The Republicans are consistently being aggressive and grossly dishonest, even using bazaar and irresponsible statements, all without any conscience in their efforts to excite emotions and control public opinion. They demand total loyalty and unity from their representatives, coerced with threats and evidenced in their word-for-word repetition of their scripted messages. In it all they are belligerent and 'in your face' arrogant, which at best is disgusting. The American people should literally be offended by all of it yet many accept the subterfuge and simply use it to rationalize their predetermined positions. How very short some memories are (reference Bush-Cheney 2000-2008). What is really needed is responsible bipartisan fine-tuning of the proposals and efforts, and not poorly disguised self-focused obstructionist efforts to return to 'more of the same', the 'same' that cost us so much and would now again promise only more benefit for Special Interests and the select few, once more paid for by the majority. That is ridiculous!
Fareed Zakaria
The Rise of the Right
It's really a return to the center.
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The bottom line on last week's elections is simple—the Republicans did well. Yes, these were a grab-bag collection of races with local particularities and low turnout. But notice that independents, who had shunned the GOP over the last few years, voted for the party in large numbers. And the overall results are consistent with a surprising trend across the Western world—the rise of the right. (Click here to follow Fareed Zakaria)
Imagine you had been told five years ago that a huge economic crisis would erupt, prominently featuring irresponsible financiers, and that governments would come to the rescue of firms and families. You would probably have predicted that, politically, the right (the party of bankers) would do badly and the left (the party of bureaucrats) would do well. You would have been wrong. It's not just the Republicans who came out ahead. Last month a conservative coalition swept into power in Germany. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy's party has considerable public support. In Britain, conservatives are poised to win their first national election in 17 years. Even in Denmark and Sweden, where social democrats usually win, the right is in power. In fact, across continental Europe, only one major country, Spain, has a left-wing ruling party.
Why? Part of the answer is that despite the economic turmoil, few people seriously believe the answer is a turn to socialism. But it is also worth looking at the conservative parties that are thriving. Britain's Tory leader, David Cameron, calls himself a "progressive conservative." Sarkozy argues passionately for tight regulation of the financial industry, with pay caps on executive bonuses and more. Angela Merkel staunchly defends the German social market system. In Europe, the right is firmly at the center.
The United States has always been one step to the right of Europe, but even here the center held. The Republicans who won did so by emphasizing mainstream issues and traditional GOP criticisms of Obama—on spending and taxes. They did not espouse radical economic ideas or highlight their conservatism on social issues. When they did, it alienated voters, as in upstate New York.
The post–Cold War political landscape was best mapped out by two politicians early in the 1990s. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair saw that the collapse of communism had created a new reality. The dramatic left-right divide had given way to a mushier middle, with people converging on the idea of a market-based economy but with a substantial safety net. The electorate wanted not ideological clarion calls but competence. Clinton persuaded Americans to trust Democrats as stewards of public finances by empowering smart technocrats like Robert Rubin rather than left-wing politicians.
Barack Obama's handling of the financial crisis has mostly been marked by such intelligent centrism. He es-chewed calls from the left to nationalize banks, ignored criticism from scholars that the stimulus was too small, and has largely avoided business bashing. In all these areas, the left wing of his party is dissatisfied.
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