On a day only liberals could love, a victory for conservatives and capitalists has reverberated around the globe.
Another fabulous leader has reclaimed his mantle. Silvio Berlusconi has won a landslide election to become the Prime Minister of Italy for the third time.
Mr. Berlusconi is a staunch ally of America, a friend of President George W. Bush, and an absolute friend of Israel and Jews everywhere. Of equal importance, Mr. Berlusconi is a staunch conservative.
Not since the 1980s when Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Brian Mulroney led the Anglosphere has conservatism been so powerful.
Make no mistake about it. The “Old Europe” that Donald Rumsfeld poked fun at is dead. Despite the fact that the easiest way to defeat American liberals when they run for President is to refer to them as “French,” the France that San Francisco and Manhattan admires does not exist anymore.
Liberals worldwide are scurrying for cover like little cheese eating rats. They can scream to the heavens that they are correct, but the world is not listening. They protest that they are smarter than everybody else, but the world scoffs. They claim to want to change the world, and then find out they cannot govern.
Yes, liberals will claim many things. What they are not claiming is election victories.
In America, republicans have dominated Presidential elections for the last 40 years. Every once in awhile a Southern democrat will run a football play that Haley Barbour refers to as “fake right, run left.” Nevertheless, a true liberal has not been President since LBJ stepped down. The two democrats that did win fought with their own party, and failed to move America to the left. Despite protests that America is despised in the world, the world seems to want clones of George W. Bush running their own nations.
In Canada, Cretin (Chretien, whatever) is a distant liberal memory. Stephen Harper is in power, and relations between our nations are strong.
In Germany, the failure that was Gerhardt Schroeder has been replaced with Angela Merkel. She is cutting through bureaucracy and statism to modernize the German economy. Make no mistake about it, the word modernize in this case means Americanize.
In France, Nicolas Sarkozy is loving every minute of his role as Sarko the American. This man is George W. Bush relocated, which makes sense since Paris is a city in Texas. He cavorts on the beach with his blazing hot model wife. His enemies criticize him. He doesn’t care. He has the hot wife, which is his way of saying that others can criticize, but he will do as he d@mn well pleases until voters tell him he cannot. He is comfortable in his own skin, and in minutes repaired a relationship that was near fratricide.
In Italy, a billionaire entertainment magnate has retaken the reins. Silvio Berlusconi is still popular, and despite his razor thin loss a couple years ago, two years of leftist governing was enough to have people embrace his return.
The dominoes will continue to fall. Israel is next. Ehud Ohlmert has single digit approval ratings, and Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is waiting in the wings to make his comeback. His critics on the right correctly point out that he moved left when he became Prime Minister. He has vowed not to make the same mistake twice. His term as finance minister was a rousing success, and his hardline stance on terrorism will be a welcome departure from the current strategy of grovel and surrender.
England and Australia are the exceptions, but make no mistake about it. Tony Blair was left of center, but he was no leftist. He showed economic conservatism by making the Central Bank of England independent. Yes, a world leader gave up some of his own power for the good of his nation and the world. He then maintained a stance on the War on Terror that was every bit as conservative as Lady Thatcher and Mr. John Major. The current Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on the left, but even if he tries to fight the American rightward drift, he will be fighting European trends as well. As for John Howard, it is easy for voters to become complacent and take for granted a man who simply did virtually everything right. His successor has gigantic shoes to fill. Time will tell.
Leftist governments are failing worldwide. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is a dictator and a thug. He seeks comfort in friends such as Iran because his reforms have failed with the civilized world and enraged his people.
Communists governments such as Cuba and China are on the verge of doing their impersonation of J.R. Ewing from Dallas. The Chinese are already enjoying rampant capitalism, running happy and wild the way America did in the 1980s. Cuba is allowing ordinary citizens to have privileges that were unthinkable a year ago.
This is not to imply that liberalism is dead, or that conservatism has won for good. What it does mean is that capitalism is triumphing, and socialism is reeling. Corporations, privatization, and free markets are accomplishing what bloated government bureaucracies cannot get done. Most importantly, nations led by conservatives are willing to confront Islamofacism, since allowing the left to handle the problem would be akin to joining the Caliphate. Anybody who thinks that George W. Bush is a Cowboy has not heard Mr. Sarkozy speak on the issue.
Mr. Bush, Mr. Sarkozy, Ms. Merkel, and Mr. Harper have a window. Mr. Netanyahu will join them soon enough.
Senator John McCain possesses all of President Bush’s positives, with none of his negatives. He will fit in seamlessly with the great leaders of the world.
After all, his competitors consist of a man who thinks Iowa farmers grow arugala, and a woman tho thinks that doing shots and talking about guns in a bar will make her likable. I would say that they look and act French, but that cliche is a French word known as passe. Instead they look like John Kerry, another liberal that confused San Francisco with the rest of a beautiful country that really is the heart and soul of America.
Leftist intellectuals may keep their noses in the air, but those on the right are too busy rolling up their sleeves and governing to notice. The job of world leader is a tenuous one, especially in Italy. Nevertheless, for the first time since 2006, there is cause for much optimism.
Welcome back Mr. Berlusconi. Your friends in America are glad to see you again.
eric
Netanyahu will be one of the major inluences we have in stabilizing thge middle east.
There is no doubt in my mind that this man will introduce balls to the middle east.
Whle I’m not quite as sanguine as you on the whole Europe situation, the fact that the communists are gone from the Italian Parliament is good news indeed. An Italy without communists for the first time since WWII is cause for celebration.
“The Chinese are already enjoying rampant capitalism, running happy and wild the way America did in the 1980s.”
Uh, excuse me here, but I know a thing or two about China. The economy is still 90% controlled by the government. 90%. That is not “capitalism run amok.” Most of China’s growth has been steered and controlled by the government. This shows a complete and total lack of understanding about China.
JMJ
If you guys would like to learn about China, there’s a great new piece coming out in National Geographic this month. I highly recommend it.
JMJ
It may not be running amok , but you could stand to break away from the sterotypical perceptions that most people have.
Try reading this. China is definatley on its way to becoming more democratic.
And whether or not this economy is run by the government is true its irrelevant due to the fact that internal trade and income is on the rise.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5686123
It’s almost accepted wisdom that the emergence of a Chinese middle class could hasten the development of civil society, and ultimately democratization. In Zhejiang province, some 80 percent of elected village chiefs are local businessmen and not Communist Party members. The businessmen-turned-village chiefs that I met there all espoused democracy, but a version offered by the Chinese Communist Party. Several said they decided to run for office because they wanted to give something back to the country and the party as thanks for becoming rich under its policies. As stakeholders with the most to lose in the system, they’re unlikely to want to push for radical change. This suggests that economic growth could ultimately insulate China against political change, rather than driving it.
And here are some facts that point to you not always knowing what you’re talking about.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4359164.stm
Micky,
I’m quite familiar with the Chinese. I never said it was some super-centralized government – it’s not. Never was. The whole notion of a totalitarian China was never really true. Governance in China has always been localized. But it doesn’t change the fact that the government controls the economy. They have. If the private sector ever really did run amok, the 1.3 billion Chinese would be ungovernable. It would be insanity.
JMJ
Yea , right.
Thats not what you said at first. You simply said “the government”.
So you left yourself wide open by not clarifying what form or system of government actually oversees regulation.
God forbid people actually run their own lives and their own commerce and economy.
Micky, I’m quite sure I’ve gone over my China creds with you. Search the archives if you like.
The ideal, of course, is that all people have as much freedom as possible, but every place, every culture, every nation, every locality has their own way of determining the incentives, sanctions, liberation and boundaries of their peoples’ freedom. That’s why we should never have invaded Iraq. We just don’t belong there. Our notions of freedom and its limits have evolved differently than the people of the Middle East. This is why Israel has the problems it has. They are a people who have not lived in that region in large numbers – nation state numbers – in centuries. It’s a difficult proposition. The “Chinese,” as we in the West call them, are actually a widely diverse “nationality” of peoples of hundreds of cultures, widely diverse languages and customs – moreso than America by far. More similar to all of Europe and America. Keeping all that together, with a quarter century averaging double digit growth, relative peace at home and abroad throughout, is amazing. It was not done just by loosing the little busy bees of the free market. It was a plan. I do not personally subscribe to communism, but you have to give it the credit where it’s due in China just as you, and I, decry it’s sometimes brutal heavy handedness.
JMJ
Everything you just said was pathetically insane.
I wont even diginfy all that crap with a response other than this.
China is one the biggest offenders of just about everything right in this worls and you give them credit like you do pre iraq.
Absolutley disgusting to think that someone can even entertain the thought that its all O.K.
I live around more differfent sects of chinese people than any other population in this country.
And I have done so for 40 years . I am more familiar with the reasons these people were glad as hell to get out of there than you will ever be dude.
So once again, spare me your O so great knowledge of everything in this world.
That was one of the dumbest and most reprehensable statements you have ever made
Eric, It is interesting to note that so many democratic countries are fed up with liberalism, recognizing it isn’t a sustainable method of governance, yet in the US we have half the population leaning toward a socialist agenda. I cringe when I hear comparisons between Obama and Kennedy…what a difference a few years makes… “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”… compared with, “You people are bitter because the government hasn’t done anything for you, so I am going to initiate programs to pay for jobs, insurance, homes, and other things to make you happy because we are Americans and we CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE”… JFK is rolling over in his grave. The cow tippers may elect another Democratic candidate, which will lead to another 20 or 30 year run of Republican presidents, but I’m hoping it won’t be this time around.
I read a story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday. The NYTs guest writer bashed Pres Bush about his lack of concern for universal health care and described how certain people are dead, who would be alive today, if they had had health insurance. What he doesn’t mention is that these people who didn’t want to spend money for check-ups because they couldn’t afford them had computers with high speed internet access, cell phones, air conditioning, cars, flush toilets, carpet, stoves, microwaves, and refrigerators. It’s like abortion. They had a choice between paying for health insurance or paying for all of the above. Likewise, people have a choice between engaging in activities that lead to pregnancy and not engaging in those activities. I am pro choice…a far cry from the entitlement “what can the government do for me” crowd. I’m tired and am tempted to join the Michigan Militia up north and let the world go away…the “gimme” crowd doesn’t like the cold that much…
The Chinese Government scares me…from pollution to the quality of life experienced by the Chinese people…economic growth seems like quite a price to pay for such brutality etc…
Great points,
Great Blog….so far.
I’ll have to read more, but I like what I have read at this point.
George Bush will get his due in the future;
about the same time that Global Warming, Evolution, and Liberalism
are finally seen as the Flat Earth beliefs that they are.
I think I’ll add this blog to my blogroll until further notice.
Thanks for the space,
http://riggword.wordpress.com/
Brian’s right. The price of growth in China has been steeper than almost any place else i9n modern times. That’s one of the reasons the Chinese government has been holding down growth of late – keeping down the yuan, slowing down massive state projects, etc. They’ve also been trrying to break off it’s fossil fuel addiction, which if they manage to do so, would be quite remarkable. But I digress from being scared. The Chinese do not seem to be a threat to anyone but themselves.
JMJ
Excuse me Jersey!
I think Brian was refering more to Human rights and quality of life being affected directly as result of the Chinese governments brutal means of control, and not talking about growth statistics that can be found in any one of a hundred articles on Chinas economy.
Holding down growth ? Old news.
Keeping down the value of currency ? Old news.
Curbing state projects ? Old news.
Trying to break oil addiction ? Joke.
Threat to anyone but themselves ? More liberal minimizing.
China is one of the reasons oil is so expensive across the world today. They are one of the top three consumers who have driven up the demand over available supply.
They are a nuclear power.
They have already killed Americans with their inferior imports.
They have been caught hacking into the pentagons computers.
They recently have spent 65 million on expanding its military.
They are rtying to expand its borders as far as Taiwan which could pose a threat to neighbors such as the Philippines and Japan,
Also,China disputes its boundaries in the South China Sea with a number of countries, including the Philippines. Beijing is also keenly wary of any Japanese expansion.
They developing a variety of missiles that could threaten the Japanese island of Okinawa, where thousands of American forces are based.
They also oppose Bush’s plans to build a missile shield to counter fields of about 30 missiles capable of hitting America.
And the Pentagon warned that China has more options to attack Taiwan
And then theres acquisition of Russian-made submarines, which could be used to cut off Taiwan’s sea lanes and to threaten American forces that might respond.
And that my friend is just the old news that you conveniently leave out.
China only a threat to themselves ?
ROTFLMFAO
Have another one while the cork is off.
I think Micky had a better gauge on why China scares me…the quality of life for vast majority of them is exceedingly low compared to the West…Their human rights violations, treatment of animals ( I’m hardly satisfied with our either…) is beyond cruelty…It seems trickle down economics is somewhat anathema ot them…The Pollution is an absolute disgrace…They are the poster child for our weariness ( even in moderate political circles…) for signing Kyoto type accords…
The Chinese Government scares me…
China – democratic?
Are you smoking crack?
Thank G-d their subs and fighters suck so bad or I would be worried about them.
China’s democratic? Who of us said that???
Brian, we’re not much better than them.
JMJ
Jersey.
Your statements in the last couple days can only lead me to believe that you are some kind of closet communist.
You give Chinas government a pass and you say we are not much better than them and that they are only a threat to themselves.
If you’re not a closet communist than you’ve given good reason for me to think you need your head checked.
Or put down the bottle.
Please, in order for it to appear as if you have an ounce of sanity left would you show me some kind of concensus that proves this or gives reason to believe it besides your opinion.