Wednesday, May 09, 2012

If Conservative, Collaborationist Democrats Opt For A Grand Bargain With The Right... When Do We Get Pirate Party Candidates?

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Although the narrator is a 'tard who can barely read the Stratfor script she was given, the main points are well taken: "The traditional political elites are losing control of the system they once dominated... 12 governments of the Eurozone's 17 member states have collapsed or been voted out of office in the last two years. This phenomenon is testament to the near political impossibility of implementing Austerity and reform measures without losing popular support."

In Greece, the right-leaning Conservative Consensus Party and the left-leaning Conservative Consensus Party was each abandoned by much of it's base. Even together they failed on Monday to form a coalition government. Greek voters, furious at their collaboration with the German bankster regime that has imposed Austerity-- failed Austerity-- have turned to alternatives. On the left, voters made a rational decision and voted in Alexis Tsipras' Syriza grouping-- as well as the Communists (8.48% of the vote) and other leftist parties. On the right, of course, the lizard brain went straight for he Nazis. 21 deputies (6.97% of the vote) were elected to the Golden Dawn, a far right populist party comparable to the Arizona GOP or the teabaggers here-- only with more elaborate and menacing iconography.

In other European countries, voters, particularly younger voters, are registering their disgust with the traditional political parties of the Conservative Consensus by voting for... the Pirate Party. It appears to have been founded in 2006 as a Swedish party led by IT developer Rickard Falkvinge and it had more to do with Internet issues than politics per se. But as it spread across Europe it has become more and more associated with other issues of the Enlightenment, from civil rights and universal healthcare to separation of church and state and direct democracy. Last year the German Pirate Party won 8.9% of the vote in the Berlin state election and this past weekend the Pirate Party astounded everyone by winning over 8% of the vote in Schleswig-Holstein and 6 seats in the state parliament, perhaps enough to determine whether the conservative CDU or the less conservative Social Democrats will lead the coalition government.

Worldwide there are now over 40 countries with Pirate parties. The United States Pirate Party, which is based primarily on standing up for Net Neutrality and freedom of information, is registered in Massachusetts, Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon and there are state Pirate parties in New York and Maryland as well. The Pirate Party in Massachusetts says they expect to start running candidates in 2014.

Monday night, sitting in for Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes connected the dots for viewers between what voters across Europe have done and what voters in America must do to save themselves from the economic and social ravages that come with the kind of Austerity the European One Percent has imposed-- and which the American right is trying to impose. Mitt Romney's and Paul Ryan's economic precepts are what Sarkozy and Merkel have given Europe... but on steroids.

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1 Comments:

At 2:51 PM, Blogger Dan Lynch said...

My ISP from hell won't let me watch the Chris Hayes clip, but Neoliberal austerity is not just a Republican thing.

Nancy Pelosi has signed on to the Bowles-Simpson budget and Obama has been fixated on deficit reduction from day one. Even the faux Progressive Caucus budge proposed massive deficit reduction.

The real problem is that both legacy parties have bought into Neoliberal economics. That's what is taught in all but a few colleges. Dems want a kinder, gentler form of Neoliberalism, but it is Neoliberalism nonetheless.

MMT economics has the answers, but you rarely hear about it in the mainstream media.

 

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