A Strange Victory for Capitalism
Joseph Daul, MEP
I remember when Nicholas Sarkozy got elected President of France and a number of American commentators started suddenly and strangely crowing about how “even France” was recognizing the virtues of Americanism and American-style capitalism. Since taking office, of course, Sarkozy has done exactly what an informed person would expect him to do—governed like the Gaullist he is, just as the majority of presidents of post-war France have been. And French policy has continued to be dominated by French nationalism and statist economics. Now along comes Anne Applebaum with a continent-wide version of this fallacy, proclaiming a win by the center-right European People’s Party bloc in a low-turnout European Parliament election to be a verdict on socialism in which “capitalism triumphed.”
It seems to me that if you want to read these elections as an ideological triumph for anyone, though, you should view it as a triumph for the ideologies that actually won the election. The EPP is an amalgamation of Christian Democratic parties with French Gaullists. Nobody in the United States would recognize their agenda as constituting “capitalism” except in the broad sense that Europe’s Social Democratic parties also believe in capitalism. The European parliament actually does contain a bloc of liberal parties—the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe—which includes capitalism-oriented parties. It’s the third-largest bloc, treaded water in the elections, and has always been the third-largest bloc, reflecting the fact that neoliberal economics is not very popular in Europe.
Underlying the entirety of these kind of analyses seems to me to be a misunderstanding of why Europe tends to have a more elaborate welfare state and a more regulated labor market. The presumption behind columns like Applebaums seems to be that Socialist, Social Democrat, or Labor parties are constantly winning elections. In reality, most countries have mostly been governed by center-right coalitions. But the parties of the European right are quite different from their American counterparts. The Tories in the UK are probably the most similar, but even they don’t dare admit to any qualms about government-run health care. Sarkozy does things like call for “a better-regulated form of capitalism with a greater sense of morality and solidarity,” and I’m guessing it’ll be a very long time before Barack Obama makes “solidarity” one of the cornerstones of his agenda. Angela Merkel pushes for major cuts in carbon emissions. It’s like they live on a whole different continent or something.
45 Responses to “A Strange Victory for Capitalism”
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June 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Of course, this is why it is true in some sense that the United States is a “center-right nation”–and why that doesn’t mean what people making that claim usually want it to mean.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
If you contemplate the abject intellectual dishonesty of the WaPo opinion columnists like Krauthammer, Will, Samuelson, etc., it is truly sad that anyone would take that paper seriously.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
It’s almost as if these reporters were counting on the fact that the average voter here is terribly uninformed about the details of European politics and that it’s useful to make-up stuff about European politics in order to influence local opinion. It sounds crazy, I know. Or these reporters could be stupid, too.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The European parliament actually does contain a bloc of liberal parties—the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe—which includes capitalism-oriented parties. It’s the third-largest bloc, treaded water in the elections, and has always been the third-largest bloc, reflecting the fact that neoliberal economics is not very popular in Europe.
That’s quite incorrect. The Free Democrats of Germany, the largest country in the EU, nearly doubled its seat count. Remember, this is a party that once branded itself “party for the better-earning people.”
That’s quite significant, and signify, in conjunction with the CDU-CSU victory, a German preference for centre-right governance.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
You’d almost think that Applebaum’s perspective is shaped by being married to the centre-right Polish foreign minister, or something.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
What a pathetic response to Applebaum’s article. She based her argument on the fact that European countries that were broadly speaking pro-balanced budgets and anti-stimulus won and parties that are not (like our “president”) lost.
She then goes on to say that while it may be true that in the US right-wing parties are not so pro-balanced budgets as the ones in Europe, European right-wing parties win elections. Which is entirely her point.
Seriously, this post should be deleted. What a dumb piece of analysis. Go have another diet coke or something.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Anne Applebaum is almost too dumb for words.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
What Jeffrey Davis said.
“Europe” has been a bogey man in American politics since before our founding. The particular focus shifts from the tyranical English to effete French to bomb throwing Italians but the basic meme has always obtained.
Combine that with our ever more ignorant electorate and surprise surprise surprise!
Of course none of this is helped when even good ol boy Lefties like Matty were wont to attack “old Europe” for not going along with his war mongering and philistinism.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
In fact, come to think of it, the Social Democrats now have less than double the seats of the Free Democrats, which is just incredible.
It’s almost like a divine intervention in favour of civilisation and against socialism.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I’m French but I’ve been living in the US for 20 years. My politics remain the same wherever I am, yet here I’m a leftist and in France I’m clearly on the right (some of my relatives are appalled, just appalled by how much of a rightist I have become).
On many issues, the mainstream of the Republican party is well to the right of most European far right parties. On the other hand, I’d say the mainstream of the Democratic party is roughly equivalent to most right-of-center European parties, perhaps even a little farther to the right. On many if not most issues, Obama is to the right of Sarkozy.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Something else. Nobody actually cares about elections to the European parliament and the turnout rate is incredibly low. So, basically, drawing broad conclusions from these elections is a little like drawing broad conclusions from, say, US primaries.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Myles: you’re fudging the numbers there. The FDP gains were basically at the expense of CDU-CSU, based on either the last European elections or the percentage share of the last federal election. And plenty of its ALDE affiliates outside Germany got spanked, particularly those currently in government.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
JFD @ 6 I take your point and argument as stronger than Matty’s reflexology.
However I think Applebaum makes the same mistake the American left has, to read the shift in voter preferences as anything more than gool ol “throw the bums out”.
Closer to home and as ObaFuhrer’s declining poll numbers are showing us (remember the lead Dems had on the economy only a few months ago?), most Americans whilst liking him personally definitely did not vote for his actual policies. And once his tax increases and the wage cuts his policies are forcing on the middle classes sink in then his personal numbers will begin to slip as well.
ObaFuhrer promised a unionized paradise and he’s delivering the working stiff’s hell.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
It’s almost like a divine intervention in favour of civilisation and against socialism.
Oh, grow up, you silly boy.
The FDP has had the advantage of being able to snipe from the sidelines against the governing grand coalition. It won’t have that luxury if, as polls suggest, the federal election means they become CDU-CSU’s junior partner.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Ane Applebaums’s view of Europe is probably colored by her husband whom Wikipedia describes as follows:
– Radosław Sikorski(born 23 February 1963 in Bydgoszcz), is a conservative Polish politician and journalist. Currently he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
– Shortly after the United States Presidential Election, 2008, opposition politician Ryszard Czarnecki charged Sikorski had repeated a joke suggesting President-elect Barack Obama’s grandfather was a cannibal (who had eaten a Polish missionary. A spokesman for the Polish foreign office denied it, explaining Sikorski “was only giving an example of the unpalatable and racist ‘jokes’ that surround President Elect Obama”. Mrs. Sikorski had declared her intent to vote for Obama.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
History FAIL. Poli-Sci FAIL. English FAIL. And, most sadly of all, math FAIL.
I know we’re all shocked to discover that the wingnuts among us are morons.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Closer to home and as ObaFuhrer’s declining poll numbers are showing us (remember the lead Dems had on the economy only a few months ago?)
Presumably you’re basing this broad claim on a single poll from notorious right-wing pollster Rasmussen, right? You don’t actually have any other evidence of declining numbers, do you?
June 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
most Americans whilst liking him personally definitely did not vote for his actual policies
That’s funny too. You should look at poll results for the actual policies progressives favor, because they’re virtually all in the 60-70% range. Universal health care, more progressive taxation, higher minimum wage, more government regulation? All broadly popular. Sorry.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
In fact, come to think of it, the Social Democrats now have less than double the seats of the Free Democrats, which is just incredible.
It’s almost like a divine intervention in favour of civilisation and against socialism.
It would take a real divine intervention to cure Myles of his stupidity. Then he might realize that the scary German socialists are in the government since 1998.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Neoliberal policies aren’t popular anywhere but in DC. However, the Democratic party is a very elitist institution, so they refuse to run anyone who ISN’T a neo-liberal and rely on the fact that there are only parties to prevent themselves from being anhillated.
I have no doubt that if we had laws and regulations that fostered three parties, the Democratic party would be the smallest. A party that is built on the overwhelming appeal of the sensabilities wealthy individuals can only succeed if the other party is built on the appeal of the sensabilities of torturers and corporatists.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
@10 Icindc: “On many if not most issues, Obama is to the right of Sarkozy.”
Thanks for the perspective. Your comment is almost a Theory of Relativity on the international political spectrum.
It got me thinking, it there a country that is further to the right than the United States on economic issues? If you define it as believing that Capitalism should be released from almost all constraints?
June 9th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
It got me thinking, it there a country that is further to the right than the United States on economic issues? If you define it as believing that Capitalism should be released from almost all constraints?
Singapore.
Dubai.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Myles: you’re fudging the numbers there. The FDP gains were basically at the expense of CDU-CSU, based on either the last European elections or the percentage share of the last federal election.
Quite wrong. The sense of enthusiasm, of energy, among the FDP is actually palpable. It’s like being in London and realising that Labour is far more unpopular than the -7% swing in votes would suggest. The physical feeling is more like 17%.
Compare this with the dejection of the broad left in Europe.
By the way, you have got it quite wrong with regards to the CDU/CSU-FDP situation. That voters have expressed a loud and clear preference for a traditional Conservative-Liberal government, instead of a Conservative-Socialist one, is absolutely undeniable, and that in itself is a potent political statement in and of itself. That voters prefer classical liberals, as opposed to socialists, in government, is now a reality the SDP must face.
You know this as well as I do, that you can’t interpret German results from a purely party perspective, but rather a broad-tent one. The FDP has emerged the biggest winner in the German election, and that is significant, if only because that slice has not gone to CDU-CSU but FDP, as clearly FDP is the more economically hardline part of the centre-right coalition. The gains of the hard-left pales in comparison.
Germany very clearly prefers an economically more conservative government; that is not for doubt. And that is something to be celebrated by all.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Then he might realize that the scary German socialists are in the government since 1998.
They won’t be in three months’ time.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Classical liberalism is on the march, and that’s a cause for celebration for any civilised being, even sweaty, disgusting left-wingers.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Myles, if you think Merkel is the champion of classical liberalism, you are even more deluded than I thought. You should move to Dubai and celebrate Adam Smith with the innovative entrepreneurs over there.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The physical feeling is more like 17%
That and six euro buys you a currywurst.
The clearest correlation between FD-types and success in the Euro elections was whether they were part of the current ruling coalition. Elsewhere in Europe, they got slapped about.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Heh. I can’t help but smile at that. What I think the Left in Europe have to do is to formulate a foreign policy. Decoupling from the US and associating closer with Russia would seem to be it. After all, on starting war America is completely off from the rest of the world.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Myles, if you think Merkel is the champion of classical liberalism, you are even more deluded than I thought. You should move to Dubai and celebrate Adam Smith with the innovative entrepreneurs over there.
Free Democratic Party
June 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
The clearest correlation between FD-types and success in the Euro elections was whether they were part of the current ruling coalition. Elsewhere in Europe, they got slapped about.
Economically, if you take out the European issue, FDP is not so dissimilar to UKIP, or the Northern League.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Hurrah for classical liberalism!
June 9th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Myles,
Do you actually have a fucking clue about anything you spout off about?
Singapore may be a money launderers and arms traders paradise but it also has a command economy, universal health care, a cradle to grave social safety net and many other social democratic policies; virtually free subsidized mass transit, subsidized government housing and so on
June 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Economically, if you take out the European issue, FDP is not so dissimilar to UKIP, or the Northern League.
Heh, so rabid nationlism and anti-immigrant rants are a cornerstone of classical liberalim in Myles’ ignorant mind. I’m not sure the FDP agrees with that though, or that they would have much power in a coalition with the crypto-socialist CDU and its welfare programs anyway.
Oh well, a divine intervention is still possible.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Does anyone else get the impression that Myles is always wearing a blazer and monocle? I remember kids like him from prep school and I never managed to disassociate their style of speech with “regata enthusiast.”
June 9th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Re: It got me thinking, it there a country that is further to the right than the United States on economic issues? If you define it as believing that Capitalism should be released from almost all constraints?
Colombia, i think.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Saying that any one election is some kind of judgment on any age-old idea is ridiculous. Pronouncing such is just propaganda.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I remember kids like him from prep school and I never managed to disassociate their style of speech with “regata enthusiast.”
Regatta. Have you been to Head of Charles? Excellent times.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Heh, so rabid nationlism and anti-immigrant rants are a cornerstone of classical liberalim in Myles’ ignorant mind.
I said economically.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I didn’t mean it as an insult, but….I really don’t remember the last time I heard “hurrah” used without irony and the speaker was not interested in certain affectations of wealth, if not wealth itself.
June 9th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Anne’s point was to suggest that this “victory” at the EU is good news for American conservatives. But that conclusion doesn’t follow logically, and she offers no empirical evidence either. It’s sort of a D- column that doesn’t prove its point and leaves me wondering where the Post finds these people.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I remember asking, in a wingnut-triumphalist thread after Sarkozy won the election in which the wingnuts were gloating about Democrats allegedly pulling their hair out, “Why, exactly, would Democrats be upset because a guy whose politics resemble John Kerry’s beat a woman whose politics resemble Ralph Nader’s?”
The threat pretty much petered out after that.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Pfff, no. Embarrassingly stupid. Both Applebaum and Matt.
Nicolas Sarkozy is not a Gaullist in any meaningful sense. There is no Gaullist party nor even a single Gaullist politician left in France anymore. Chirac had some vague Gaullist reflexes in foreign policy but even that is gone so please leave that poor Charles rest where he lies.
As for Sarkozy’s positions on capitalism, financial regulations or carbon emissions, they are just where polls tell him to be. Clinton was the Great Triangulator. Sarkozy is the Rather Short Pentagulator. He’s all over the place from the far-right to the Socialists and throw a bit of Trotskyism for good measure.
Sarkozy has only one principle : whatever it takes to neutralize the opposition du jour. Given the success of the Europe Ecologie list at the MEP election, I expect a lot of green shiny things from Sarkozy in the next few months.
And, yes, the stupidity and clulessness of Anne Applebaum is the size of a continent. We knew that. Why bother?
June 9th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
And what did I say about Sarkozy and green shiny things?
The next few months? Narhhh, I’m so naive. Make that “the next few days“.
“Nicolas Sarkozy strikes a pose as a champion of environmentalism”.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2009/06/10/01002-20090610ARTFIG00026-nicolas-sarkozy-se-pose-en-champion-de-l-environnement-.php
June 9th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Am I am the only one, or does anyone else think Sarkozy twitches too much when he speaks, as if he’s got ADHD? It’s a striking sight for a French president.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Applebaum states “Far fewer people vote in them than vote in national elections, and those who do vote are far vaguer about what their Euro deputies actually do.”
then
“fringe parties, including the so-called far right, always attract protest voters and do unusually well. ”
And then attempts to make broad generalizations, at which point I stopped reading.