Historic gains for France's far-right in local elections

FRANCE 24 ^ | 2014-03-23

[dangus]

No, they’re merely socialists who don’t like immigration.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Anti-immigration and pro-moslem? Interesting combination.

[ek_hornbeck]

The bottom line is that American-style laissez-faire capitalism isn't part of the political spectrum in Europe, at least not part of the spectrum associated with a viable voting block.

So the bottom line is that you're going to get some kind of statist. The choice is whether you get a socialist left-wing multiculturalist, or a "statist" nationalist who opposes having his country turned into a dumping ground for the Third World.

American conservatives opposing the latter on purist grounds because they are insufficiently libertarian on economic issues is ridiculous.

[cornelis]

in small doses

and theft is tolerable, and so on.

[ek_hornbeck]

During the Spanish Civil War, would you have opposed Francisco Franco (the only viable alternative to Spain turning Communist) because he wasn't a perfect advocate of laissez-faire economic principles?

Chances are, you'd recognize that while Franco wasn't perfect by American political standards (never mind the question of why these political standards should even apply to Spain), he was better than the alternative.

Similarly, you should be able to recognize that a statist nationalist is preferable to a statist multiculturalist in today's Europe, where the biggest threat comes from Third World immigration.