The papers want you to know that this is Trump's fault, and maybe that's true. He is charting a course that America will have to travel alone for a while. If it succeeds, it will draw others to it in time. If not, of course it won't. Time will tell.
The Anglosphere Slips Away
Following the British decision to adopt a left-wing government that is now prosecuting thousands on free-speech issues, both Canada and now Australia have had left-wing governments win elections they had been expected to lose. The Canadian fellow looks especially likely to run the country right into the ground.
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The iniquitous influence of George Bernard Shaw, from which the U.S.A. seems immune then and now, explains all.
House rules are that you should sign your anonymous comments with some persistent identifier to allow us to tell which anonymous commenter is which. We do have one particularly annoying one currently who hasn't the wit to understand that he is unwelcome, nor the grace to abide by the frequent invitations to stop coming by.
Yesterday's elections in the UK might be a hopeful sign. Nigel Farage's Reform party did very well in the local council elections, mainly at the expense of the Conservative party. Maybe they can maintain that momentum.
Still, it seems to me that most of the world is lost, though there may be comebacks. We'll see.
It's interesting to me that Japan seems to be holding out where much of the West is failing. Their constitution has given them great stability and the people seem to like that. Or, it's possible they never really caught on to democracy and are just faking it really well. It's an ongoing debate. Still, I would much rather be a political dissident in Japan than Canada, the UK, or Germany.
My Canadian sources say that the problem lies with where the population centers are. The older Canadians, who have the most to lose if the Liberals and NDP (now defunct) are out of power, cluster in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa. Those are also the places with the most new voters, and the most government employees. The big cities swung the election, and most NDP voters went with the Liberals rather than Bloc Quebecois or the two conservative parties. The rural areas "voted for freedom," while the cities voted for government jobs and benefits. N.b., my source is conservative and rather biased, but her take matches the voting maps I saw in the news.
LittleRed1
Bill Glahn, the new guy at Powerline, has an outsider analysis that closely matches what LittleRed1 is reporting. I've seen a similar chart here (scroll down to the interactive tracking graph), and came to a very similar conclusion. The Liberals started recovering in the polls literally the day after Trudeau announced his decision to resign from Liberal Party leadership, they picked up steam when the equally unpopular Freeland lost to Carney in March, and then right before the election the bottom fell out for the two biggest left-wing parties (NDP and Greens).
Apology, I did not know the house rule. I don’t plan or expect to comment again. But, this topic is rarely seen by me brought up by Americans. Whereas it is frequent intense non uniform and wrong in my experience from the ‘Anglosphere’. Having lived in 3 of these nominally similar ( which is also nonsense) places for years, your bringing it up at all deserves note.
Hilaire Belloc was one of very few to understand both France and England. It had to have bothered him to navigate ( he was a sailor too) such deep wide ignorance. ( this is no reference to your article)
Tell us more, Kevin. You have a fresh perspective here. Is this topic brought up a lot outside the US? Where does the idea of the Anglosphere fail (if I understand you correctly)?
I'm also curious about your claim about Shaw. I would have thought the differences would be more related to differences in our constitutions and US vs parliamentary government.
Well, I’ll try but please remember it’s just my view. 30 years in Canada, 38 in NZ with ‘time off for good behaviour’ about 5 in that last in Australia in parcels. All v different in response. A brother now dead who moved to the US from Canada ( hated it although we were born and raised there) in the early ‘90s. He taught me a lot - have live in a place years to know. All the places I have lived American culture, T.V., news whatever saturates. Many think they understand your country enough to have valid opinions, I know they do not. Not saying I know for sure. But know that. The worst and dumbest politics in every country mentioned is derivative of what seems the worst of yours.
Canada which is the most lopsided internally is slowly tearing in pieces, an ineffective antibody response. V diff West to East -but is way too much salt in the soup of politics all these places. It’s not good for these smaller places with real problems, it’s a distraction that suits a v few.
China may take a beating presently with the change in world trade. But countries that make up the so- called ‘Anglosphere’ have fragility and insecurities the more long established cultures led by true tyrants do not. I fear this. Foolish talk about ‘CANZUK’ coming from some quarters in perfidious Albion are as silly as Carney saying Canada is ‘European’. Australians at least know that’s nonsense, and who they are. NZ less so, Canada the worst off.
Not pleasant things to say.
Americans prob don’t know any of this. Why should you.
Thanks, Kevin. Yeah, the news and TV shows and movies from the US are almost entirely left-wing in one way or another, so it's very unbalanced stuff going out to the rest of the world.
Those of us in New England know a bit about Quebec and the Maritimes, but I know nothing of anything west of Montreal. Some of us here keep up with Great Britain vis. the Continent. Australia and NZ and SA - eh, I have friends from those places, I don't know much.
If I didn't have to keep up with global politics for a class that I teach, I'd have no idea about the ... mess ... that is the Canadian economy and political system at the moment (Wexit is somewhat understandable, based on some of the policies promulgated in Ottawa). Or the tensions in Australia, although how many of those are actual and how many are what the media things should exist I do not know.
LittleRed1
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