4:00 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/16/sean-hannity-alt-left-media-killed-journalism-in-quest-to-bury-trump.html Sean Hannity: Alt-left media killed journalism in quest to bury Trump] (March 16, 2017) ''Fox News''.</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/14/sean-hannity-alt-left-media-pushes-russia-fantasy-despite-no-evidence.html Sean Hannity: Alt-left media pushes Russia fantasy despite no evidence] (March 14, 2017) ''Fox News''.</ref>

The term "'''[[regressive left]]'''" is often used as a substitute for "alt-left" and an insult for the [[Far right|far-right]] to use against the far-left ("[[balance fallacy|see? the Left has crazies, too!]]"). However, the original meaning of the term "regressive left" was as a political epithet against liberals/leftists who allegedly fail to criticize reactionary or ideologically [[authoritarian]] elements within radical Islam — or Islam in general, depending on who you talk to — in the name of tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity, and/or other forms of alleged [[Cultural Marxism]]. The term has also seen some use in leftists who are (seen as being) too friendly towards authoritarian regimes as long as they profess to be "anti-imperialist".

==Connection with the alt-right==
The 'realist left' in this sense refers to [[leftists]] who are against [[cultural marxism|"cultural liberalism"]]<ref>[https://realistleft.wordpress.com/ About] ''Realist Left''.</ref> or "cultural leftism,"<ref>[http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-wikipedia-entry-for-realist-left.html A Wikipedia Entry for 'Realist Left'] (9/9/16) ''Socialist Democracy for the 21<sup>st</sup> Century''.</ref> which are [[euphemism]]s for [[cultural Marxism]], the alt-right boogeyman. This should tip you off that "Realist Left" is in fact the alt-right in yet another {{wpl|Count Olaf}}-like disguise.

==="Realist left" means alt-right socialists===
"Realist left" is something that [[racists]]/[[alt-right]]ers call themselves when they also believe in [[socialism]] (see also [[Nazis|National Socialists]]), so they can pretend to be on the left. "Realist" is short for [[race realist]], which is something racists call themselves so they can pretend they're not racists. Those on the "realist left" rail constantly against [[identity politics]], which is code for anything affecting black people, brown people, [[queer]] people, or women, but strangely enough not white people, and especially not white men, and [[political correctness]], which is code for not being racist in public. The realist left talks loudly about how if the [[Democrats]] would just abandon their focus on identity, they could start being relevant to the [[dogwhistle|middle class and the rust belt]], and they know this personally because, in fact, most of them voted for [[Donald Trump|Trump]].

The term is also used by alt-right [[meme]] specialists looking to lead leftists down the rabbit hole.  For example, the [https://realistleft.wordpress.com Realist Left Blog] starts off its manifesto with harsh words against [[neoliberalism]], in an attempt to establish left-wing credibility and woo socialists. But it then goes on to advocate for "[[Great Wall of America|modest levels of immigration]]" and "[[Postmodernism#Religious and political|reintroducing objective morality [and] objective truth]]," calling itself "[[family values|pro-family]]" and "[[Christianity|pro-Western values]]," before ranting about "[[cultural Marxism|cultural liberalism]]". Impressionable or naive readers may be left with the impression that these are real issues that actual leftists might oppose, and not a bunch of [[reactionary]] and alt-right buzzwords.

By the time you get to "3) We are pro-[[Free speech]], and anti-[[censorship]] on college campuses and public debate in the name of 'Political Correctness'. We oppose Islamization and appeasing reactionary [[Islamist]] political hardliners in the name of 'diversity' and 'tolerance', and support assimilation into our cultural values," it's pretty clear that this is Nazism dolled up in leftist clothing.

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Left-wing politics]]

Categories: Alt-right, Left-wing politics