In Defense Of John Oliver

And other commentators on the spectrum between liberalism and socialism.

John Oliver is something of a punching bag for the online left. While his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is known for its exposes of little-known evils, some leftists find his contributions wanting. The most prolific criticism is best summed up by the below meme, which is recycled on Twitter whenever Oliver is a topic of discussion.

As you can see, some leftists feel that John Oliver and other left-ish commentators like him (John Stewart, Sam Seder, etc.) do their audiences a disservice by never explicitly stating capitalism is the cause of the problems they discuss. Through this view, Oliver is little more than a complainer, telling Americans to put bandaids on the ailments capitalism causes rather than cure the underlying disease itself.

However, this is wrong. It’s a misguided critique that ignores the process of political suitorship and fails to recognize how left-of-center pundits can steer Americans toward socialist and progressive politics.

Political Evolution Doesn’t Happen On Its Own

Generally speaking, people don’t make large, unassisted leaps across the political spectrum. No one is a centrist Democrat on Monday and a card-carrying socialist on Friday, regardless of how bad their week was.

Rather, people move gradually across the political spectrum through a combination of life experiences and exposure to different ideas. Exposure to leftist ideas and values is doubly necessary in the United States, as our nation is so rife with capitalist propaganda that Americans are nudged rightward on a daily basis.

John Oliver on The Daily Show, 2013.

To break this current and court Americans to the left, we must meet people where they’re at with ideas they can relate to. Asking a coworker to read The Communist Manifesto on a Sunday night is likely to result in them spending the next week avoiding you. However, sending them John Oliver’s latest YouTube clip detailing Nestle’s use of child workers will open their eyes to the harsh realities of 21^st-century capitalism. From that position, they’re much more likely to be interested in radical ideas and might even begin exploring them on their own. 

As capitalism’s flaws have festered to the point they can no longer be ignored, large portions of America are ready to walk this path. 59% of Americans want the government to guarantee healthcare, 80% want the state to help solve the housing crisis, and  70% say America’s political and economic systems need major changes – or to be torn down entirely. With a little prodding that meets Americans where they’re at, we can capture these constituencies and pull them into the political left. 

A great way to recognize how this strategy manifests is by examining what I call The Sanders Effect.

The Sanders Effect

Prior to Bernie Sanders’ 2016 election bid, you’d be hard-pressed to find a measurable group of Americans to the left of Harry Reid. But when the self-avowed democratic socialist twice ran for the presidency on a platform that explicitly named capitalism as the cause of our issues, millions of Americans listened. Once Sanders introduced them to post-capitalist ideas, they explored the potential of socialism and liked what they found.

Over the last decade, The Democratic Socialists of America exploded from a membership of only 6,500 to its current count of 100,000. The Communist Party USA saw twice as many new members in 2020 than the year prior, which the Party attributes to its active involvement in the 2020 election and Black Lives Matter protests. Similar growths can be seen outside of group membership. As of 2022, 36% of Americans held a positive impression of socialism, seven points higher than in 2009.

A Bernie Sanders campaign rally in the Bronx. An estimated 20,000 New Yorkers attended.

This pro-socialist surge shouldn’t be entirely attributed to Sanders’ campaign bids, but they were undeniably a provoking factor. His candidacies show that if you meet the dissatisfied Americans where they are and explain how progressive and socialist solutions can fix their problems, they will join you. Hell, they might even evolve further. I know many DSA members who joined the organization in the Bernie Sanders swell (myself included) and are now considerably to the left of the Vermont Senator.

Absent a far-reaching presidential campaign, the left needs channels to reach the typical American. These can be anything from John Oliver’s television show, to progressive media outlets like The Majority Report, to union drives that get striking workers chatting with socialists on the picket line. While these platforms might not explicitly state, “Capitalism is a system that steals from the working class and must be overthrown,” they poke holes in the indoctrination. Once the illusion that the current system is natural and infallible is shattered, the left can swoop in with more radical education that helps Americans recognize capitalism for the abomination that it is.

The media figures occupying the space on the political spectrum between liberalism and socialism are like billboards on a highway. They help travelers realize, “You know what? I am hungry.” While McDonald’s advertisements make them crave a Big Mac, John Oliver highlights capitalism’s poisonous fruits, growing their appetite for progressive change. That’s where leftists come in. We must match this energy and educate these curious Americans that the problems Oliver highlights aren’t one-off issue, but products of the capitalist system that exploits their labor, natural resources, and inalienable to create profit. If we take that approach, we will win. But if we chastise modern channels and insist on shoving Das Kapital into the hands of everyone who had a tough day at work, socialism will remain on the political fringe.

Explaining the flaws of capitalism and the solutions of socialism is the purpose of this Substack. So, if you’re beginning to ask questions the capitalists can’t answer, I suggest you subscribe. 

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