Yesterday we heard the results of the elections to the European Parliament. They are best described as a political earthquake. The established parties in most of the large countries lost and in some cases last big.
Britain had the biggest changes. As of nearly final results, here is the breakdown of the British vote by party: Brexit Party - 31.6 percent of the vote share, the Liberal Democrats - 20.3 percent, Labour - 14.1 percent, Green - 12.1 percent and Conservatives - 9.1 percent. Think about that for a moment. The Conservatives and Labour have headed every British government for the last 100 years. During that time, the other party was the largest opposition in the UK. In one election, the two controlling parties together got less than one vote in four. The Brexit Party was only formed six weeks ago. To be fair, this was only a vote for the European Parliament, and Britain is supposed to be leaving that bloc by this fall via Brexit. Still, even as a protest vote, this was a staggering result.
Across Europe, nationalist and populist parties made huge gains. In France, the party of President Macron lost to the party of Marine LePen. Similar results occurred in Italy. In Germany, the changes were less severe, by Chancellor Merkel's party did not do well.
Since this is the EU, of course, the change in the Parliament will not make much of a difference. Most of the EU government is run by a bureaucracy rather than the legislature. Still, we could see that change, and the EU Parliament is where that change could start.
The inevitable articles are going to be written in the US mainstream media comparing these election results with the 2016 victory for President Trump. What does this mean for 2020? Will fed up Americans get rid of the Democrats and the Republicans and move to a new party? It ought to be good for weeks of analysis in the media unless another committee in the House decides to focus on issuing a subpoena to someone they consider critical to their latest useless investigation like the podiatrist that Ivanka Trump once visited in New York.
The basic question has a simple answer: NO. We are not about to see the American parties replaced. Instead, what could happen is something that has occurred repeatedly over the time since the Republicans were formed in 1856 leading to our current two party lineup: the parties will reinvent themselves and realign. Consider: the 2020 Democrats are totally different than the 1960 Democrats. In 1960, the Democrats supported a strong national defense, pushed for tax cuts to invigorate the economy, fought Marxism and it's political dogmas like socialism, and were the main support for segregation. That's not who they are today.
Britain had the biggest changes. As of nearly final results, here is the breakdown of the British vote by party: Brexit Party - 31.6 percent of the vote share, the Liberal Democrats - 20.3 percent, Labour - 14.1 percent, Green - 12.1 percent and Conservatives - 9.1 percent. Think about that for a moment. The Conservatives and Labour have headed every British government for the last 100 years. During that time, the other party was the largest opposition in the UK. In one election, the two controlling parties together got less than one vote in four. The Brexit Party was only formed six weeks ago. To be fair, this was only a vote for the European Parliament, and Britain is supposed to be leaving that bloc by this fall via Brexit. Still, even as a protest vote, this was a staggering result.
Across Europe, nationalist and populist parties made huge gains. In France, the party of President Macron lost to the party of Marine LePen. Similar results occurred in Italy. In Germany, the changes were less severe, by Chancellor Merkel's party did not do well.
Since this is the EU, of course, the change in the Parliament will not make much of a difference. Most of the EU government is run by a bureaucracy rather than the legislature. Still, we could see that change, and the EU Parliament is where that change could start.
The inevitable articles are going to be written in the US mainstream media comparing these election results with the 2016 victory for President Trump. What does this mean for 2020? Will fed up Americans get rid of the Democrats and the Republicans and move to a new party? It ought to be good for weeks of analysis in the media unless another committee in the House decides to focus on issuing a subpoena to someone they consider critical to their latest useless investigation like the podiatrist that Ivanka Trump once visited in New York.
The basic question has a simple answer: NO. We are not about to see the American parties replaced. Instead, what could happen is something that has occurred repeatedly over the time since the Republicans were formed in 1856 leading to our current two party lineup: the parties will reinvent themselves and realign. Consider: the 2020 Democrats are totally different than the 1960 Democrats. In 1960, the Democrats supported a strong national defense, pushed for tax cuts to invigorate the economy, fought Marxism and it's political dogmas like socialism, and were the main support for segregation. That's not who they are today.
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