Cthulhu Swims Left: Why America Just Keeps Getting More Woke

In the turbulent ocean of American politics, there’s a curious pattern that’s hard to ignore: the currents are always pulling in one direction.

The old H.P. Lovecraft horror icon, Cthulhu, has been co-opted into political theory by political theorist Curtis Yarvin (a.k.a Mencius Moldbug) to illustrate this phenomenon.

He says Cthulhu always swims left. In other words, America just keeps getting more woke.

But what does that actually mean?

And more importantly, why does Cthulhu swim left?

Cthulhu Swims Left — What Does It Mean?

Yarvin uses the metaphor of “Cthulhu swimming left” to represent a consistent and seemingly inevitable trend of societal and political change towards more liberal or progressive values over time. He suggests that the beast, though it may swim slowly, only swims left.

“Cthulhu may swim slowly. But he only swims left.”

— Curtis Yarvin

The metaphor is a vivid illustration of Yarvin’s belief that there’s a significant leftward shift in American society, a shift that he argues is fueled by the influence of intellectuals and the education system.

This isn’t a notion that exists in a vacuum, as other thinkers have explored similar ideas.

How An Intolerant Minority Gets Their Way

Nassim Taleb’s concept of the minority rule is a case in point. Taleb argues that a passionate and uncompromising minority can end up setting the rules for a tolerant majority, exemplified by the prevalence of halal foods in Europe, and kosher foods in America.

When applied to the political sphere, this explain how a vocal and committed minority on the left can end up pushing the whole system towards their ideological stance over time.

Intellectuals’ Influence on Society

Thomas Sowell’s work also dovetails with Yarvin’s theory. Sowell has spent a lifetime dissecting the influence of intellectuals on societies, exploring how ideas that emerge in academic circles can eventually permeate public opinion and drive societal change. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that educational institutions are staffed by leftists.

Combine this with Taleb’s minority rule, and you’ve got a potent recipe for the progressive drift Yarvin describes. It suggests that a minority of intellectuals within academia and media can push society leftwards over time, with the two-party system facilitating this drift.

But what about those who don’t find themselves swimming with Cthulhu?

The Overton Window & The Outsiders

Individuals whose beliefs fall outside the Overton Window — the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse — can often find themselves feeling unrepresented or even ostracized in the American system.

Yarvin uses the example of a hypothetical segregationist voter from 1963, asserting that such a person’s views would be considered extreme in the context of the 2008 election. This displacement can lead to a sense of alienation among some voters, creating tensions within the two-party system as voters cease to have a home.

For voters whose political ideologies are not strictly ‘red’ or ‘blue,’ the American system can seem like a stark and alienating binary. Those who lean libertarian, for instance, may find that neither party fully embodies their commitment to both personal and economic freedom.

The American system forces a kind of compromise, a suppression of a portion of one’s beliefs in order to fit within the accepted range of discourse. This complexity of individual belief, contrasted against the simplicity of the two-party system, can lead to a sense of political homelessness.

Expanding the Overton Window

The overarching issue here is the rigidity of the Overton Window. In a society that prides itself on freedom of expression and diversity of thought, it’s paradoxical that the political system stifles these very principles.

The challenge, then, is to find a way to expand the Overton Window, to allow for a greater diversity of political thought to be represented, accepted, and even championed within our system.

This brings us to the question: how can we alter the course of the leftward drift that seems to be the current of our political ocean?

Perhaps the issue is not just with the ideologies at play, but with the very structure of the American political system. It may be time to entertain some bold new ideas.

The Two-Party System’s Drift

The two-party structure of American politics, while offering stability, inadvertently accelerates the country’s leftward drift.

Parties seeking majority often incorporate fringe ideas to broaden their base. As academia and media largely lean left, these ideas tend to be left-leaning, shifting the mainstream discourse in that direction.

Moreover, the two-party system perpetuates a binary view of politics, crowding out moderate voices and reducing political discourse to a tug-of-war between extremes.

Younger generations, who are statistically more liberal, further push the discourse leftwards. As a result, a significant portion of the population feels unrepresented.

This is not merely a matter of disengagement, but of representation; people cannot vote for what they wish to represent. This contributes to the lower voter turnout seen in the U.S., as voters feel their views are not represented by either party.

To slow or reverse this leftward drift, the two-party system needs to be dismantled.

A multi-party system would provide better representation, thereby slowing the leftward drift. It would give the many subcultures in America a chance to vote in their interests.

If American democracy wants to survive, a structure that allows for a more diverse political representation is required.

Otherwise, it will continue to rot.