North American and European democracies are on the defensive. Electoral events, especially of the past decade, have forced a reckoning and a review of the alleged benefits of democratic rule—economically, politically, and culturally. Many residents of these countries have vociferously expressed a dissatisfaction with the outcomes produced by democratic leadership. Reversion back to more authoritarian styles of governance is competing for recognition and legitimacy.
The most obvious example for an American these days is the transformation of the Republican Party with its adopted dictatorial traits such as amplified executive control, erosion of institutional checks and balances, politicizing of formally independent institutions and agencies, manipulation of election processes, intolerance of dissent, and the spread of tainted information. This playbook or something similar to it is being duplicated in the forms of Hungary’s Fidsesz Party; Poland’s PiS Party; the PVV in The Netherlands; Vox in Spain; AfD in Germany; the RN in France; and others in Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Slovakia, and Sweden.
In the US, the election contest between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, only thirteen years ago, seems like a quaint old electoral match in comparison to what elections look like now. The western world appears to be a different place than the relatively placid days of 2012. How did this transformation happen? How did this right-wing revolution come about? Why are we having to contend with this wild cultural swing?
Liberals, the left, and pro-democracy adherents are wracking their brains to try to understand this phenomenon and to know how to best confront it. The churn of perspectives, pieces of advice, and admonitions are fascinating to behold and will likely meld into a unified political counterweight at some point. However, my primary interest in assessing the liberal post-mortem is to see if there exists a fundamental causation triggering this political mutation. I want to know the nature of this right-wing antecedent.
(Note, my forthcoming argument will be specific to the American experience, which is my most reliable frame of reference. Whether my claim of philosophical dissonance carries the same weight in Europe and elsewhere is not a claim I am prepared to definitively make. However, I suspect there is a narrative arc.)
In an attempt to better understand the roots of the American right’s appeal I am going to play out a thought I have recently had. I have been hypothesizing that a significant motivator energizing far-right authoritarian movements may be that it is a reaction against the philosophical underpinning of liberalism’s adherence to analytic philosophy. What follows is my case for why the current analytic philosophy movement plays a causative role in today’s politics and a harmful one in part for today’s political left.
I need to give some contextual background to support my thought process leading to this speculative theory. To begin with I would like to be factually descriptive of the type of citizens who are drawn to the MAGA/authoritarian governance style. Secondly, I would like to examine the fundamental philosophical foundation that adherents to this movement both accept and reject. Thirdly, I must unpack in some detail what analytic philosophy is and how it holds such influence with the political left, particularly in the United States. From this review a better understanding may emerge that can assist liberals in assessing how their messaging is detrimental and in need of reform.
A start, therefore, is to take a look at the type of people who find Trumpism or the MAGA movement favorably. One of my favorite summaries of this cohort was written by the New York Times columnist David French on October 5, 2023, in a piece entitled How MAGA Corrupts the Culture of the White Working Class. In it French writes, “What are these working-class values, in the best sense? I don’t want to oversimplify a complex culture, but there are some common themes—directness in speech, a respect for traditional family structures and roles, a more instrumentalist view of work (your job is what you do, not who you are), adeptness at practical learning, a tough protective ethos centered on family and community, and a deep sense of honor and loyalty.”
I find this a charitable description of a group that has upended French’s conservative world. Regardless, using this description we can see how a large component of the MAGA coalition, namely the white working class, reveres simplicity, tradition, and pragmatism. They see themselves as the forgotten ones—the ones by-passed by the well-educated elite who are too busy conjuring ways of creating and stockpiling wealth than to concern themselves with people who concretely and sensibly engage with the harsh world set before them. The combination of economic resentment and cultural pride sparks a motivation to fight back against what is seen as a fundamental unfairness in our society.
To be sure, the MAGA coalition is comprised of more than just the white working class. However, it is this group specifically who best personify the MAGA ideology at its core. Let us examine their perspective. The elite are seen as riding the wave of rapid economic expansion into the new and highly energized areas defined by technological development and globalized interconnectivity. Many in MAGA world are not attracted to this way of life. Sure, the money yielded would be nice to have, but not at the cost of constructing such a lifestyle. Time tested and honorable customs aligned with patriotism, religion, and regional mores are seen as more admirable. Change is something to be wary and suspicious of—and the quicker the change occurs the more defensive one gets.
Threats to a life of tradition abound. Increased immigration dilutes the demographic and ethnic mix of communities. Minority groups or integrative collectives tied together by racial, gender, and other civilizing traits, are outsiders who must be managed in order to protect the integrity of the tribe. Attempts by the elite to advance equality by promoting and practicing tolerance of distorted and abnormal causes such as gender equality, sexual adventurism, climate engagement, substituting philosophy for religion, free trade, and other “progressive” campaigns prompt resistance. Government institutions also have become corrupted by a tendency to officiate movements away from heritage and towards leniency and change management.
Retaining cultural conventions for the long term is difficult to do. One’s guard must not be let down. A strongman who sings from your hymnbook looks like an appealing figure to have marshalling the challenge. Indeed, loyalty to an authoritarian who can best disrupt and parry the elite’s misguided actions is exactly what is needed. It is even worth considering that the presence of a powerful protector is heaven sent and consistent with natural law. MAGA is not looking for a compromiser, but rather a belligerent and antagonistic adversary to justifiably confront their political enemies.
Strategies, approaches, and leaders aside I contend there is something more rudimentary afoot in what stimulates and incites the MAGA crusade. I believe the MAGA pushback against the left and liberals is in part a reaction to the way the left thinks and reasons—a style of viewing the world that is in some key ways opposing the perspective of no nonsense plainness and customary prudence embraced by today’s right. The gap between the right and the left is not just about stances on issues or policy positions but is philosophical in nature.
One could be justified in thinking that philosophical contemplation is not what consumes the considerations of everyday people going about their lives. Rather, we are faced with more immediate concerns of trying to engender for ourselves the most comfortable, secure, and fruitful lives possible given all of the headwinds modern existence throws at us. However, philosophy is present behind the scenes in influencing and shaping the choices we face and the decisions we make leading to how successful or not our attempts are in crafting the best lives possible.
Our chosen political persuasions are also philosophically based. We align with like-minded individuals to form coalitions that have throughlines of similar values, perspectives, and beliefs. Expectedly, tensions arise when political philosophies come into conflict with other worldviews. This is natural, even within communities within which there is much to unite us despite our differences. Unfortunately, times occur when the dissonance between political factions threatens to unravel societies as we are now witnessing with the rise of right-wing populism. So, how did this happen? Here is what I propose to explain what we see playing out in America.
During the twentieth century philosophy as a discipline in the United States and the United Kingdom became entrenched by a school of thought known as analytic philosophy. Historically speaking in the US, analytic philosophy supplanted a philosophical system known as American pragmatism, which was dominant from the late nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Simultaneously, analytic philosophy eclipsed a longstanding and extensive European philosophical outlook known as continental philosophy, which had a degree of influence among American public and academic intellectuals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, albeit limited. Analytic philosophy remains the commanding philosophical school in the US to this day.
Analytic philosophy gained a foothold in higher education where its methodological emphasis on precision, argumentation, and linguistic analysis found a natural home. There is not a lot of daylight between the practice of science and the practice of analytic philosophy. Scientific exactitude and measurability directed toward reduction of phenomena to fundamental elements leading to predictions of phenomenal actions permeates our modern world. This is most evident in the enterprises that fuel our economy. Innovation, research & development, and technical advancement are vital forces necessary to remain sustainable and competitive in business. These forces rely on logical consistency, clarity of definitions, and argumentative thoroughness. We value scientific scrupulousness and therefore educated people feel it is instinctive to apply a similar style of preciseness to our philosophy.
However, I contend that there is a price to pay for such a strong reliance on analytic philosophy. Although most Americans will never have heard of analytic philosophy it nevertheless has influenced the manner of thinking practiced by elites, including politicians, policymakers, and the media. On the one hand, this implies that elites are thorough, rigorous, and meticulous in how they conduct their businesses, but on the other hand, Americans who do not see themselves as elite see instead a highly educated aristocracy using detailed and sophisticated language to describe abstract ideas and priorities which do not relate to the hardships of their lives.
Climate change is a pertinent example. There is plenty of data showing that manufactured climate degradation is a serious problem. But for many conservatives, it is a liberal problem, not one that helps pay the high cost of getting ahead in America. Closely related to climate change is the liberal concern over a clean energy transition to more sustainable and renewable sources, such as wind and solar. MAGA world views the introduction of alternative sources of energy as economically risky or irrelevant to their daily lives. Economic inequality is another liberal priority that befuddles conservatives. To them it is liberal elites who appear to be hoarding wealth with little concern for the needs of working class people. Voting rights and the preservation of democracy is viewed as a another sky-is-falling leftist battle cry attempting to make a catastrophe where there is none. LGBTQ+ rights to Trumpism just show how out of touch liberals have become with their ill-advised ideas by trying to engender an unnatural world.
I could go on but suffice it to say citizens who align with today’s Republican Party see the educated purveyors of liberal causes as steeped in misguided priorities and policy positions that are far removed from the important and meaningful matters of the common person. Beyond stances on specific policy and political issues what appears to most irritate the right about the educated left is the perceived attitude that leftists are superior sounding snobs who know better than the rest of us. Nobody likes a know-it-all and that impression has grafted itself upon the brand of Democrats and the left.
About 35% to 40% of Americans hold at least a college bachelor’s degree. These degrees range from fashion to finance and engineering to English and a whole lot more in between. We would be hard pressed indeed to find any college major field of study today that is not heavily impacted by analytic philosophy. As a result, those of us with college educations think and talk like people shaped by analytic philosophy—because we are! Perhaps the time has come for the educated left to ponder how analytic thinking contributes to a perception of being out of touch. And while we are on the subject, what is it in our philosophical outlook that is being left out or not adequately considered?
American cultural thinking and discourse has lost something important with its adherence to analytical conceptualizing and its relative abandonment of the influences of American pragmatism and continental philosophy. Together pragmatism and the continental approach do not feel the compulsion toward essentialism as does analytic philosophy. Boiling all experience down to rudimentary elements in search of the theory of everything steers our thought toward scientific clarity, logical principles, and precise language. This is fine and necessary for solving problems requiring technical and medical solutions, but not for assisting us in navigating the complexities of life with all of its subjective and objective calibrations.
There is a huge difference between abstract analysis inquiry and lived experience not unlike the gap between our cognitive selves and our emotional selves. Making meaning and adopting values are rich life endeavors both at a personal and at social levels. We are all faced with trying to make sense of life and how to best flourish given all of the opportunities and challenges we encounter. We are enmeshed simultaneously in wonderful potential but also with profound hazards. A politics that brackets and ignores the fundamentals of lived experience risks irrelevance. I think this may have happened with the left.
The philosophical traditions that have been sidelined in favor of analytic philosophy were not afraid to tackle these phenomenological layers of life. They saw history as helping to tell the story of their people. The peculiarities of culture and how traditions evolved were worth contemplating. How personal impressions of the world defined externalities, including other people, were to be examined. Literature and art aided us and enriched us as we tried to anchor some sense out of this fluid and messy existence. This approach to thought, as uncertain as it can be, is to be embraced and celebrated. Might this attitude be finding a home in populism? I think it may be.
I see ways in which the current brand of American populism overlaps with the existential approach of continental philosophy and American pragmatism. A huge connection pertains to this notion of lived or ordinary experience. Populism is defined as centering on the common affairs and issues of everyday people. Populism values being grounded in the real world. They do not dig too deeply into the ontological structure of existence beyond the story religion tells. To use the all too trite phrase these days regarding the world—it is what it is. It is in the American spirit that we find practical solutions to confronting the problems that we share. Ten-point plans of action usually do not cut it. And when the time comes to celebrate we try to remember to rejoice in simple ways despite our current technologically complex existence.
Populism is not as anti-change as it appears at first. Experience presents us with countless situations that require us to revise our ideas and practices. However, in doing so we are reminded of a heuristic presented to us by the fourteenth century Franciscan friar William of Occam who instructed western thinkers to debate competing reactions to similar phenomena by selecting the simplest approach, the one with fewer twists and turns and plots and schemes. Subjective experience keeps us in touch with how we feel and think. We face the world internally with various degrees of abstraction in our attempts to make meaning. It is necessary for those who engage in high levels of rational absorption while trying to pin down reality to realize that for many others a plainer and more straightforward process is preferred.
This uncomplicated preference for unsophisticated and unadorned answers over theoretical constructs sets the stage for populism’s attack on the analytically educated elite. Historic institutions run largely by the educated and privileged have served as the glue which holds society together. Nevertheless, they are now seen as entities entrenched in formalism and over-rumination. They have become a waste of fiscal resources and a danger to the status quo by imposing unwanted social transformations on traditional thought and practice.
Also, the populist view on the nature of change may mean that they are not as much of a threat to democracy as is commonly assumed. Democracy requires measured amounts of modification in order to keep government relevant and the citizenry cohesive. Thomas Jefferson told us as much. Pragmatism as a philosophy proposes that democracy requires continual reform and reconstitution. Combined with continental philosophy’s emphasis on community engagement and a willingness to question authority and we are left with an apparent acceptance of the general principles of citizen rule. I realize that can be obscured by the openness to authoritarianism, which is a serious contradiction, but peel back some layers and I am willing to bet that we can find that democracy still beats in there.
Enlightenment era democratic traditions will always undergo upheavals. It is conceptually innate to a system spawned by the maxim of rule by the people. We will necessarily wrangle with competing visions and rival notions of truth and reality forever. So what?! This does not have to be an existential crisis for our country. Hope does not need to be unceremoniously thrown overboard. Common ground can be found.
Speaking as a center-left liberal, lifelong Democrat, and hopeless political junkie I encourage adding an, uh, well, analysis of the impact analytic philosophy is having on political discourse, partisan relevance, and socially divisive engagement. Liberals are picking their way through the woods, looking for the trail they stumbled off of, so that they can find their way back to power. I therefore offer consideration of philosophical dissonance as a contributing factor in finding our way out of the wilderness.