There's a big far right resurgence in Europe in general. Le Pen in France is taking up the oxygen Macron lost, Spain's far right party is also a contender for power, the far right already won in...
There's a big far right resurgence in Europe in general. Le Pen in France is taking up the oxygen Macron lost, Spain's far right party is also a contender for power, the far right already won in Italy, Sweden, Austra, Hungary, Poland... arguably Turkey...
Ironically perhaps, the UK is poised for a center-left flip.
Be extremely wary of that. Labour have recently come down painfully hard on anyone who's talking sense about unifying with centre-left parties to stop the Tories getting in. Traditionally Labour &...
Ironically perhaps, the UK is poised for a center-left flip.
Be extremely wary of that. Labour have recently come down painfully hard on anyone who's talking sense about unifying with centre-left parties to stop the Tories getting in.
Traditionally Labour & Lib Dem have done this. But my word was it an insane move by Starmer.
I think the shift back left is because we're seeing the NHS get absolutely obliterated, as well as strikes that are making the problems really visible. Despite what the Tory news-sheets want you to think.
I thought that the examples set by Brazil, the US, Turkey and the UK were enough to thwart the growth of far-right sentiment in Europe, but apparently not. Politicians are not doing themselves any...
I thought that the examples set by Brazil, the US, Turkey and the UK were enough to thwart the growth of far-right sentiment in Europe, but apparently not.
Politicians are not doing themselves any favours, there is a general disconnect with the will of the population, and far-right talking heads were able to pounce on that sentiment to present themselves as an outsider alternative. Besides, right wing talking points are overrepresented in online media with nearly no regulation, and they're utilising the same cheap tricks from past elections in other countries (deflecting, distractions, whataboutism). One can only hope most citizens come to their senses come election day.
Sure, but these are basically complaints that the liberals are being too conservative. I really can't fathom why the usual response is to vote for the other party, which is even more conservative....
Macron pulling this bullshit with retirement and restricting internet access, Biden pulling this bullshit saying "The Economy is doing great
Sure, but these are basically complaints that the liberals are being too conservative. I really can't fathom why the usual response is to vote for the other party, which is even more conservative. Then when conservatives cut even more programs and do even more authoritarian things, everyone is all shocked that this would be the case and flip back to voting liberal.
People whine about having to choose the lesser evil, but things would improve over time if we actually did that. Instead, sometimes we choose the greater evil because the people aren't getting instant results and want a change for the sake of change.
I'm kind of both hoping for keeping politicians accountable and for voters not to be apathetic about incremental improvements. I suppose you're right that appeal matters a lot though. Obama was...
I'm kind of both hoping for keeping politicians accountable and for voters not to be apathetic about incremental improvements. I suppose you're right that appeal matters a lot though. Obama was more exciting while McCain seemed boring and a little out of touch. Same deal with Trump and Hillary.
Your comment made me wonder about voter turnout. This statement is a bit oversimplified, but it seems that when people show up to vote, democrats get elected. When they stay home, Republicans get elected. I know that candidates like Gore and Hillary can be boring or unappealing, but I kind of want a boring president. I'm happy to not be hearing much about Biden in the news. Whether it's because he's working or because he's not getting much done, I find radio silence much more preferable than tweeting misinformation. Unfortunately, that's not really what inspires voters, I guess.
I don't really just want voters to fall in line, but I think a lot of people would agree that Trump ended up being worse than Hillary probably would have been. That's probably the main reason for such a high turnout for Biden, despite how boring he is.
Pres.
Turnout%
Bush
50.3%
Clinton
55.2%
Bush
50.3%
Obama
57.1%
Trump
54.8%
Biden
62.0%
P.S. Hopefully this isn't considered too off-topic. I kind of wanted to keep talking conservative vs. liberal, but I ended up getting farther into US politics. Looking at voter turnout in Germany and SPD vs CDU/CSU vote share, it seems that SPD also gets more votes when voter turnout is higher.
Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the rise of far-right/fascist ideology the world over? It's a worrying trend that I wouldn't mind being more well informed of, especially as...
Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the rise of far-right/fascist ideology the world over? It's a worrying trend that I wouldn't mind being more well informed of, especially as someone with ties to both Germany and the US.
I read recently "The Reactionary Mind" by Corey Robin which talks about the origins of conservatives, and gets all the way to Trump in the latest edition. Would recommend!
I read recently "The Reactionary Mind" by Corey Robin which talks about the origins of conservatives, and gets all the way to Trump in the latest edition. Would recommend!
Related post on Twitter (Also this account has lots of stuff on the AFD's current polling record: The AFD polls on top in Mecklenburg West-Pomerania, making it so that the AFD has managed this...
Never before have voters in Germany been this unhappy with the current coalition government: Only one in five says they are doing a good job. The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) are plummeting in the polls, after only one and a half years in office.
This is according to pollster infratest-dimap who surveyed 1300 eligible voters on May 30 and 31, 2023, and published the results in its monthly "Deutschlandtrend."
The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the main beneficiary. Its approval ratings have gone up by another 2% since May and, if elections were held now, would win 18% nationwide putting them on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD. In several eastern states, the AfD has long been the strongest party.
In the latest survey, the pollsters paid particular attention to the AfD sympathizers. They asked them what their main reason would be to vote for the far-right and found that it is mainly dissatisfaction with all the other parties, and especially the government. Only 32% claim to fully support the AfD's policies.
Related post on Twitter (Also this account has lots of stuff on the AFD's current polling record:
I absolutely loathe this reasoning. Just because it's not going well, doesn't mean the reactionary party will fix things, they'll make it worse! Time and time again these types of parties show...
They asked them what their main reason would be to vote for the far-right and found that it is mainly dissatisfaction with all the other parties, and especially the government.
I absolutely loathe this reasoning. Just because it's not going well, doesn't mean the reactionary party will fix things, they'll make it worse!
Time and time again these types of parties show they're of no substance whatsoever and just ride the wave of dissatisfaction, using all sorts of tricks online to pull people into their spiteful orbit.
We see it here too, in the Netherlands, where there's this massive right-wing surge as a counter to "the evil left"... But no left-wing party has been part of the ruling coalition for twenty five odd years now.
Frustratingly, it's apparent through the actions of these types of reactionary parties that their policies are damning to the overall health of the country. Brazil, the UK, Turkey, and more are just spiralling.
For polls about voting behaviour in Germany (aka. the "Sonntagsfrage"), I would recommend these charts by David Kriesel. He aggregates voting numbers from different institutions with a moving...
For polls about voting behaviour in Germany (aka. the "Sonntagsfrage"), I would recommend these charts by David Kriesel. He aggregates voting numbers from different institutions with a moving average (the article only quotes the poll by infratest-dimap). Nonetheless, you can see the trade-off with the SPD in mid June pretty clearly and it's scary for sure.
with the UK in mind im reminded if the Clash “if adolf hitler were here today, theyd send a limousine anyway” at least we are a peaceful neo-liberalism. Unlike say, Chile where General Pinochet...
with the UK in mind im reminded if the Clash
“if adolf hitler were here today,
theyd send a limousine anyway”
at least we are a peaceful neo-liberalism. Unlike say, Chile where General Pinochet had everyone on the left shot in the back of the head and established a semi successful neo liberal economy
There's a big far right resurgence in Europe in general. Le Pen in France is taking up the oxygen Macron lost, Spain's far right party is also a contender for power, the far right already won in Italy, Sweden, Austra, Hungary, Poland... arguably Turkey...
Ironically perhaps, the UK is poised for a center-left flip.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/31/across-europe-the-far-right-is-rising-that-it-seems-normal-is-all-the-more-terrifying
Big ramifications for how Europe deals with the refugee crisis, as well as Ukraine, as the far right generally has been more pro-Putin.
Be extremely wary of that. Labour have recently come down painfully hard on anyone who's talking sense about unifying with centre-left parties to stop the Tories getting in.
Traditionally Labour & Lib Dem have done this. But my word was it an insane move by Starmer.
I think the shift back left is because we're seeing the NHS get absolutely obliterated, as well as strikes that are making the problems really visible. Despite what the Tory news-sheets want you to think.
I thought that the examples set by Brazil, the US, Turkey and the UK were enough to thwart the growth of far-right sentiment in Europe, but apparently not.
Politicians are not doing themselves any favours, there is a general disconnect with the will of the population, and far-right talking heads were able to pounce on that sentiment to present themselves as an outsider alternative. Besides, right wing talking points are overrepresented in online media with nearly no regulation, and they're utilising the same cheap tricks from past elections in other countries (deflecting, distractions, whataboutism). One can only hope most citizens come to their senses come election day.
Sure, but these are basically complaints that the liberals are being too conservative. I really can't fathom why the usual response is to vote for the other party, which is even more conservative. Then when conservatives cut even more programs and do even more authoritarian things, everyone is all shocked that this would be the case and flip back to voting liberal.
People whine about having to choose the lesser evil, but things would improve over time if we actually did that. Instead, sometimes we choose the greater evil because the people aren't getting instant results and want a change for the sake of change.
I'm kind of both hoping for keeping politicians accountable and for voters not to be apathetic about incremental improvements. I suppose you're right that appeal matters a lot though. Obama was more exciting while McCain seemed boring and a little out of touch. Same deal with Trump and Hillary.
Your comment made me wonder about voter turnout. This statement is a bit oversimplified, but it seems that when people show up to vote, democrats get elected. When they stay home, Republicans get elected. I know that candidates like Gore and Hillary can be boring or unappealing, but I kind of want a boring president. I'm happy to not be hearing much about Biden in the news. Whether it's because he's working or because he's not getting much done, I find radio silence much more preferable than tweeting misinformation. Unfortunately, that's not really what inspires voters, I guess.
I don't really just want voters to fall in line, but I think a lot of people would agree that Trump ended up being worse than Hillary probably would have been. That's probably the main reason for such a high turnout for Biden, despite how boring he is.
P.S. Hopefully this isn't considered too off-topic. I kind of wanted to keep talking conservative vs. liberal, but I ended up getting farther into US politics. Looking at voter turnout in Germany and SPD vs CDU/CSU vote share, it seems that SPD also gets more votes when voter turnout is higher.
Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the rise of far-right/fascist ideology the world over? It's a worrying trend that I wouldn't mind being more well informed of, especially as someone with ties to both Germany and the US.
I read recently "The Reactionary Mind" by Corey Robin which talks about the origins of conservatives, and gets all the way to Trump in the latest edition. Would recommend!
Thanks for the rec, seems like exactly what I was looking for.
Hannah Arendt's 'Origins of Totalitarianism'.
Thanks for the rec, between yours and the other one looks like I should get a good overview for the modern movements.
Related post on Twitter (Also this account has lots of stuff on the AFD's current polling record:
The AFD polls on top in Mecklenburg West-Pomerania, making it so that the AFD has managed this feat in every single East German state
I absolutely loathe this reasoning. Just because it's not going well, doesn't mean the reactionary party will fix things, they'll make it worse!
Time and time again these types of parties show they're of no substance whatsoever and just ride the wave of dissatisfaction, using all sorts of tricks online to pull people into their spiteful orbit.
We see it here too, in the Netherlands, where there's this massive right-wing surge as a counter to "the evil left"... But no left-wing party has been part of the ruling coalition for twenty five odd years now.
Frustratingly, it's apparent through the actions of these types of reactionary parties that their policies are damning to the overall health of the country. Brazil, the UK, Turkey, and more are just spiralling.
Unfortunately we do it here in Canada too. We have four mainstream political parties but just bounce between two of them like America-lite
For polls about voting behaviour in Germany (aka. the "Sonntagsfrage"), I would recommend these charts by David Kriesel. He aggregates voting numbers from different institutions with a moving average (the article only quotes the poll by infratest-dimap). Nonetheless, you can see the trade-off with the SPD in mid June pretty clearly and it's scary for sure.
The sad truth is that the best advertisement to far right is far left, especially for men.
with the UK in mind im reminded if the Clash
“if adolf hitler were here today,
theyd send a limousine anyway”
at least we are a peaceful neo-liberalism. Unlike say, Chile where General Pinochet had everyone on the left shot in the back of the head and established a semi successful neo liberal economy