The death of the center

[FarCenter]

Nothing in history is inevitable. But it sure looks like the politically centrist neoliberal order that held sway throughout large swaths of the world over the past two-and-a-half decades may well be doomed.

As recently as the middle of 2017, analysts thought the populist challenge to the centrist establishment would be turned back following the Brexit vote in the U.K. and President Trump's shocking victory in the United States. Surely the electoral defeat of populists in France and the Netherlands, along with Angela Merkel's buoyant poll numbers heading into a national election in Germany, were cause to suspect precisely such a rethinking on the part of voters. Yes, they were angry, but now they'd seen the alarming consequences of acting on their destructive impulses and come to their collective senses.

The latest sign that this was wishful thinking comes from Italy, where in a national election this past weekend the governing center-left Democratic Party finished a distant second (with roughly 19 percent of the vote) to the upstart Five Star Movement of left-leaning populism (which won 32 percent). Meanwhile, coming in just behind the establishment center-left was the far right (The League, with approximately 18 percent) and paleo-populist Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia (with just under 14 percent). Forming a government from this mishmash of competing populisms will be extremely difficult, since the parties share little besides an antipathy to the ruling political establishment in Rome and Brussels.

Germany might be just one election from a similar fate. After several months of stop-start negotiations, members of the center-left Social Democratic Party voted over the weekend to join in a national unity government with Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats. It's the same coalition that governed the country prior to the most recent election in September — only now both centrist parties are substantially weaker than they were, with the newly formed far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) the largest opposition party in the country.

http://theweek.com/articles/759002/death-center

[orangecrush]

1. Putin's game plan

to the letter.

[FarCenter]

2. If it weren't Putin, it would be somebody else -- Political systems are inherently unstable

Those in power become decadent and are ousted by outside challengers.

Democracy is an attempt to make the process bloodless, but not necessarily polite.

[Yavin4]

3. Two words can explain what's happening: Income Inequality

When wealth gets concentrated into the hands of a few, the masses look to the extreme. The wealthy have forgotten the lessons of pre-WWII where we saw similar rises in extreme politics. Paying labor better wages and building strong social safety nets creates a stable middle class and that gives the masses a stake in keeping this centered.

Take away that stability and you get extreme politics. Better to give back a small percentage of your wealth to keep the peace.

[poboy2]

4. I believe this is the real truth. -eom