Andrew Sullivan’s remark on the rise of the right wing extremists in the second part of his weekly tri-partite column:
The well-intentioned fantasies that all of Europe could have one currency, that the rise of liberal democracy was unstoppable, and that mass immigration, with precious little integration, was an unalloyed good, have come crashing down to earth. As the pressure of mass migration from the South continues, if only because of the demographic explosion in Africa and the Middle East, we may end up with rabidly anti-immigrant parties dominating the entire European landscape. Sweden was a breathing space, opening the possibility that moderate liberal and conservative parties can co-opt the far-right resurgence and tame it. But the oxygen levels behind liberal democracy still keep falling across the continent.
I tend to agree. He doesn’t really have a recommendation, so I suggest that the liberal democracies – including most especially the United States – take a close look at their own actions in the world to see what they are doing which may be causing immigration, legal or not, to occur. Food exports? Interfering with the governments of other countries? Climate change? These are all activities which could easily be upsetting the status quo, causing violence, and motivating people to get out.
It’s not enough to have better border security. We need to look at our own responsibilities, whatever they may be, in that clusterfuck, and figure out what to do about it.
All the while ignoring the demographic monster in the room.
