(picture from the guardian, armbands of the anti-immigration (and Roma) Jabbik party in Hungary) So there's a good deal of doom and gloom on the RTP and rightfully so! From Chavez to Правда the world seems to believe that the US is falling into the deep precipice of Socialism! Conservatives are arming themselves in record numbers (even some here?) driving up ammunition prices to record highs, and even as we speak/type, we are all shareholders in GM. In this world where our values seem to be unraveling at the seams I offer this shimmering star of hope that shines undaunted amidst all the dark arts and foes that the all seeing big-gov't eye has amassed against us:
Europe.
This might have flown underneath the radar for many, but there was a round of local municipal elections throughout England today that heralds the continued triumphant march for British Conservatives. Much of it, likely, has come about by the awesome stories covering the expense account scandal that's rocking Parliament but this has been a part of an on going local trend in England for the last few years (and this). In fact, Labor hasn't had a good showing since the last election in 2005 so while they may clutch on to power till the next elections (June next year) it's a strong indicator that the round of European Parliamentary elections (going on this weekend continent wide) in England will have the conservatives drum labor and bring more European Members of Parliament that want to take down Euro-socialism.
Moving beyond England, there seems to be a continent wide resurgent tide of conservative parties that are poised to do well in the elections. As the article notes, there are very few political issues that are tied with the vote, thus, most of those voters that will likely turn out for the elections will be those that are negatively motivated, i.e., they are voting against the EU (thus voting for the conservatives), or they're protesting the parties in charge. Either way, we're likely to see a good turnout for conservative parties continent wide.
What does this mean continent wide?
In my humble opinion, I think this is going to lead to a more rancorous EP that will make the European Commission less likely to delegate more power to Parliament (which has been done in the past in order to account for the EU's "democratic deficit") in any future revision of the Euro-Constitution. When such a document turns out, which will most likely occur if the Irish vote down the Lisbon treaty again, it will give the conservatives extra momentum to keep the current tide going. Secondly, Muslim countries won't be allowed entry (sorry Ottomans). Thirdly, we'll see more autonomy/diversity in European foreign policy (which, unfortunately, could be a boon for the Soviets as well as for u.s.).
Within the domestic affairs of Europe, this wave of resurgent conservatism has brought about a wave of anti-immigration and calls for protection of traditional conservative values (go to the end of the article where the conservatives list their grievances with the UN) and also in the increasing conservative victories in Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands (READ THIS) .
There's hope on the horizon folks. Even in countries where native European populations are about to be outbred into minority status within the decade (Netherlands), even the most leftist, liberal, socialist voters will react to an assault on their culture. But this all begs the question: Many of these folks are cultural conservatives which don't necessarily believe in such things as free markets and what not. Many are flocking to cultural conservative banners, but we also see some people going to the more independent hard-core socialist banners (see the Guardian article about the East German Socialist Party's rise and anti-EU stance). Which indicates that many voters are not only voting out of fear of the lose of their cultural heritage but out of rejection of the current state of affairs. If conservatives come to power in domestic elections later in the future (not to be confused with this weekend's EU Parliamentary elections) and the world economy not improve, then we may see conservatives resort to their more classical nature (the one that Adam Smith fought against), that is, protectionist platforms and fear of globalization as a threat to cultural traditions. I'll let the reader determine the consequence of this. Obviously, this isn't a real worry as the right way out of this is less government spending and less taxes, but it's trend we should observe with a small degree of caution nonetheless.
In summation, President Hussein might be able to make a few Muslim hearts swoon but the world is marching to a different tune. Maybe RTP will pull a 180 and start to bitch about "how much better it is in Europe" where public signposts are in one language and you can buy a house without 45% of it's value assessed in a VAT........
(insert Matrix/Neo "whoa" here)
