Comments on: The Trouble With Trends http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/2009/11/10/the-trouble-with-trends/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-trouble-with-trends n. the principle of good order<br /><br /> "Observe the strange inversion of all order and sense! Dignity debased; how vilely is the function of a consul prostituted!" ~The Craftsman Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:25:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: conradg http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/2009/11/10/the-trouble-with-trends/comment-page-1/#comment-34145 conradg Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:45:54 +0000 http://www.amconmag.com/larison/?p=10270#comment-34145 Another way in which these kinds of arguments fail is that the "right" in Europe is to the left of our Democratic party on a whole host of issues. The Tories in England fully support the fully socialized English health care system, for example, and the right-wing parties in Denmark and Sweden have no intention of dismantling the social democracy of those nations. Nor does the right wing in France advocate anything similar. The success of these "right-wing" parties has to do with battles on the margins, all of which are taking place far to the left of the political battles in the US. There is simply no rational comparison between victories of these "right wing" parties in Europe and the prospects for the GOP to regain power in the US so as to drive the US even further to the right. If the European electorate desired to roll back its social-democrat government policies by electing the kind of right-wingers we find in the GOP, that would truly be revolutionary, but nothing remotely like that is happening. If the GOP is to regain power in the US, it's not going to be as part of some political wave that is going on in Europe, because nothing like that is going on in Europe. Another way in which these kinds of arguments fail is that the “right” in Europe is to the left of our Democratic party on a whole host of issues. The Tories in England fully support the fully socialized English health care system, for example, and the right-wing parties in Denmark and Sweden have no intention of dismantling the social democracy of those nations. Nor does the right wing in France advocate anything similar. The success of these “right-wing” parties has to do with battles on the margins, all of which are taking place far to the left of the political battles in the US.

There is simply no rational comparison between victories of these “right wing” parties in Europe and the prospects for the GOP to regain power in the US so as to drive the US even further to the right. If the European electorate desired to roll back its social-democrat government policies by electing the kind of right-wingers we find in the GOP, that would truly be revolutionary, but nothing remotely like that is happening. If the GOP is to regain power in the US, it’s not going to be as part of some political wave that is going on in Europe, because nothing like that is going on in Europe.

]]>