Now, I'm especially puzzled by the correlation between political sides what seems to be the Enlightenment/Romanticism divide.
I'm not sure I see the correlation. On the one hand, some right-wingers do support deregulation and believe that the market will sort things out, while some left-wingers believe that urgent action is needed to avoid collapse[1]. This would suggest that right-wing is Enlightenment and left-wing is Romanticism. On other issues, especially social or moral issues[2], leftists believe that new technologies will be a force for good and should be freely available, while rightists believe they are a threat to ("traditional") morals and should be curtailed. That would suggest that the right is Romanticism and the left is Enlightenment. I suspect the reason for this apparent divide is that the parties and their constituencies are choosing their positions based on pro-business, pro-religion, or pro-intellectuals'-signalling-based-opinions, rather than by adherence to consistent Enlightenment or Romantic ideas.
[1]: To be specific: financial markets, oil drilling, farming practices are issues where this pattern appears most visibly.
[2]: Specifically: euthanasia/right-to-die, stem cell research, genetic engineering of crops or people.
genetic engineering of crops or people.
Odd. Among those I'm exposed to, the strongest voices against genetic engineering of crops and nonhuman animals seem to be left-leaning, generally those aligned with the Green spectrum. Genetic engineering of people is so far outside the Overton window that I've never come across a strong political opinion for or against; the consensus view among both the left and the right seems to be that it's vaguely icky, although it rarely appears at all. Who're you thinking of?
This is a minor point, though. I agree with most of your analysis.
(Edit: Thanks for the helpful comments. Also, downvoting this thread to oblivion was probably a good idea —and it'd better stay buried. Sorry for the noise.)
(Sorry for the mind-killing topic, but here is the only place I can hope for something remotely rational.)
Lately, I have noticed the existence of what seems to amount to two meme-clusters.
On the one hand we have the Left-wing Alarmist, which want to have wealth more equitably distributed, warns about our dead soil, our resources consumption run amok, our (West) exploitation of the South, and above all, the unsustainability of our society (collapse often due before 2 or 3 decades). One particular flaw in this vision is the complete disregard for possible technology developments. Typically, this one will call for (classical) anarchy, localization and de-industrialization of (preferably organic) food production, economy of physical resources, reduced work-hours, sometimes even a simplification of every-day technology. The bottom line is, the world is currently worsening.
On the other hand, we have the Right-wing Optimist, which wants free markets, believes in growth (often defined as GDP growth) to solve most of our problems, is confident about the development of new technologies, and above all believes in our ability to adapt. One particular flaw in this vision is the complete disregard for the adaptation by starvation and war that often happen. Typically, this one will call for deregulation of the economy, the reduction (or elimination) of welfare, maximizing economies of scale and the law of comparative advantages through globalization, and the privatization of nearly everything. The bottom line is, the world is currently improving.
Of course, it's not all that clear cut. More likely, there is a spectrum between those two extremes.
Now, I'm especially puzzled by the correlation between political sides what seems to be the Enlightenment/Romanticism divide. Where could it possibly come from?
Also, there's got to be evidence one way or the other. The problem is, it's likely difficult to process. For instance, while Steven Pinker will tell you that violence is steadily decreasing by showing decreasing violent death rates, Noam Chomsky will tell you that violence is _increasing_ for a while, by showing "structural" violence like poverty, starvation, or unwanted pollution. So, does anyone know of a way to process the evidence rationally?