Sometimes it doesn't seem like it -- particularly given this weekend's Conservative convention. But, E.J. Dionne writes that, globally, the Far Right is in retreat:
There’s a long-standing habit among Americans of reading our own politics as a signal for where the whole democratic world is moving. Sometimes it’s justified. Ronald Reagan’s election was clearly part of a broad movement toward the free-market right in the 1980s. Bill Clinton’s embrace of a centrist brand of progressivism in the 1990s was widely imitated.
So is a Joe Biden wave forming out there? Perhaps more importantly, has the drift toward right-wing authoritarianism that Donald Trump’s ascendancy seemed to herald been checked?
Of course it’s early, and many key national elections — in Germany and France, for example — lie in the future. But voting in the Netherlands last week and recent state elections in Germany and Australia point to a covid-era seriousness about government’s responsibilities, a search for democratic stability after a series of right-wing uprisings, and a redefining of progressive politics in a green direction.
We're not talking a wave. But, in Europe and Australia, the pandemic has produced political moderation:
Here’s the most striking fact about the Dutch vote, two state elections in Germany and an election in Western Australia: The incumbents did well in all of them. And while parties of the far right in the Netherlands and Germany held their own — advancing a bit in the Netherlands, moving backward in Germany — their surge has been checked. They are no longer, as they were in the Trump years, at the center of the news.
If nothing else, Biden’s defeat of Trump has shifted the momentum away from the global far right. And the pandemic and growing concerns about the climate have made electorates more practically minded and more focused on results. That’s progress.
We'll have to see if the progress continues.
Image: Napoleaon.org
10 comments:
I think O'Toole's advisors have got polling numbers that back up a growing concern about the environment and the need to offer at least lip service. That's why O'Toole is trying to back away from the far-right positions he'd previously adopted.
The trouble is that all the usual right-wing bromides about trickle down tax cuts, deregulation and letting the free market decide have all failed for 40 years now. There's no point in even pretending they work. So all conservatives have left is "owning the libs," which generally boils down to doing the opposite of whatever makes sense. That limits support to crackpots and it's no wonder momentum has gone out of the movement. I can't say I'm disappointed.
Cap
Like you, Cap, I don't mourn the struggles of modern conservatives. As John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, they have sought "a moral justification for selfishness."
It's not sad news, but we must note the death of the Conservative party. They caught a slow-developing virus on June 11, 1983 and have been suffering relapses for almost 40 years. Lately the symptoms were so bad that the reformatories, even opposed to medically assisted death as they are, committed suicide. The $300,000 Karl-Hienz money was to pay for the wake, but with cell phones so popular , no phonebooth could be found to hold the affair.
O'Toole is in a bind. There seems to be a potential east-west split along the banks of the Ottawa River. Tories west of Quebec reject any party acknowledgement of climate change which probably translates into "don't mess with fossil fuels."
It seemed to go over the delegates heads when O'Toole pointed out the Conservatives have had four leaders since Trudeau took over the Libs. Will they go for five, six? Conservatives in Alberta have shown that their party can linger on for decades under really awful government.
It's remarkable, rumley, how terrible the Harper Party is when it comes to reading the signs.
When Stephen Harper took over the party, Mound, its heart and soul were transferred to Alberta. No longer was the party dedicated to healing the East-West divide.
If Drew Barns has his way, Alberta will become part of the US. People need to be aware of all those Germans that returned to Ca and AB because of all the wonderful treatment they received while spending the war in German camps located in southern AB. These people changed the spelling of their name. They are so far right it wold put the Nazis to shame. My, my Barns sees a golden opportunity. Anyong
I'm not aware of exactly where some of these people come from, Anyong. But living in a sealed bubble is extremely unhealthy. Everyone needs fresh air.
I would place the attitude exuding from Alberta has been influenced more by the Americans - ie Texans and Oklahomans - and their progeny that came north to work in the oil patch.
Denace the Mennis
You may be on to something, Dennis.
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