Dear Mitt: Your party has more in common with far-right parties like the National Front in France and the BNP in Britain than it does with "center-right" European parties like Sarkozy's UMP and the German Christian Democrats. Even those guys recognize the importance of respect and dignity and intelligent political discourse. Even the Tories won't abolish Britain's prized (if flawed) National Health Service. Even the Conservatives in Canada won't touch Canada's single-payer system. Did you ever hear Sarkozy talk about self-deportation of Algerians in the Parisian banlieue? No, you didn't. You hear that kind of talk from the far right, the extreme, the hardcore anti-immigrant, racist fringe of almost every country other than ours - and those parties struggle to get 5% of the vote. Why, in this country, do the same kinds of extreme ideas get so much mainstream attention?
In fact, President Obama's party is closer to Sarkozy than it is to Hollande - closer to Cameron than Blair, closer to Merkel than Schroeder. We don't have a true social democratic movement in this country, and it's just gotten worse.
My point is this: If you think the modern Republican party represents a center-right alternative to the center-left Democratic Party - you need to look around the world a little bit and figure out which parties in other countries actually agree with your candidate's beliefs. You may be surprised and ashamed at the results.
Here's the article that started this exploration:
http://gawker.com/...
Romney Adviser: Obama doesn't appreciate our "Anglo-Saxon" heritage.
Interesting.
C’est dans le domaine de l’immigration que Nicolas Sarkozy a peut-être le plus durement trahi les Français en général et ses électeurs en particulier, en menant, à l’inverse de ses discours et de ses promesses, la politique d’immigration la plus laxiste de l’histoire de la Ve République. L’immigration est pourtant une source de coûts très importants ; elle est utilisée par le grand patronat pour peser à la baisse sur les salaires et déstabilise en profondeur notre société et ses équilibres. L’assimilation n’est plus possible dans un tel contexte d’immigration de masse. Des mesures d’ordre constitutionnel, législatif et réglementaire doivent être prises au plus vite pour stopper aussi bien l’immigration légale que clandestine. Enfin, des actions devront aussi être menées au niveau international dans le cadre de la politique de coopération."
Translation: "It is in the domain of immigration that Nicolas Sarkozy has maybe the most clearly betrayed the French in general and his voters in particular, in maintaining, contrary to his speeches and his promises, a politics of immigration that is the most lax in the history of the Republic. Immigration is possibly a source of very important costs: it is used by the great masses to lower salaries and destabilize our society and its equilibrium. Assimilation is no longer possible in such a context of mass immigration. Measures of constitutional, legislative, and regulatory order must be taken as quickly as possible to regulate both legal and clandestine immigration. Finally, actions must also be taken on the international level in the context of a politics of cooperation."
Without the reference to Nicolas Sarkozy, who could you see in this country saying something like that? Do some research.
This quote brought to you by the National Front.
http://www.frontnational.com/...
Take a look at the positions of this party in Canada, and tell me what party in America agrees with it. Then look at how many seats this party has in Parliament. Then look at how they feel about Canada's national health care system. Interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Also, here's the Conservative Party of Canada, which is supposedly Canada's version of our Republican Party. The Conservatives aren't interested in banning abortion, repealing marriage equality, or disassembling Canada's national health service. Sounds like they're to the left of the Democrats, no? Republicans: Think about where your party stands on the world stage. Please.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
One more:
"At current immigration and birth rates, indigenous British people are set to become
a minority well within 50 years. This will result in the extinction of the British people,
culture, heritage and identity.
• The BNP will take all steps necessary to halt and reverse this process. These steps
will include a halt to all further immigration, the deportation of all illegal immigrants,
a halt to the “asylum” swindle and the promotion of the already existing voluntary
repatriation scheme."
http://communications.bnp.org.uk/...
Sound familiar? http://articles.nydailynews.com/...
I could go on, but let's leave it there, like Wolf Blitzer likes to do, shall we?