What's Left by Nick Cohen

I've just finished reading What's Left by Nick Cohen. Here is a summary of the main thrust of the book as I see it:

Many people on the Left have expended such time and effort in opposition to Western democracy (in favour of some form of Socialist system) that they cannot bring themselves to accept that that same Western democracy is actually the best system. Doing so would imply that all their efforts had been in vain. This irrationality forces them to continue or strengthen their opposition to Western democracy and offer their support (tacit or otherwise) to fascism as the last remaining alternative.

I think that the same basic phenomenon can now be seen spreading through the advocates of free markets and less State intrusion. Why? Because of climate change. Anti-capitalists and anti-globalisation campaigners etc have obviously used the discovery of climate change to push forward their political agenda. And the world has largely swung behind them. The reaction from those who disagree with that agenda cannot be outright blanket denial fuelled more by irrationality than careful analysis. Yet for many that seems to be precisely what has happened.

Those who usually pride themselves on their scientific understanding and on their belief in the rational scientific method now see climate scientists as all part of some giant conspiracy. They deny not only that we are responsible for climate change but that it is even happening. We need to find ways to counter the political agenda of what we might call the Green-Left without turning to irrationality.