A shout out to "social issues"

[LeftishBrit]

128. I think that one of the most damaging myths in politics is in fact the separability of 'economic'

and 'social' issues.

On the one hand, we have those who describe themselves as 'social liberals but economic conservatives'. As one who lives under just such a government: it is socially liberal for those who can afford it! Those who are below a certain income - plus, increasingly, those who are in insecure or unpredictable employment which constantly puts them at risk of being below a certain income - are kept in a state of chronic anxiety, and their freedom is denied by the fear of losing their jobs and homes and wherewithal for survival, quite as much as it would be by fear of the police. Moreover - the government itself is authoritarian and coercive toward those on benefits (compulsory medical treatment for obesity and addictions is their latest proposal), while libertarian for the better-off. If one must choose, it is better to be governed by a David Cameron than a Rick Santorum; but neither is a good idea.

On the other hand, there is often a complete blindness to the fact that so-called 'social' issues are not trivialities, or even just 'social', but concrete, physical, economic realities. Women are not just insulted by sexist policies - they are often kept poor, and in many places in serious physical danger. Reproductive rights are often essential to survival and certainly to keeping people of both sexes out of poverty ('the rich get richer and the poor get children'...) Racism keeps members of minority groups poor, often sick (even nowadays African-Americans have lower life expectancies than whites), often victims of violence.

Creating an artificial distinction between 'social' and 'economic' issues is a good way of preventing either from being addressed properly; of 'dividing and ruling'; of enabling right-libertarianism on the one hand and neo-fascism on the other.