Western Europeans are showing their collective backbone, as support for “right-wing populist parties in several European countries have hit record highs.” [Special Report: From Hungary, far-right party spreads ideology, tactics, by Marcin Goettig and Christian Lowe, Reuters, April 9, 2014; The Swiss Virus: Europe Gripped by Immigration Worries, Spiegel Online, Feb. 17, 2014]
America, meanwhile, loses its spine—thanks to the Stupid Party.
American Conservatism Inc. types like to laugh at the European welfare state, her supposedly effeminate men, and especially the “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” [Wimps, weasels and monkeys - the US media view of 'perfidious France’, by Gary Younge and Jon Henley, The Guardian, Feb. 11, 2003] But the Europeans may soon have the last laugh, as they fight for their respective cultures and secure their borders, while Republicans (Jeb Bush’s Occupied Florida being the latest example) genuflect to the uninvited Third World.
In one French Riviera town, a newly elected, 26-year-old Jewish mayor leads the “far-right” Front National. His name is David Rachline, and he is known for his “smooth-talking” persona. The Front National’s platform includes “zero immigration,” according to the Telegraph. [Jewish mayor the secret weapon of French far-Right, by Henry Samuel, The Telegraph, April 13, 2014]
Like nationalists across Europe, Rachline is finding a way to be a patriot and win elections.
I have French family and friends who are staunchly left wing, and came of age in the 1960s, but who are ambivalent and sometimes scornful of mass immigration. They would hate to be branded conservative, but they have secretly shared with me their dislike for foreigners who have made France feel less like home. “We would never try to make Pakistan more like France, but the immigrants are colonizing us,” they say. These are people who might vote for “right-wing populists” but never talk openly about it.
This silent anger of the conflicted Leftist, reluctantly realizing that they are being dispossessed in their own country, is to some degree helping the rise of the Right across Europe. The European Right is also benefitting from a conscious focus on its own image. [Softer image helps far-right’s gains in Hungary, by Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press, April 7, 2014]
If Republicans wanted some good ideas for messaging that didn’t involve speaking Spanish or inviting new waves of Third World Democrats, they could easily look to any of the Western European nations for a bit of inspiration. The German newspaper Spiegel recently produced a map of “right-wing populist” parties in Europe.
Spiegel’s map shows that, regardless of the unemployment rate, high levels of immigrants correlate to heightened support for “right-wing populists.” Of course, “right wing” is multiculti code for mainstream opinion: immigration restriction is very popular across all of Europe.
What, then, is Europe’s trick? To start with, they’ve revolted against multiculturalism, and named names.
The Front National party in France illustrates one approach to taking power. Local branches of the FN follow a policy of "enracinement," or putting roots down. [French far-right Front National party on brink of power in Avignon, by Kim Willsher, The Guardian, March 28, 2014] Their emphasis is on local elections, and anecdotal evidence indicates that the grass roots of the FN are not always confrontational, but are instead adopting a civil approach to far-rigt politics.
Here’s one bitter minority, quoted in The Guardian about the local election result:
"The result was a big, big shock," said Brazilian-born Michel Alexandre, 36, a hospital worker who came to France when he was adopted as a boy. "I don't know why people voted FN and my neighbours wouldn't tell me because I'm black. I'm French and my children are French, but if the FN keeps on rising we will have to leave France. The FN say they have changed, but they haven't. They're still racist." [Emphasis added]
Gaining political power instead of wasting time with minority outreach. That’s an approach that the GOP don’t seem to have caught on to.
American patriots can’t simply wait for national leadership, because the Stupid Party has stupid leadership.
A case study: as the Front National was making “historic gains” in French elections [Far-Right Front National makes historic gains in French municipal elections, By Henry Samuel, The Telegraph, March 23, 2014], RNC spokesman Raffi Williams achieved a stellar victory over… Ebony magazine.
It seems that a shrill writer at Ebony magazine wrongly yet understandably called Williams white. As it turns out, Raffi just looks white. He’s actually part black, and he and the RNC want the whole world to know that they’ve got diversity.
With colorblind sensitivity his guiding principle, the appalling Reince Priebus stepped in and demanded an apology from Ebony, which Ebony promptly gave. [Diversity of Thought, Ebony, March 28, 2014]
What courage by the RNC! What conviction those crusaders for “conservatism” have shown!
Their gallant stand against Ebony magazine is sure to win friends and influence people. As Priebus knows, Ebony is an outlet for black tribalism. No one will be swayed to the conservative cause by the magazine’s apology. Priebus is reveling in symbolic victories because he knows that he and his organization will be demographically overwhelmed unless they adopt “far-right populist” politics, which the RNC lacks the spine to do.
By contrast, an increasing number of Europeans have come to realize what is at stake with immigration: either preserve the national culture, or see it driven into the dust. Increasingly, they are no longer concerned about being PC. They realize that people who make accusations of racism, or take those accusations seriously, are sworn enemies of the national culture.
Because there is no sense in trying to pander to sworn enemies, the European populists are refreshingly free of the spineless “racial sensitivity” that American conservatives obsess over.
After decades spent crippling themselves with misguided guilt, the nations of Western Europe are gradually reasserting national pride. It’s a hard road, with stops and starts, as in Britain, and even outright repression, as in Britain and Greece.
But for now, the European Right is rising—while U.S. Republicans grovel.
Email Thomas Martel.
