#Why do intellectuals "turn left"?

In the title, I am referring to intellectuals who made their political debut as more or less notorious dissidents before the Revolution and were fully recognised as such by the 1990s and early 2000s. Many became permanent figures during the “anti-corruption battle” of the later years, alongside their disciples. When asked for their stance, they all declare themselves “rightists” or at least reject the “leftist” political option, after the criminal experiment of the Communist totalitarianism.

But what were the traits of the Communist totalitarianism? I can only describe it as a monstrous exacerbation and fetishizing of the State powers over the individuals, families, communities and society altogether. We often discuss the results without drawing our attention to the social-humanitarian pretexts of the revolution which brought in the Gulag and in which many naives have put their faith.

You’d think anyone who went through that, especially a self-styled “rightist” intellectual (or even an explicitly “liberal” or “conservative” one) would have learned the need for minimizing or restricting the institutional and legal powers of the state. The peril of totalitarianism grows and wanes in conjuction with the state’s power to influence and control the lives of the individuals, families, communities, society, legitimised by law. The state, capable of exerting exhaustive power over the society, should be - to the extent it is not yet considered a necessary evil - the lesser one.

Well, this is hardly the case. We see that the sort of intellectuals I mentioned stray away from thinking in this way, manner. For them, the state power in Communism has not been inherently bad; just the values it promoted were wrong. At most, the coercion methods were extreme. But not the coercion itself. The role of state is beneficial and so are its powers, if it promotes and warrants the “proper values.” right-wing political correctness is more insidious than the leftist one.

This is exactly why such intellectuals are unable to realize that the very magnitude of state presence in the economy - through taxes, regulations and public investment - is the source of corruption. On the contrary, they perceive corruption as indicative of the state’s weakness and want its capacity reinforced, thus creating opportunities of refining the plundering and inefficiency and adding to the administrative burden of honest people.

“Right-wing” intellectuals do not consider the disaster found in the educational sector as symptomatic of the state’s failure in this area and do not deem it a reason for complete liberalization of this field, including homeschooling. Instead, they claim that the share of the GDP alloted to forms of public education is too small. They complain about the curriculum being increasingly loaded with “cultural Marxism”, never once realising that the solution is not having a conservative thought police in state schools, but actually dismantling the public educational monopoly.

Among the relics of anti-Communism, one is the idealization of technocracy. In Communism, an activist carrying a binder would lecture to the workers and hoeing peasants. Experts were prevented from doing their job. This invites the argument that technocrats must now be in charge. The proponents of such ideas forget, however, that the social engineers who devised Communism envisioned it as a scientific project, where the experts in the inexorable advance of history towards the class-free paradise would guide the people down the right path, by force if necessary.

In short, the right-wing liberal-conservatives also want - it’s only human! - to take over the state power and put it to work in favour of their own values. They don’t want freedom for all, but a sort of “property qualification” for freedom based on “culture” and “axiological orientation” instead of enrichment. Sort of like left-wing “identity politics” in reverse. Last but not least, they show off their Christian identity on every occasion. They forget the Apostle’s words: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

I have not yet mentioned, but must remark that the lack of expertise and the corruption found in the political class are sources of uncertainty for the general public, somewhat resembling the Stalinist era.

The key to solve this problem is not, however, to seek the replacement of the current chaos with alternative forms, but to look for pragmatic solutions, especially since Romania is an EU member and will, sooner or later, introduce the Euro currency.

That’s why we need a real strategy for convergence, in order to participate to the division of labor within the Union. Culturally, we need to refrain from accepting handouts fabricated by marketing specialists and politicians as substitutes for adequate moral values and principles.