Andrew Sullivan had a lengthy, but interesting, article about Jeremy Corbyn in the NYM last week. He clearly views the improbable rise of Corbyn as a threat to the well-being of the UK and a cautionary tale for the Democrats. Is he right?
The similarities between Corbyn and Bernie Sanders are way too obvious to ignore. That said, I think Sullivan’s concerns are overblown, for the following reasons:
- While Corbyn won the Labour Party leadership contest, Sanders lost to Clinton in 2016.
- Surveys taken during the campaign showed that a large number of Sanders voters were actually more conservative than Clinton, and were voting for him solely because they weren’t with her.
- The UK, for all of its changes, is still far more class-conscious than the US. The Democrats are more of an identity-driven party, which makes old-style leftism more difficult.
- Corbyn clearly detests America. No American politician is going to get elected with that message.
- Corbyn is a genuine 1970s socialist. Socialism actually had a following in the UK back then, so you can view him as sort of an “everything old is new again” phenomenon. For a variety of reasons I have discussed previously, socialism never had a large following in this country, and probably never will.