Spineless, unprincipled, constantly making excuses about why they're not doing anything, unwilling to do literally fucking ANYTHING to help the people they say they represent.
What are the underlying material conditions driving this?
Here in BC, Canada, the "social democratic" NDP government recently got a majority government, which means they can do literally anything they want. Pass any legislation they want. Pass any laws, any taxes, literally whatever the fuck they want.
And what have they done? FUCK ALL. Nothing. Not a single piece of legislation that I can think of. They're taking as long as they possibly can to implement $15 minimum wage, no paid sick days, no card check legislation, fucking NOTHING. Instead of using the pandemic as the obvious reason to pass this legislation they are hiding behind it as their excuse to avoid doing literally anything useful.
This seems to be the case all over the Western world.
WHY?
Unlike other people here I don't think it's because of sinister reasons. Politics everywhere has become a lot more about aesthetics than platforms. People are being taught from childhood that any change is bad and scary. In a lot of places the political theory that is taught is also absolutely pointless neoliberalism. A lot of, lot of people sincerely believe in deregulation and free markets. Finally there is just the fear of using power and not knowing how to do it. Also things are very different country by country and in Europe it is better, and there are policies being passed and there is competition and pressure from the left.
Another explanation is what I see in Eastern Europe - the social democrats don't get anything done, but neither does anybody else except the far right nationalists, cause for everyone except them it's a grift. For the nationalists it's a mix of grifting and actual conviction. And of course there is no meaningful left in most of Eastern Europe
It is so sad that the only ones in bourgeois politics who actually seems to believe in something and have a vision for a different society are the far right. Everyone else seems content with rearranging the deck chairs of the status quo.
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The far right's leaders went to the same universities that leaders of other parties went to and they have similarly secure and privileged positions in society. Their folksiness is nothing but a bit to make their supporters (who they barely manage to hide their contempt for) identify with them.