The days of laissez-faire politicians are over. This news is disappointing to many, including myself; will we be forced to abandon tried and tested economic truths for the hope of a single vote in the North? Alas, the problems we find in democracies. The causes of this are twofold: although the collapse of the Soviet Union was a great victory for the capitalist right, it also manifested itself as a problem for the Right. The Right no longer had a great ideological enemy, it could no longer talk about the threat of a communist imperial regime occupying the West; they could no longer defend capitalism by talking about the failures of communism. In 1975, President Reagan spoke of communism as "a disease" and most are familiar with his 1983 Evil Empire Speech. Moreover, the fall of the Soviet Union also manifested itself as an opener for debate concerning economic policy. As increasingly more people grew up without a communist state being a world superpower, increasingly, people had less of a negative perception concerning collectivist economic policies.
The second cause of the collapse of laissez-faire thinking in mainstream politics was the Financial Crisis of the late 2000s. Across Europe and North America primarily, countries experienced GDP declines. Whether justified or not, the effect of this was increased distrust in the free market. Working people began to distrust large corporations; they had caused the crisis yet were saved from ruin by the government. The lack of trust in the free market was evident in the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011.
For right-wingers, the implications of this have been dire. Free market principles fell from the strata of universal truths to hotly contested political issues. Nevertheless, conservatives have not been blown out of the political arena, as some might expect to occur. This phenomenon is easily explained by the change in the focus of political strategists, from capitalism to communities. Conveniently for the strategists, this switch in focus transpired over the same period as the European migrant crisis, essentially providing Europe's right wing with ammunition on the immigration debate. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Brexit vote (June 2016), the AfD's first appearance in the German Bundestag (October 2017) and the Freedom Party of Austria's second best electoral performance (October 2017) all happened at the same time; mass migration is to Europe's modern right-wing as the Soviet Union was to America's right-wing.
Nationalist populism is winning elections. Some capitalists on the right despair at this, realising that this will mean the introduction of tariffs, immigration restrictions and an increase in the welfare state. About a year ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban revealed plans to revitalise traditional Hungarian families, announcing his support for policies to substantially improve the country's healthcare system, establish new nurseries and subsidise housing. Increases in the size of the welfare state are not usually viewed as conservative policy. However, Orban and the rest of Hungary's right-wing have come to the understanding that this is the right way to win elections. Most people don't care about how much the GDP increased last quarter, or what the country's primary export is. People care first for their families, then for their communities and then for their nations.
The British Conservative Party capitalised perfectly upon this truth in the December 2019 General Election. None of their major policies focused upon energising the economy; rather they focused on increasing policing, improving healthcare and solving one of the greatest constitutional crises in the history of the island. They focused on families, communities and nations. While promoting centrist economic policies, they promoted (at least in the current context) right-wing social policies, namely an "Australian-style immigration system", and an extension of "stop and search". They acknowledged that it was far easier for the Right to move leftwards on economic issues than it was for the Left to move rightwards on social ones.
So yes, the days of the laissez-faire are over. Maybe we won't get any more tax cuts, government budget slashes or market deregulation. Maybe we won't achieve GDP growth targets. But who cares? Focusing on the state of the nation, not the stock market, is the right way to win elections.
The second cause of the collapse of laissez-faire thinking in mainstream politics was the Financial Crisis of the late 2000s. Across Europe and North America primarily, countries experienced GDP declines. Whether justified or not, the effect of this was increased distrust in the free market. Working people began to distrust large corporations; they had caused the crisis yet were saved from ruin by the government. The lack of trust in the free market was evident in the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011.
For right-wingers, the implications of this have been dire. Free market principles fell from the strata of universal truths to hotly contested political issues. Nevertheless, conservatives have not been blown out of the political arena, as some might expect to occur. This phenomenon is easily explained by the change in the focus of political strategists, from capitalism to communities. Conveniently for the strategists, this switch in focus transpired over the same period as the European migrant crisis, essentially providing Europe's right wing with ammunition on the immigration debate. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the Brexit vote (June 2016), the AfD's first appearance in the German Bundestag (October 2017) and the Freedom Party of Austria's second best electoral performance (October 2017) all happened at the same time; mass migration is to Europe's modern right-wing as the Soviet Union was to America's right-wing.
Nationalist populism is winning elections. Some capitalists on the right despair at this, realising that this will mean the introduction of tariffs, immigration restrictions and an increase in the welfare state. About a year ago, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban revealed plans to revitalise traditional Hungarian families, announcing his support for policies to substantially improve the country's healthcare system, establish new nurseries and subsidise housing. Increases in the size of the welfare state are not usually viewed as conservative policy. However, Orban and the rest of Hungary's right-wing have come to the understanding that this is the right way to win elections. Most people don't care about how much the GDP increased last quarter, or what the country's primary export is. People care first for their families, then for their communities and then for their nations.
The British Conservative Party capitalised perfectly upon this truth in the December 2019 General Election. None of their major policies focused upon energising the economy; rather they focused on increasing policing, improving healthcare and solving one of the greatest constitutional crises in the history of the island. They focused on families, communities and nations. While promoting centrist economic policies, they promoted (at least in the current context) right-wing social policies, namely an "Australian-style immigration system", and an extension of "stop and search". They acknowledged that it was far easier for the Right to move leftwards on economic issues than it was for the Left to move rightwards on social ones.
So yes, the days of the laissez-faire are over. Maybe we won't get any more tax cuts, government budget slashes or market deregulation. Maybe we won't achieve GDP growth targets. But who cares? Focusing on the state of the nation, not the stock market, is the right way to win elections.
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