[lbo-talk] Krugman: "The question then is why."

[Wojtek S]

Jim: "If we could imagine the GOP in this country championing
the preservation of social welfare programs like Medicare
and Medicaid, while promising to preserve them precisely
by purging all the "illegals" from them, then we could get
some idea of what the far right in Scandinavia and some
other European countries has been doing in recent
years."

[WS:] This holds for post-communist EU members as well.  Ex-communist
turned neo-liberal, and the nationalist right (such as Slovak People's
party, Hungary's Jobbik  or Poland's Law and Justice Party) is seen as
defenders of social welfare for native residents.

Also keep in mind that parties affiliated with the Catholic church
generally favor "family centered" social programs and the principle of
subsidiarity i.e. public welfare funding through privately delivered
services.

Wojtek