4 ms·
> Almost all are run by parties who are described primarily as being center-right or center-left. They're described like that by the local standards of the cou
by avar 6y ago
> Almost all are run by parties who are described primarily as being center-right or center-left.
They're described like that by the local standards of the country they're in. But if you were to transplant e.g. some "right wing" parties in certain European countries to a country like the US you'd have an extremist left wing party by local standards.
So it's no more evidence that things move towards the "center" in general than people in Venice and Mexico city saying "uphill" and "downhill" being evidence that those two cities are situated at the same altitude.
- edgyquant 6y agoThe idea that right wing Europeans are American leftists is an untrue and ridiculous meme.
- avar 6y agoMost developed European countries have a tax to GDP ratio 10-15% higher than the US. Fiscally conservative right wing parties in those countries typically run on a platform of at most reducing that by 3-5%. If you then take what they'd do to military spending (at most 1/2 or 1/4 what the US spends per capita), social services (maybe a bit less spending, but not dismantling it), the state's regulatory role, fuel taxes etc. I don't think this is a far-fetched assertion.