NATIONAL NEWS: A PIVOT TO THE RIGHT
It appears that major governments are changing hands and public policy directions in many places at the same time.
Most notable perhaps is our own federal government, following an historic national election in which Donald Trump returns to the White House four years after he was defeated for re-election in 2020.
But major governments, have suddenly changed, or are about to change in all regions of the world, including Germany, France, Syria, Canada and South Korea.
This follows recent earlier government changes in Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Argentina, Brazil and Japan.
In most, but not all, cases, the changes have been the replacement of governments on the left with governments on the right —- following the global conservative tide of the past decade among democratic nations. Many significant elections have seen voters responding to center right parties and leaders.
This does not prove that conservatives have all the answers. The failure of some major center-right governments, such as the Tory government of Great Britain illustrates the growing voter realization that governing any large nation, especially ones with diverse or non-homogeneous populations is becoming harder and harder to do.
It does not seem that the problem is representative democracy whether its form be a republic like the U.S., a constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democratic state, or any other democratic form which enables its citizens to choose their leaders through voting.
The main problem seems to originate in the various current systems of delivering public services and responding to public needs in an effective and timely manner.
The current conservative trend has come primarily from voter reaction the long-term failure of leftist models which arbitrarily redistribute resources, over-regulate enterprise and inhibit free markets with resulting inflation, unemployment and unstable economies.
The most notable example of a new approach is now going on in Argentina, a nation with many natural resources, but a long-term chaotic economy due to Peronist oligarchial governments which always fail to serve the Argentine public and its interests.
Under President Javier Milei, decades of destructive public economic activity are being rapidly replaced with libertarian conservative policies, and in a remarkably short period of time, his “chainsaw” approach is getting positive economic results, albeit with some short-term hardships.
Incoming U.S. President-elect Trump has promised his own “chainsaw” approach to the progressive economic policies and centralized regulatory delivery of public services, but so far, these are only promises.
Whether his policies will work remains to be seen.
Tax cuts without also lowering public expenditures has not worked in the past. Creating more and more public debt only ensures long-term instability.So-called Keynesian economics, once a fashion, no longer works.
As the new year of 2025 begins, more new changes of government are likely to appear. No government will be perfect, but the quest in democratic nations for better government has not ever been more urgent.
Barry Casselman is a syndicated columnist who has been covering national (and international) politics since 1972. You can find more of his work at barrycasselman.com
