Gee, a world wide wave of political populism, what could be the cause?

Europe’s Populist Politicians Tap Into Deep-Seated Frustration

In the US, The Bern, and The Donald have stolen the show, and if the Democrat primary relied only on the votes of the party members, The Bern would likely have won, but the party is not a democrat institution, it only allow a modicum of democratic fixtures to palliate the masses. It is a socialist totalitarian institution, but, of course!

​Read more below the break!

"'Things just aren’t how they used to be,” said Celine Danecek, a party volunteer handing out fliers, cigarette lighters and headphones. “It feels strange to say this as a 17-year-old.'"

No shit young Sherlock. 

"For decades, the major Continental European parties have held a strong consensus about the merits of European integration. That includes open borders, tariff-free trade across these borders and a common currency.

Not all ordinary Europeans shared this view. Many have expressed their reservations, as referendums in France, the Netherlands, Ireland and elsewhere have shown.

But the firmness of the mainstream parties’ commitment to European integration has helped drive the dissent to fringe parties. It has allowed nationalists and populists to win over people disenchanted with the mainstream, pro-EU consensus, to such an extent that eurosceptic language is creeping into major parties, too, in some places as they seek to stop voters from moving away."

There seems to be a tectonic shift underway, "teutonic shift" if you are our illustrious President! Teutonic shift sound like a blousy German dress worn by the St. Pauli Girl perhaps?

​"The Wall Street Journal explored Europe’s populist phenomenon on the ground, from eastern Germany’s rust belt and the working-class outskirts of Vienna to industrial Poland and rural Slovakia. What emerged were diverse portraits of voters united by rejection of the postwar creed that the Continent’s integration was a necessary condition of prosperity and peace.

The voters speak of sovereignty lost to Washington, Wall Street or Berlin. They cite news from Facebook pages and YouTube channels, dismissing traditional news media as agents of government and big business. They voice fears of crime and cultural change brought by Europe’s refugee influx. And many, fuming at the political class, say they simply want change."

Astounding! After years of having their sovereignty uploaded to national, and international governments, they feel like it is time to put a stop to the export of their sovereignty? Shocking!

Some of this is scapegoating.

"'Germany is a colony of the U.S.,” said Todor Gribnev, a 66-year-old innkeeper and clarinetist in Germany. “Germany is governed by the U.S., just as the European Union is the long arm of the U.S.'"

Right, the US! Look buttercup, we came post WWII and made Germany great, you've done the rest, all the rest, blame the US for making Germany great, blame yourselves for what came after. We didn't even ask for a thank you, but keep your eye poking among yourselves.

But much is accurate and reasonable.

"'What is called democracy here—that isn’t democracy,” said Milan Capák, a 46-year-old wedding entertainer and small-town councilman in Slovakia. “You cannot say what you want.”

“I want to get rid of my fear,” said Hermine Löffler, a 57-year-old retired hospitality worker in Austria."

This is a reasonable, if a bit wild attempt to create order out of the chaos of the collapsing progressive blue model, in Europe it is better to call it the European socialist blue model. Both are essentially the same, the European is slightly more authoritarian, but they are both socialist movements which failed, and have left their peoples holding the bag. Governments have become huge bureaucratic behemoths, unresponsive except to the well off, and politically connected. Influence must be purchased, and the average Joe has no money to purchase influence. 

In the US, the Clintons are the poster children for this government as cesspool form. The push back has been going on for quite a while, initially called the Tea Party in the US, it is now morphing into something else, and peeling off independents and Democrats. 

It is, and likely will be, fairly inchoate for a while, but once it begins to coalesce it will likely happen quite quickly. 

One of the more interesting things is that what the people want and what they vote for are often different, and what motivates them is commonly not a real problem. So we have people the world round worried about immigrants, but their complaints are really more about an anemic economy,  lack of jobs, and low pay. Is the problem really immigrants? Or is it terrible government which is stifling the economy, limiting employers ability and willingness to create jobs, and pay employees more?

If it is the latter, the only effective cure is free markets, with far less government involvement in the economy. This means less government regulation, and less government "safety and security." Commonly, these people want to retain the rich safety nets, and have a thriving economy. Oh, yeah, and no immigrants . . .  But they cannot have these together, it is simply not possible. Live in a rich, dynamic economy, or dense government safety nets but not both, the latter stifles the former, and ultimately kills it in the crib.

If you know where this is going post a comment, we would all like to know. Maddog expects it will move towards the ownership economy, with safety nets being supported primarily by the individual, with the government as a last ditch stop gap. This will require more IRA's, 401(k)'s, HSA's, and other newly devised savings and wealth accumulation devices. We may also need to help the poor fund these devices to some extent. The Internet, and the gig economy will completely reform work as we know it. And government needs to get out of the way and allow these changes to occur. The role of government will necessarily change, as will the number of government employees. Maddog expects the government at every level to undergo a shocking "recession" which will dramatically increase productivity, by the loss of the majority of government jobs. This will likely be due to the pension crisis, the schools crisis, and the myriad other crises facing government today. 

One thing Maddog does know, is that this will not stop until a new socioeconomic model, or two, appears, and replaces the old progressive blue model.

Here at the End of History, we know what works: free markets, constitutionally limited governments, reformed religions. The precise alignment, however is unknown, and may differ for each group, or peoples. We shall see.