The left’s problem, distilled

At its most basic level, the left’s core problem when it gets into trouble (as now) is falling into expecting those who don’t take responsibility for themselves to be the responsibility of those who do take responsibility for themselves. This is rather than expecting people who don’t take responsibility for themselves to start taking responsibility for themselves.

You can broaden this out to cover countries and societies: that on the left we expect that those who don’t govern themselves decently and effectively should be the responsibility of those who do take responsibility for themselves. (Our version of colonialism there, and with the irony that we then blame those who do take responsibility for themselves for being indecent and immoral when they don’t take it on for others).  
The victim mentality is an offshoot of this more basic stance, with victim status putting you under the responsibility (again, ironically) of those who are apparently making you the victim.
These relationships are one-way relationships: with one party taking on responsibility for the other, making a choice to do so while the other party theoretically gives way and lets the first step in for them. When the left gets into trouble, as now (seemingly all over Europe and beyond), we take on this role of patron for ourselves, seeing those who will benefit from our beneficence as ‘our people’ who need us.
This assumption is doubtful but has a basic goodness about it and good effects in some of our social programmes. During the last Labour governments I would point to SureStart children’s centres as perhaps the best of these because they are people-centred rather than purely transactional. (You can become a better parent by learning off other parents and care workers; that doesn’t happen automatically from sitting at home receiving a wodge of money every month).
But we make the political error in expecting that the whole of the political community should take the same stance as us by taking responsibility for others in this one-way relationship via the state; and what’s more we claim moral superiority for expecting it. This is unrealistic and a mistake, not least because people have now grown accustomed to the way the welfare state doesn’t pay much attention to whether someone deserves their wodge of cash or not (Abu Qatada anyone?).
For a start we might question rather more whether we are actually taking something essential in what it means to be human away from others by supporting them unconditionally through the welfare system: that we are disburdening them of the necessary burdens of being human and being part of society. Of course any decent civilised society looks after those going through difficult times or who have tangible difficulties acting for themselves, like many disabled. Also, I believe strongly we should address inequality through significant redistribution of wealth – but crucially, not by giving the impression of punishing people for achievement and rewarding them for non-achievement and inaction. That is why I am sympathetic to the Green Party’s idea of a ‘citizen’s income’ (which would have to be tied closely to national citizenship).
But responsibilities don’t and shouldn’t just go one way. We all have a responsibility to each other and to the state as the state does to us – to act within the law and not abuse the system. Unconditional support in one direction without basic reciprocity integrated into the system as fundamental doesn’t seem to me a marker of civilisation but rather one of nihilism.
On the left and within Labour we habitually treat poorer people and certain favoured ‘disadvantaged groups’ as clients of ours who need us. This is a complacent attitude, as if we have the answers to the problems of their lives, which we don’t – and neither should we expect to. People who are struggling need themselves more than they do 'us', and that is no bad thing.


See also article: Food Banks: Of community and polarised politics and The Labour Party and other party politics page for more on similar themes.