With Denmark, Sweden, Greece, France, Germany, etc voting in conservative parties to power.?

Question

Why do the Libs in America think that other countries cannot stand us? All of these countries are trending to the right because the socialist/liberals have completely messed up their countries and the society's. With a crazy amount of illegal immigration (Just like our Dems want) Social policies that strangle their federal goverments (Just like our Dems want) High taxes over 40%. Perhaps these countries "rock" bands, and entertainers like to talk trash about America. But it looks like the regular people over there have realized the liberalism is all it is cracked up to be.

First of all I never said the the conservatives in Europe are just like ours.

But they are fed up with immigration, and they are fed up with the high un-employment and taxes.

That is the facts as they stand. How did the taxes get so high? Not because of the wars that they have fought, but because of the social programs they have to pay for.

And really the Republicans in America are starting to break their ties with the Christian Right. (Finally)

Answer 1

Yes and no. It is true that Center-Right coalition governments have been elected into power in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and France (I don't know about Greece ... I don't speak Greek). However, I think that you are overlooking the fact that the terms 'right' and 'left' are completely subjective, and by trying to transpose their definitions from the United States onto European politics isn't very sound. In fact, the parties in Europe that are classified as 'right' would be considered 'left' if they were in the United States. They do not want to dismantle the socialist programs in their countries ... they want to keep them. They are against the death penalty, gun ownership, the abolition of abortion, etc ... if they were American they'd be the Democratic Party. The only thing that really separates the 'right' parties in Europe from the 'left' is their stance on immigration. The liberals in Europe have been in power for 40+ years in most countries, and they have allowed in astonishing amounts of non-European immigrants that (for one reason or another) have severely strained their economies, as well as their societal structures. For instance, in Sweden there are roughly 9 million Swedes ... of which 1.5 million are of Middle Eastern or African heritage (immigrants).

Then there is also the issue of European politics verses American politics ... in the United States we have an established two party system -- this is not so in Europe. Most times there are a dozen or more parties that have to form alliances and coalitions with other parties in order to have power in their national assemblies. It can be a very complicated proposition -- in Denmark alone it took almost a month for a majority coalition to be determined (the Ny Alliance Party being instrumental in keeping Anders Fogh Rasmussen's 'Venster' coalition government in power). In Sweden Folkpartiet has to share power with about five other parties to keep the Social Democrats from gaining a majority again. It is nothing like American politics ... not even close to it.

The reason all these more conservative parties have been voted into power in Europe is primarily over immigration ... it is becoming a MAJOR issue in just about every European country.

____________________

Yes and no, once again. The immigration issue in Europe is completely different from the immigration issue in the United States. In the US is it illegal immigration that has become the hot button topic ... that is ... the 20 million plus persons in this country who aren't supposed to be here. In Europe the immigration issue is about the immigrants who are there legally ... the liberals allowed millions of immigrants into their countries under extremely altruistic principles that weren't very in touch with reality. The other major issue regarding immigration in Europe revolves around integration ... not only with the foreign born immigrants, but with the second generation native-born immigrants ... they are not assimilating they way the liberals naively expected they would.

Answer 2

Three points.

First, Germany did not vote conservative parties into power. They actually are currently governed by a national unity government because the balance of power would have otherwise been held by the former Communists.

Second, what qualifies as conservative in Europe is somewhat to the left of what we consider conservative in the U.S. None of these parties is proposing to dismantle the welfare state or do away with national health insurance. The debate in most of these countries is between a moderate version of American liberalism and socialism-light (a political philosophy that is more liberal than 80% of the Democratic Party).

Third, national elections in these countries revolve around other issues than foreign policy. None of the countries mentioned is part of occupying force in Iraq, nor are any of these new governments proposing to send troops to Iraq. Since even the conservative governments are somewhat hostile to U.S. foreign policy, the voters can make their decision without considering their view of the U.S.

Answer 3

With our Congress preparing to hand over Iraq to Iran, methinks the Europeans are getting a bit concerned and realizing that the US no longer has the guts to stand up to dictators like Saddam, but is more insanely obsessed with defeating Bush in the next election. Crazy people control Washington; Europe has decided it might be better off getting it's act together quickly.

They're in missile range.

Answer 4

Most of those countries the The Conservative parties are more liberal then our lefts liberal.

Hillary, Edwards and Obama would all be running as conservatives in most of those nations.

Listen to the politics on the BBC some time.

Answer 5

Conservative parties in Europe aren't exactly like the conservatives here my friend. For one religion isn't as big a role in society as it is in the US. Conservative parties in Europe still support socialized medicine, social welfare, paid maternity leave, human rights, etc. The conservatives in Europe are actually similar to our liberals. If the conservative party in the UK said they wanted to stop their National Health Service they'd never get voted in. Over here the conservatives wouldn't get voted in if they DID support socialized medicine. Also the conservative party in the UK is actually extremely green and trying to tax the crap out of anyone who wants to fly.

If you actually look at conservative parties in Europe I think you'll find they aren't ready to banish taxes or socialized medicine. The main problem people have with the liberal parties in Europe is the immigration issue. I know personally many Brits hate that Labour has allowed illegals to get free homes, cars, and health care at the expense of the British people.

Ask anyone in the UK if they'd like to be more like America. I think you'll find a lot of distaste for the American way of life in regards to health care, human rights, employee rights, taxes, etc.

Answer 6

Because polls by Pew and Harris show it to be the case.

Answer 7

What is there for me to answer? You have said it ALL, with CORRECTNESS and PANACHE.