The Right Opinion
Jetez les Vauriens
I have no idea whether that translates to "Throw the Rascals Out" but that's what happened around Europe in elections held yesterday.
In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy got beaten in his re-election try by Socialist François Hollande.
According to the International Herald Tribune (the global edition of the New York Times) Hollande is "seen as a challenge to the German-dominated policy of economic austerity in the Euro Zone, which is suffering from recession and record unemployment."
In Germany, President Angela Merkel's party was spanked in a regional election in the northern part of the nation. I am not an expert on electoral politics in Schleswig-Holstein, but according to the IHT the "Pirate party appeared to emerge as the biggest winners with 8 percent of the vote."
The German Pirate party has not been receiving, perhaps, the coverage it should be on my Twitter feed, but it appears to be the anti-Merkel Conservatives, anti-pro-business-Free Democrats and "continued to suck up disgruntled voters from all of the traditional parties."
SIDEBAR
Gary Johnson was nominated by the Libertarian Party to be its presidential candidate. This is important because that means Johnson, the former Republican Governor of New Mexico, will be on the ballot in all 50 states.
If there is a growing "I Don't Like Anybody Very Much" sentiment among voters, it will be interesting to see from whom Johnson draws more votes.
END SIDEBAR
To add to the anti-incumbent fury in Europe over the weekend, there were parliamentary elections in Greece on Sunday which, again according to the IHT, plunged Greece
"into political uncertainty after voters bolstered the far left and neo-Nazi right in a wave of protest that saw the crushing defeat of the dominant political parties they blame for Greece's economic collapse."
These are not exact parallels to the U.S. For example the unemployment rate in March in the Euro Zone was 10.9 percent compared to the current U.S. rate of 8.1 percent. The Greek unemployment rate was 21.7% in January which was second only to an astonishing 24.1 percent in Spain.
According the DailyFinance.com,
"Eight Euro Zone countries, including Greece, Spain and the Netherlands, have seen their economies shrink for two straight quarters or more, the common definition of a recession."
The U.K. has also slipped into the technical definition of a recession and the employment numbers here last Friday did nothing to assuage international fears about the global economy.
Democrats in the U.S will take a hard look at the results in Europe this weekend. They may well decide the time has come to get off the "You have too much and I don't have enough, so you have to give some of yours to me" message and get on to a "prime the economic pump to get the economy moving" campaign.
If the Democrats do that -- and I'm not certain that Obama can ever leave the class warfare rhetoric behind -- it might well appeal to the 12.5 million Americans who are counted as being unemployed.
In the strange world of government programs, California's unemployment rate has dropped to 11 percent. Because that is less than 10 percent higher than it has been for the previous three years, the federal program that extends unemployment benefits to 99 weeks will no longer be available to 93,000 unemployed Californians.
According to the Huffington Post they "will join 670,000 other unemployed Californians whose benefits, averaging $292 a week, already have run out."
Over three quarters of a million Californians out of work and out of benefits cannot be a good thing for incumbents of either party there.
The continuing sense of unease around the world is beginning to show itself at the ballot box. If the major parties -- on both sides of the Atlantic -- don't begin to show they can come together on programs alleviate those economic fears we may see wholesale changes in local, state, and federal offices here as well.
On the Secret Decoder Ring today: Links to just about everything above plus the logo of the German Pirate Party. Also an amusing Mullfoto and a captivating Catchy Caption of the Day.
Copyright ©2012 Barrington Worldwide, LLC | Mullings.com
8 Comments
Capt. Call
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Who was it who said, "The one thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history?"But let us be clear: conservatives do not need to compromise with the liberals/progressives; however, Liberalism/Socialism/Marxism/Communism, must be defeated in order for real progress to made. Otherwise, it is back to slavery for everyone, except for the ruling elites who think that they are better than everyone else.
George kuck
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Please stop propagating the myth that the neo-Nazi parties are parties of the right. They are blood brothers of the socialists with a racist tinge. Read Goldberg's well researched book "Liberal Facism" to realize that Stalin was the one who labeled them a right wing party. You are not a Stalist so stop following his party line.
billy396
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Please, please stop repeating the open lie that our unemployment rate is anywhere near 8%. The real number is much closer to 15% in most of the country, higher in some areas and lower in others. If I'm unemployed and I stop looking for a job (who determines that and how in the hell could they do it?), how am I no longer unemployed? The meaning of the word unemployed is: you don't have a job. If it gets to the point that you do actually stop seeking employment, you are still just as unemployed. "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams
billy396
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:54 PM
If I could move heaven and Earth, I'd make Gary Johnson our next President. Unfortunately, I don't have that power, nor does anyone else. No matter how you look at the issue, any vote for Gary Johnson is a lost vote that could count towards getting rid of the worst President that has ever disgraced the halls of the White House. Even if I hated Mitt Romney with every fiber of my being, I'd vote for him in order to save our country from a Marxist without limits. If Barry O'Blunder is reelected, this country will cease to exist as a free, Constitutional republic. If this traitor is allowed to reign without having to worry about reelection, he will be completely off the chain, which is something NO patriotic American should ever want to see. I've been forced to vote against Presidential candidates for many elections now. I hope that someday, someone who is electable will get a chance that I can actually support. Alas, Gary Johnson doesn't have a snowball's chance of being that person. A vote for Johnson equals one less vote for Romney, who is, mathematically, the one and only person with a real chance to save this country from open Socialism under a Marxist dictator. It is an objective fact that every patriotic American citizen has a DUTY to vote for Romney, who is the ONLY man with a chance to unseat Oblunder. This is a terrible thing to have to admit, but it was also terrible to be forced to vote for John McCain. Now that there can be NO DOUBT regarding Oblunder's agenda, no one who cares about this country and the children and grandchildren of today has any excuse to vote for him. Your descendants will curse you and suffer tremendously if you allow the Marxist traitor a real chance to destroy our country and our way of life.
billy396
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 3:57 PM
If I could move heaven and Earth, I'd make Gary Johnson our next President. Unfortunately, I don't have that power, nor does anyone else. No matter how you look at the issue, any vote for Gary Johnson is a lost vote that could count towards getting rid of the worst President that has ever disgraced the halls of the White House. Even if I hated Mitt Romney with every fiber of my being, I'd vote for him in order to save our country from a Marxist without limits. If Barry O'Blunder is reelected, this country will cease to exist as a free, Constitutional republic. If this traitor is allowed to reign without having to worry about reelection, he will be completely off the chain, which is something NO patriotic American should ever want to see. I've been forced to vote against Presidential candidates for many elections now. I hope that someday, someone who is electable will get a chance that I can actually support. Alas, Gary Johnson doesn't have a snowball's chance of being that person. A vote for Johnson equals one less vote for Romney, who is, mathematically, the one and only person with a real chance to save this country from open Socialism under a Marxist dictator. It is an objective fact that every patriotic American citizen has a DUTY to vote for Romney, who is the ONLY man with a chance to unseat Oblunder. This is a terrible thing to have to admit, but it was also terrible to be forced to vote for John McCain. Now that there can be NO DOUBT regarding Oblunder's agenda, no one who cares about this country and the children and grandchildren of today has any excuse to vote for him. Your descendants will curse you and suffer tremendously if you allow the Marxist traitor a real chance to destroy our country and our way of life.
Howard Last
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 11:42 PM
George Kuck - right you are. Nazis are National Socialists. In fact the communist party USA did not complain about Adolph until Germany attacked Russia.
Dave
Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 10:22 AM
I will be proud to cast a vote for true liberty with my vote for Gary Johnson. Before you all get up in a snit about how a vote for Johnson is a vote for 0bama, take a deep breath and consider my position as a resident of California. The probability of Romney winning in this quasi-socialist paradise is approximately zero, so I feel liberated to vote my conscience in Presidential elections.
Anthony
Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 2:52 PM
Dave - I live in CA also, but I will hold my nose and vote for Romney. While I agree our state has been taken over by the left, I still hold out hope that enough of us may be awake to turn the tide. Rememebr, Reagan won here.