Trump, Sanders and Corbyn

On the both sides of the Atlantic, underdogs are the new sensations these days. In the West, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and in the East, Jeremy Corbyn, are making their mark. Trump, an American real estate mogul, is leading the Republican presidential candidate race; whereas Sen. Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, is making swift upward progress on the Democrats’ side. In the U.K., a traditional leftist MP, Corbyn, is heading the race for leadership of the Labour Party, the main opposition party in the country. What is happening on the two main stages of Anglo-Saxon democracy these days?

First case, Trump. Getting attention by making noise has always been his specialty. Not a day goes by without his eccentricity and controversial remarks making the news. But overindulgence will surely lose its potency as time goes on. If he ends up being the Republican presidential candidate, there is no reason for South Korea’s ‘Master Huh’* not to become Saenuri’s presidential candidate. His popularity is nothing but a tempest in a teapot. You can bet $100 that this will end as quietly as a gentle breeze.

Next case, Sanders. He is a socialist, and that makes him less likely than even an atheist to be the next president of the United States. He is making radical pledges like breaking up financial institutions, mandating free public college education, and setting a nationwide $15 minimum wage. I would also bet $50 that he has little chance of becoming a United States presidential candidate. In fact, thanks to Trump and Sanders’ early headway, most analysts agree that the election will end up as a contest between Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton..

But Corbyn of the U.K. is different. He actually has a chance at becoming the leader of the Labour Party. He is an old-fashioned socialist and he is against the “New Labour” ideals that were laid out by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was elected on the promise of “Third Way” politics. The word “leftist” does not do Corbyn justice. He needs an extra epithet like “radical” or “extreme.” Despite the criticism that Labour’s failure in the last election was due to former leader Ed Miliband’s leftist policies, Corbyn argues that Labour must go even further to the left. Free college education and more social security services, both to be provided by a tax increase on the rich, are the headline acts in his repertoire. Matthew d’Ancona, a columnist for The Guardian, notes that “[Corbyn becoming the new Labour leader is as] … if a figure like Noam Chomsky … became the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for the White House.”**

Trump and Sanders’ popularity is a reflection of American society’s left-leaning trend. A Gallup poll shows that American baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) are showing conservative leanings at a ratio of 44 to 21; whereas the millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) are dominantly liberal at a ratio of 30 to 28. In addition to the decline in baby boomers and the rise in millennials, an increase in the non-white population, in particular the Hispanic and Asian populations, is also pressing the left-leaning trend. The Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage and “Obamacare” (the Affordable Care Act), as well as state and city governments’ push for a higher minimum wage, are not unrelated to the changes in the American population. Sanders benefits from them. Trump, on the other hand, stands as the voice of conservative white male voters who are frustrated by these changes.

The leading Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is also being influenced by the left-leaning atmosphere. Judging the principal battleground for the next election to be the economy, she continually promotes the promise of policies to benefit middle-income and low-income voters. As inequalities get worse by the minute, she considers victory unlikely without addressing this issue and is supporting policies such as profit-sharing and a higher minimum wage. One could say she has adopted the liberals’ idea that higher wages bring more purchasing power and increased expenditure, leading to a positive boost for the economy.

Corbyn may win the Labour leadership contest by playing up to the party’s nostalgia for socialism, but that will not guarantee victory in the United Kingdom’s 2020 general election. Without rousing the support of moderates, he cannot get the votes from conservatives that are needed to win the election. To cling to traditional leftism is like being a child who feels comfortable in the blanket which the child has used since the child was a toddler. The world has already adopted a global system of competition and consumerism and has accepted individualism and technological innovations. To hope to win with only puritan leftism is alarmingly old-fashioned.

The job of today’s liberal is to come up with realistic policy that can stimulate growth and, at the same time, make sure its fruit can be returned to the laborers. Do South Korean liberals have the ability and the will to do this? Coming up with practical alternatives for the laborer-capitalist relationship is the only way for South Korean liberals to survive. Forget Corbyn and Sanders. Clinton is the one you ought to pay attention to.

*Huh Kyung-young is a South Korean politician, chief of the Democratic Republican Party and singer. He is known for his extravagant claims, including but not limited to supernatural abilities, family connections among South Korea’s super rich, a supposed marriage proposal between him and the current South Korean President Park Geun-hye, his ability to communicate with aliens and the dead (including Jesus, Michael Jackson, and the ghosts of two dead South Korean presidents). He claims that inspiration for his hit song ‘Call Me’ was given to him by the Creator while he was having an out-of-body experience and was incarcerated in prison. He ran for the South Korean presidency in 2007. The total count for him was 96,756 votes.

**Editor’s Note: Quoted from an opinion piece Matthew d’Ancona wrote for The New York Times, July 30, 2015.