The right rearms itself

One of the most revered figures by left-wing intellectuals is Antonio Gramsci, an author who is difficult to read but who contributed a series of ideas that revolutionized the simplistic approach that had characterized (and continues to characterize) militant Marxism. One of his central ideas is that social domination is exercised above all through persuasion, so the most important objective of the dominant classes is that the dominated classes adopt a series of ideas that justify the domination of which they are subject. The work of intellectuals, therefore, is crucial. On the part of some, to impose these ideas; on the part of others, to discredit them and impose others in which domination appears as an unnatural imposition. The intellectual struggle –always following Gramsci– is fought in a series of "battles of position" in each of which the point is whether a specific idea becomes considered common sense, or, on the contrary, ceases to be so. For example, that managers must earn a lot because their work is crucial to the survival of thousands of jobs, or that care work is low-productivity and therefore can only be remunerated modestly.

So, thanks to Gramsci, the left is well acquainted with the theory. What is surprising about the current situation is that it is only the right that is applying it in the West today.

In the Spanish panorama, one of the gurus of this theory is Jesús Fernández Villaverde, a prestigious academic economist active in various institutions in the USA. He expresses his ideas with conviction and clarity and is widely listened to. He is one of those people who is making new ideas become common sense. I will highlight five.

First. The theme of the 21st century is demographic collapse, because "Spain cannot survive as a nation with a fertility rate of 1.2%." As an example, Villaverde predicts the extinction of Catalan in 2060 (sic) due to the low fertility of Catalan speakers.

Second. Immigration is bad business, which means that it is not true that it helps pay pensions. It is true that there are hundreds of studies that would show that immigration makes a net contribution to the financing of public services, but only because they focus on the immediate effect: the immigrant arrives and starts working and paying taxes. Taking into account the entire life of the immigrant – that is, also his retirement – the contribution is negative except in the case of the highly qualified immigrant. Villaverde rightly says that those studies are "mediocre", and compares the initial contribution to a "shot of coke".

Third. We need a strong state, and if Spain does not have one it is because in the 19th century the liberal regime was not able to impose itself by force of arms against the Carlists. This weakness is manifest today in the presence in the Congress of Deputies of four Carlist parties: Junts, ERC, PNV and Bildu, and in the fragmentation of the Spanish market into "17 different realities" that make it difficult for companies to gain the volume they need to assume risks and investments.

Quarter. It is necessary to promote economic growth, a task that is considered one of the two basic functions of the State (the other being defence), since the lack of growth causes very serious social and political problems. The legacy of Merkel, Von der Leyen and the European Commission in general is disastrous because it is drowning in a sea of regulations Europe's capacity to lead the new technological revolution, and in particular that represented by artificial intelligence. Far from vindicating Francoism, it is claimed that no one defends his legacy more ardently than Yolanda Díaz by maintaining labour rigidity. Spain's great opportunity would lie in the possibility of providing itself with cheap energy thanks to a combination of renewable and nuclear power. Closing nuclear power, "repeating the error that everyone now recognises in Germany, would be an unforgivable frivolity".

Fifth. Madrid is the happy exception of a community that believes in the creation of wealth in the midst of a Spain obsessed with redistribution.

Not all of these ideas are applauded with the same enthusiasm, but what seems relevant to me is that they are very far from the "neoliberalism" that the left insists on denouncing. If the right triumphs in the West (Spain is still an exception in this) it is because it has been able to renew its political project by constructing a coherent and attractive discourse. The left is mistaken if it thinks it will be able to stop it by repeating words like fascism either authoritarianismJust as those who were scandalized by gay marriage ended up buried, so too will those who now only know how to be scandalized by Trump or Meloni.