Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
I’m still struggling to understand why listing countries where neoliberal politicians are trying (and largely failing) to counter right wing extremism by shifting to the right is supposed to be a compliment to them. Isn’t the rise of right wing extremism obviously a demonstration of their failure to lead and address working class concerns when they’re in power? Well run countries don’t tend to have ascendant movements that want to blow things up.
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Each of the parties I cited won their most recent elections. That counts as victory in my eyes (if not in the eyes of people like rube who think politics isn’t about winning elections). You don’t think there’s a big difference between what Tusk, Biden, and Macron are offering and the parties who they beat?
But I was really just challenging rube’s assertion that centrist liberals habitually side with the far right. That’s clearly not the case.
The core issue is aging populations leading to slowing economies and growing unfunded pension and health care liabilities. One obvious measure is large-scale immigration, but it turns out voters really hate that.
The fact no aging, high-income country under any government has figured out a solution yet suggests it’s an incredibly difficult and complex problem.
Macron sees France’s awful public finance balance sheet, and sensibly tries to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Riots ensue and his government plummets in the polls.
So what’s your plan? And not as a technocratic policy wonk, but as a politician - someone who wants to get (re)elected.
It’s also worth asking why the populist right are reaping the benefits of working-class discontent, moreso than the left.