An open letter to right-wing voters

On the day of reflection, I address this letter to you, the right-wing voters. Those of you who share the principles of the right, such as more freedom and responsibility for citizens and less interference and control from the state. And even more specifically, those of you who once again convinced me to vote, even though there is no political formation that meets my, and your, demands from an inherently and consistently right-wing political force. But you know this very well and are even ready to admit it. But when I point this fact out, your answer is always the same.

I am told that even if I think I have no one to vote for in good conscience, I should do so and cast my vote for those politicians who I believe represent the "lesser evil" in the current political climate. Those politicians who are relatively the least left-wing, even if they are not truly right-wing. Many of you are trying to convince me that I absolutely must vote for one of these "lesser evil" parties, because if I don't, the big evil (BSP for example) will gain too much power and be left without any opposition. This letter is for you.

When there are no politicians who meet your requirements, just don't vote for anyone.

Dear right-wing voters, the truth is that your electoral strategy (if you can even call it one) is categorically counterproductive. Every election, we whine about which politician will screw us over and disappoint us the least and label him with the now-profane title "The New Face of the Right" is a completely pointless exercise. If we are always ready to compromise, if we always vote for politicians who do not meet our principles and requirements, in the long run this only guarantees the marginalization of the ideas we profess.

In the current political context, it is much more productive as people with right-wing political beliefs to get down to convincing the wider public of the merits of right-wing ideas. Because our vote will have any meaning only when there is a really, really large and critical mass of people in the country who share the values of the right and this mass votes for truly right-wing individuals and politicians. I emphasize that I am talking here about the real right, and not the cheap imitation that has been pushed on us at every election for 27 years in the form of the "lesser evil", which I would say looks like a Chinese-made mint, if I didn't already know that it is actually a mint made in the USSR.

Here some would object: "One does not contradict the other. Of course, we should focus on spreading right-wing ideas in the long term, but in the short term we have to vote for the lesser evil, no matter how far from our ideal it is."
The truth is, however, that this approach is also counterproductive. At this point, it should be clear to any consistent right-winger that there is no one they can vote for in good conscience. At least it is for me. The alternatives range from parties led by individuals who define themselves as more left-wing to parties that deny the existence of left and right at all.

Voting for the "lesser evil" is detrimental to the right's long-term goals

Voting for some of these parties now means making a huge compromise with my political principles and demands and demonstrating to these politicians that I am not ready to defend my demands to them in practice. And this is the stupidest thing I can do if I ever want to see real right-wing politics in Bulgaria. If you have specific principles that you stand for and policies that you demand, then if you vote for politicians who do not meet these criteria, you are inconsistent in your words and actions.

These politicians will quite logically conclude that whether they are right-wing or not in absolute terms has absolutely no practical significance for their electoral success. And that is why they, except sometimes in words, do not really care whether they are truly right-wing in their platforms and actions. The masses will still vote for them, as long as they are comparatively less left-wing than other parties, which allows them to become more and more left-wing with each election. And these masses are you - the right-wing voters.

It turns out that in practice it doesn't matter whether the politicians you vote for meet your requirements. You vote for them anyway simply because they are the "lesser" evil. And in this way you give them your vote completely for free without forcing them to give anything in return (such as right-wing politics). You give them carte blanche to continue to be right-wing only in words (and not even always), and in practice the difference between them and the BSP parties will consist almost exclusively in foreign policy orientation. This is again a plus, but would you really be satisfied with being governed by socialists, as long as they have a Euro-Atlantic orientation? I wouldn't. Are your requirements that low?

Radical change cannot be achieved through constant compromises.

And even if right-wing voters grow and become the largest electoral group in the country, what does it matter if we are not ready to stand up for our right-wing beliefs and demand that the politicians who represent us do the same? The problem with right-wing voters in Bulgaria is not that they vote too little. The right-wing voter here votes too much and puts up with too few of his "representatives". These "representatives" who have perfected the art of scaring us with GERB and BSP every time their own inconsistency and unprincipledness is pointed out. "Don't look at our shortcomings, look at theirs - they are bigger, so vote for us".

As long as we are ready to constantly compromise with the "lesser evil", we cannot achieve anything significant. We cannot hope to one day see a true right-wing politics in Bulgaria if we are not ready to defend this goal with our actions and categorically refuse to support those politicians who are not ready to stand behind it with their own actions as our representatives. Only by persistently and radically upholding the principles of the right can we hope to achieve a significant change for the better in Bulgaria.

Learn from history

Ironically, the history of the socialist movement is actually a very good illustration of the effectiveness of stubborn radicalism. Just learn from the history of leftist ideas. Socialist ideas that at the beginning of the last century were considered absolutely crazy and completely marginal within the framework of the political discourse of the time are now mainstream policies that are taken for granted. Socialists did not achieve this through compromise. Quite the opposite. As Nassim Taleb writes in his brilliant essay on the subject, in the long run the most intolerant group always wins, and the one willing to compromise always loses. It is precisely because socialists have so stubbornly defended their (for their time) extremely radical and marginal ideas that they have triumphed over their ideological opponents in the long run.

Opponents who were mainstream in politics at the time, but precisely because of their greater tendency to compromise, unlike socialists, are now marginal. I am talking, of course, about the classical liberals. The political history of Great Britain from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day is very illustrative in this regard. At the beginning of the 20th century, English liberals compromised with some of their traditional positions and began to push through some hitherto traditionally socialist policies. This happened at a time when socialist parties in England were still a very small part of the electorate and had almost no influence.

Constant compromises ensure the marginalization of right-wing voters

In the short term, the liberals managed to gain more power than before thanks to this compromise. In the long term, however, the result of this decision was catastrophic. Within about two decades, the Liberals became a marginal political force, and the Socialists took their place as the second political force in the country. Precisely because they were radical and remained radical and refused to compromise and give up their principles.

When you constantly compromise your values and political vision, you, the right-wing voters in Bulgaria, are making the same mistake as the English liberals of the early 20th century. Blinded by desperate attempts in the short term to gain at least some power, you guarantee your marginalization in the long term.

Put an end to this. Don't sell your vote so cheaply. Don't give your vote to politicians who are otherwise left-wing in their actions and beliefs just because they are not the biggest communists in the country. Spread the ideas of the true right and start following your own demands. Unite in a critical mass of voters who stubbornly stand for their principles and are not ready to compromise on them. Show politicians that if they don't share these principles and are not ready to defend them, they won't get your vote. Only then will your voice be heard, only then will you be relevant.

Some of us have been following this demanding strategy for years, and it is already starting to yield results. The transformation of the "right" parties in Bulgaria into truly right-wing (without quotes) parties is already entering its first stages. Some of these formations have already started to really pay attention to right-wing voters and their demands. But only to those right-wing voters who categorically refuse to support politicians who do not meet their demands. But this type of voters is still a minority, even among right-wingers. Let's change this.

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