Neither do I. How does socialist Le Pen get called "Far Right"?
And Macron ... the guy who wants capitalistic reforms -- slashing taxes and spending; who is actually calling France's 35-hour work week into question -- is left of center. I don't get it.
Today being left or right is defined more by your stance on immigration and nationalism than anything else. It has become the 800lb gorilla that has everybody’s attention.
Economics have take a backseat to identity.
The only thing which currently matters is muslim immigration. Le Pen is against it, so she is radical right.
You mean the no borders, very pro-EU globalist who wants more public housing as a priority? The one who used to be a member of the Socialist Party and still calls himself a “leftist” and a “progressive” just like our Cultural Marxists? The one who said he wants society run on the principles of “collective solidarity”? The social liberal who thinks the French need to get used to terrorist attacks as part of their daily lives, instead of fighting to stop them? The one who thinks Merkel’s refugee policy is admirable? The one that Obama’s backing? Even if he does want to cut some people’s taxes, Macron’s no more my idea of a conservative than Hillary Clinton at best—but even Clinton was never an openly avowed socialist like Macron was.
I get your point about Le Pen not being conservative on most issues (although she is very conservative when it comes to preserving France), but the “far-right” is just Eurospeak for “nationalists,” wherever they are on the political spectrum.
>>How does socialist Le Pen get called “Far Right”?
In European politics, socialism is assumed for both sides. Left simply means Transnationalist (Globalist, etc) while Right means Nationalist.
The total exposure of the UniParty in US politics has made it clear that US politics now follows the same model as Europe.
Here are a couple of points to consider:
1. Macron means what he says in about the same was as Jeb! did.
2. France can survive bad national economic policy longer than it can the continued Muslim invasion and EU policies
Le Pen is “far right” in European terms because she rejects the EU project, globalism, and multiculturalism (and especially Islam. In sum, she is a nationalist. In Europe, that gets you smeared as “far right” because it threatens the special interests that support those things. Macron talks about tinkering with the pathologies of the French economy, but he is more sympathetic to the things Le Pen opposes. The transnational left knows that his economic initiatives would come to little or nothing, but his support of their interests is what matters.
You just have to learn how the French think. Much of what they do appears backwards to us.
For example, a good American uses a rifle to kill the enemy and win the war.
A good Frenchman keeps his rifle in absolute perfect working order by never firing it and using a large white cloth tied to the barrel top to check the wind direction in the face of the enemy, thus winning the war by getting the enemy to stop firing.