More on the European parliamentary elections

[wshaffer]

It occurs to me that the lack of proportional representation in US governance is in some respects a blessing. Watching the reactions of my British friends to the realization that some percentage of their electorate wanted to be represented in the European Parliament by a man who once opposed bombing synagogues only because it was bad public relations, I can only imagine the sorts of wingnuts I'd be obliged to feel embarrassed about if we used a proportional representation system.

Overall, Europe's apparent swing to the right mystifies me, especially since American politics seems if anything to be swinging the other way. I suppose when times are tough, whoever is in power gets blamed.

Comments

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I suppose when times are tough, whoever is in power gets blamed.

Tru dat, though Obama seems to've escaped the worst of the blame for the credit crunch in the US as yet. But yes, extremes seem to be calling to extremes at the moment. (Apparently there has been some growth, not as shockingly noticeable, in left-wing presence in the European Parliament, though the bloc as a whole was generally running to stand still.)