DL Open Thread Monday June 20 2022
Happy belated Juneteenth. I had a wonderful weekend full of not paying attention to any news and hope you did as well. This Monday we wake to Chris Coons looking like a smacked ass, the Texas GOP officially goes full MAGA calling Joe Biden the “Acting President”. A vote that should be easy for Dems (“The GOP is defunding School lunch”) but will be bungled, and the anti-centrist results of the parliamentary vote in France.
The new Texas Republican party platform calls homosexuality “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” says President Biden “was not legitimately elected,” and says Texas students should “learn about the Humanity of the Preborn Child.”
A free school lunches program that helped feed millions of children during the pandemic is set to end on June 30. It could create a “perfect storm” for families already grappling with high inflation, experts say.
After five years of undisputed control of parliament, the recently re-elected Macron, known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits. His centrists will need to strike compromises and expand alliances in parliament to be able to push forward his proposals to cut taxes and shake up the welfare system.
In other news around the Western Hemisphere.
Check out the new president and vice president of Colombia. (Election was yesterday.) If Lula returns in Brazil in October (their general election is Oct 2nd) Central and South America with be further strengthened left-socialist strongholds.
Left is best in the south – Count the dings!
Gustavo Petro – Colombia (V.P. is Francia Márquez an Afro-Colombian human rights attorney!)
Luis Arce “Lucho” – Bolivia
Pedro Castillo – Peru
Gabriel Boric – Chile
Nicolás Maduro (not Juan Guaidó hahaha) – Venezuela
Alberto Fernández (centre left Peronist) – Argentina
AMLO – Mexico
Someone call Chris Coons’ office to see if OAS and the CIA have enough resources to coup all these countries… lolll.
Fun fact I met Lula in Salvador at a beach resort where we were both staying in 1981 when I was still a Union Rep. I was on a side trip from Recife Brasil where my siter in law at the time lived.
Haha nice. Old PT union organizer Lula.
The media reaction to the French election — alarm at Le Pen’s party gaining 80 seats, up from 8 — as usual fails to provide context. As Le Pen has tried to soften her party’s image, it has gathered up the votes that used to go to right-wing parties that were closer to the center. The leftist parties, when combined, still have more seats.
In other words, the same anti-immigrant forces that helped radicalize reactionaries in the US are having the same effect in every industrialized country with a low/negative Caucasian birth rate. Growing radicalization does not equal growing popularity — indeed, it’s the illusion of movement toward the center that helped the National Front win over conservatives.
I think this French election was pretty shocking. The right gained 80 seats it might not look like much, but for France that is a shock. France is overall a very liberal country and they have no problems with Communist MPs in the legislature. With this said, the last time the president did not have a majority was 1988. If the left alliance now consists of Socialists, Greens, and Communists that is not really an alliance. History tells us they would have severe internal strike. Just my thoughts!
All you’re demonstrating is that the media can lead you by the nose. I live there the majority of the time, and the media story is not an accurate reflection of the state of their republic.
The left combined has as many seats as ever; the right combined has its usual allotment. That’s a dull story, though — that by pretending to have moderated the National Front gathered up all the votes that used to go to the center-right — just like another country I could name.
The radicalizing of conservatives in the face of immigration is the story there, just as here, just as worldwide. “White” people — and you, son, as an Italian are only white because they ran out of the people they consider truly white — have low birth rates, and old white people are panicky because they know how badly they treat minorities, and they don’t want to be one.
Just ask your grandparents.
Yup. This shocking lack of context made it into the Guardian… the Guardian ferfucksake.
The dial only turns in one direction – towards more centrism.
The far-right and centrists now make up the majority in the French National Assembly. The far right did much better than expected. The left is severely weakened, the Socialists are now in an alliance with the Communists and Greens(Looks similar to the Popular Front coalition that triggered a civil war in Spain). Marine Le Pen’s party went from 8 to 89 seats. This is a very odd situation for the 5th Republic as De Gaulle set it up so the President has a huge advantage in the legislative elections.
The far right gained at the expense of the near right. You really ought not to parade your lack of knowledge like this if you’re interested in public office.
excusez-moi, mais je connais très bien le français!! France will always have a decent size liberal wing in the legislature. The far right gained seats, results are results and have consequences . I do not see how it is good that the far right gained 80 seats, no matter at what expense. The reality is that the Socialists have to ally with the Communists and Greens to form an minority alliance. In 2012 the Socialists had a super majority in the National Assembly. The left is very weak right now in France.
Yeah, sure it is, sport.
It would be far more accurate to say that the left and the centrist make up the majority, because framed that way it’s a larger majority than framed your way.
True, but the centrists and far right could also form the majority if they want. The point is that the far right is in a position no one expected. However, the left is not really a cohesive alliance. The Socialists working with the Communists seems unworkable.
“No one expected.”
Speak for yourself. The polls all showed it, and I’ve given you the explanation.
But by all means mansplain it to me, asshole.
You may be right. I may be an a**h*** but at least I am engaging with yall. I like these types of conversations. 👍
They could form the majority “if they want” — and when would that happen? Macron got re-elected to stop the far right. The left doesn’t have to be together when they’re in the minority, they just have to stop the far right.
I don’t think you understand French politics as well as you think you do. I think your understanding of it comes from the English-language press, which is mostly British and doesn’t understand France at all.
I agree,Macron would never ally with them. That was a hypothetical scenario. The French President can technically dissolve the legislature whenever he wants, but doubt he will do that. I think he will form an alliance with some small party.
Your right the English news is skewed. I can still read French pretty well, so I try to read it in French when I can.
As I see it, the situation there is the same as it is here — 38 to 44 percent of the voters are right-wing, and they’ve abandoned the moderate right because it wasn’t getting them what they want, which is to toss out all the immigrants, with special concentration on the Muslims. It is very much parallel to the attitude toward Latin Americans from our 38-44%, which has undergone the same radicalization. It is a mark of desperation. They perceive this as an existential confrontation.
What you have to understand about the media is that it doesn’t report on what everybody already knows. As you noted, there are lots of leftists in France, but they’re scattered among various parties. The story being slighted is the collapse of the Socialist Party; it’s not as dire as the collapse of Labour in England or the Democrats here because there are other leftist alternatives they can, and did, switch to. The top vote-getter in the presidential election was Mélenchon, who is neither Socialist nor Communist nor Green but supported policies that would appeal to members of all three.
Democracy and late-stage capitalism do not fit together all that well. A world in which capital chases a 25% return rate while the ever-richer dismantle government is one in which, by necessity, the majority of the people get squeezed.
So as existing parties fail to deliver relief, people look for new ones that might get the job done. Fascism always ends up on the menu because when justice is gone, there’s always force. And in my reading of history there is no way to defeat fascists without resorting to force.
Yup, the French just like the other post industrial countries are acting out of desperation. We see this in the midlands in the UK and rust belt in the USA. The mainstream parties are just not able to satisfy these voters.