"Globally, voters are disillusioned with large public institutions. They seem to want to reassert local control and their own particular nationalism (Scottish or anything else). But they also seem to want a slightly smaller public sector, strong welfare state reform and more open and vibrant labor markets as a path to prosperity.
For some reason, American politicians are fleeing from this profile, Hillary Clinton to the further left and Republicans to the right."
"For some reason"? In fact, the reason is fairly obvious. The Democratic Party has been hijacked by its "progressive wing," and Hillary Clinton is determined to ward off a potential challenge from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. On the other side of the aisle, a conservative Rand Paul is polling well against Clinton.
Or stated otherwise, US primaries do not foster moderation, and in order to win the general election, you must first be nominated.
There is no longer room for moderation.
The "progressive wing" of the Democratic Party is rooted in Brooklyn's Working Families Party, whose platform used to be solely about economic issues, NO 'social' issues.
ReplyDeleteRand Paul's roots are Libertarian, where 'no foreign adventures' gives him some support from the anti-war left.
Unlike the British system, American has a Two-Party system where the coalitions form BEFORE the primaries, not AFTER the election.
NOT a system I recommend to any would-be democracy.
btw, anyone think Labor's loss, especially in Scotland, had a very tiny, wee bit to do with Ed Milliband looking Jewish?
k