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Good news from Italy...
Nov. 10th, 2004 09:33 am...sort of. Actually, on the face of it, the news is quite terrible. But it is good if you want, as I want, the complete discrediting of Mr.Berlusconi, Mr.Bossi, and their detestable political movements. To make matters easy for British readers, Mr.Berlusconi is the evil caricature of Mr.Bush. He has the pro-rich bias, the hollow nationalist rhetoric, the fiscal irresponsibility, the machismo, the lack of respect for established rules, without any of the redeeming hypocrisies of Mr.Bush - any of his nods towards Christian humility, or his however affected common tone. He has seized control of the Italian right and invented a demagogic TV-based brand of nationalism that has nothing to do with the old traditions of patriotism (which have experienced a curious little revival thanks to our elderly President Carlo A. Ciampi, who is an enemy of Berlusconi's), but are calqued on popular American manifestations. One small, but significant detail. In Italy, when the flag is flown and the National Anthem plays, the habit is that you stand at attention; however, Mr.Berlusconi, and those who learned from him, do not stand at attention, but place their right hand on their heart in the American manner. This is just to show how phoney, how derivative, how empty at the core his kind of conservatism really is.
Mr.Berlusconi, obviously, has no moral core such as may be found - whether you like it or not - among the victors in the American elections. His mind is made of money; and the lesson he thought he learned from Mr.Bush's triumph was - and I quote - "he won because he cut taxes." (Which is nonsense. As the increasingly impressive Pat Buchanan pointed out, "Among the 22 percent of the electorate that considered "moral values" decisive, Bush won 80-18. He carried 54 percent of the Catholic vote and 59 percent of the Protestant vote.... Only among those who considered terrorism the critical issue, 19 percent, did Bush do as well, carrying 86 percent of that vote. As for the 20 percent who believed jobs and the economy were the primary issues of 2004, Bush lost 18-80, the exact reverse of his landslide on moral values. This should tell the president that America's patience with a trade policy that is outsourcing factories and jobs is now exhausted. Had it not been for the moral values issue, the jobs issue would have killed Bush in Ohio, and he would not be president after Jan. 20." - Italics and underline mine.)
So Mr.Berlusconi and his equally irresponsible Northern League allies, having already charge of a deficit well beyond European norms and of a disastrous economic situation - much worse than that of other European countries - forced through a cobbled Budged that included a lunatic slew of tax cuts for all and sundry. At this point, the parts of his alliance that still had a vague sense of responsibility had had enough. Last night, large numbers of Mr.Fini's Nationalists and Mr.Follini and Professor Buttiglione's Christian Democrats vanished from the Chamber of Deputies, and the Government was beaten on Article One of their Budget law - the one which defines the total financial needs of the State for the coming year. This is literally without precedent. Had it happened anywhere else, the result would have been resignations and a general election. Mr.Berlusconi is still clinging to his seat, but there can be no doubt that he is a Prime Minister without any policy and without any authority. And short of seein him defeated in a general election, or ran over by a truck, this is the best news my unfortunate country could have had.
P.S.: I will try and finish my article on the social causes of Mr.Bush's victory some time this evening. Theproblem is that I have just thought of a quite different angle on it, which I may perhaps describe in a separate post.
Mr.Berlusconi, obviously, has no moral core such as may be found - whether you like it or not - among the victors in the American elections. His mind is made of money; and the lesson he thought he learned from Mr.Bush's triumph was - and I quote - "he won because he cut taxes." (Which is nonsense. As the increasingly impressive Pat Buchanan pointed out, "Among the 22 percent of the electorate that considered "moral values" decisive, Bush won 80-18. He carried 54 percent of the Catholic vote and 59 percent of the Protestant vote.... Only among those who considered terrorism the critical issue, 19 percent, did Bush do as well, carrying 86 percent of that vote. As for the 20 percent who believed jobs and the economy were the primary issues of 2004, Bush lost 18-80, the exact reverse of his landslide on moral values. This should tell the president that America's patience with a trade policy that is outsourcing factories and jobs is now exhausted. Had it not been for the moral values issue, the jobs issue would have killed Bush in Ohio, and he would not be president after Jan. 20." - Italics and underline mine.)
So Mr.Berlusconi and his equally irresponsible Northern League allies, having already charge of a deficit well beyond European norms and of a disastrous economic situation - much worse than that of other European countries - forced through a cobbled Budged that included a lunatic slew of tax cuts for all and sundry. At this point, the parts of his alliance that still had a vague sense of responsibility had had enough. Last night, large numbers of Mr.Fini's Nationalists and Mr.Follini and Professor Buttiglione's Christian Democrats vanished from the Chamber of Deputies, and the Government was beaten on Article One of their Budget law - the one which defines the total financial needs of the State for the coming year. This is literally without precedent. Had it happened anywhere else, the result would have been resignations and a general election. Mr.Berlusconi is still clinging to his seat, but there can be no doubt that he is a Prime Minister without any policy and without any authority. And short of seein him defeated in a general election, or ran over by a truck, this is the best news my unfortunate country could have had.
P.S.: I will try and finish my article on the social causes of Mr.Bush's victory some time this evening. Theproblem is that I have just thought of a quite different angle on it, which I may perhaps describe in a separate post.
