The end of the Cold War started an ongoing competition between the left-wing movements favoring government intervention in the economy and the right-wing proponents of capitalism. Although free market capitalists have so far prevailed and hammered in their social power, dissatisfaction with capitalists’ excesses, hunger for power, and indeed, the corruption of right-wing politicians reawakens leftist movements to create an uproar. The middle-class communities who sometimes feel pressured believe their propaganda and move to strip the rich from their power. In the meantime, the left creates a furor over the right’s corruption, and the right creates mayhem over the socialist enslavement of humans. This tug of war puts the middle class off both movements and causes voter apathy. In this vacuum, populist movements rise to power by tricking the common people with false promises. An articulate leftist movement weakens people’s trust in proponents of the free market, turning people away from capitalism and carrying populists to victory. One cannot ignore the role of the left-leaning Bernie Sanders in Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 US election. Although Sanders was a Democrat and withdrew from the primaries in favor of Clinton, he jeopardized Clinton’s standing by casting doubt on his ideals by promoting liberalism in the Democratic Party. After years of slavery in the communist Soviet Union and China’s transition from a communist dictatorship, the people of the world consciously chose free market capitalism. However, leftist movements sometimes arouse people’s emotions while striking at their own roots, carrying populists to victory.
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