--- Wendy Lyon <wendy.lyon at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Well it's interesting that your views are so at odds
> with those of the
> European left (and I mean the *left*, not
> centre-left like the British
> and Irish Labour parties etc).
- the rest cut for sake of brevity
[WS:] The problem with the "true" left, European and American alike, is that it looks for a pie in the sky but ends up with its head in its ass. For them, abstractions and ideals count more than real life institutions and politics. As a result, they play to the hands of the far right in their power grab gambits - from Hitler to Bush. I'd rather stick with the imperfect "sell-out" center-left like the British, Irish and other Euro labour parties and liberal democracts than with the pie-in-the sky "true" lefties seeking heaven on earth. If I were concerned about lofty but unattainable ideals, I would rather go for religion - it has better stories to tell.
The Euro center-left/liberal democracts have quite a bit to show: generous welfare, public health care system, public education system, excellent public transportation, political representation of organized labor, generous vacation and retirement packages for all workers, relatively small pay inequalities, relatively decent housing (virtually no homelessness) - not to mention political representation of minority interests, politics relatively free of big money, or relatively low incarceration rates (for which the center left/liberal democracts can only claim a partial credit).
While these accomplishments are not exactly the socialist ideal - they are the best that exist in this world, second to none. The same pertains to the EU and its institutional structures (which include those of the member countries, to be sure!) - they are certainly not perfect, but second to none in this world in providing good life and political freedom. And they make quite a difference in the lives of ordinary people - as it can be clearly demonstarted by the counter-example of the US of A.
By contrast, the "true" left has at best NOTHING to show if one counts generously, and quite a dismal track record if one wants to pin the Stalinist, Maoist, and Pol-Potist attrocities as well as minor criminal activities of the Bader-Meinhoff gang or the Red Army Faction thugs on it.
So if you disagree with this assessment, please show me what the "true" left - as opposed to the center-left aka liberal democracts - has accomplished to make the lives of odrinary people better.
And one more thing - pardon my harsh reaction, but any criticim of the EU coming from an English speaking country is likely to be disingenuous, a thinly veiled expression of Anglo-Saxon insularism cum jingoism - belonging to the same genre as the American right-wing's criticim of the United Nations.
Wojtek
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