The Closing of Italy?

For quite a while I have been rather hard on the average American and let the Europeans, in the main, off the hook.

The shennanigans in Italy however have made me take another look at just what is going on in Europe.

Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the centre-right People of Freedom Party was tried and convicted in a corruption case and is now facing the prospect of being expelled from parliment.

And how does he react?

He has instructed the 5 members of his party who are in the current coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta to resign, ostensibly in protest of an increase in value-added-tax (VAT) from 21 to 22%.  The real reason for the resignations is to put maximum pressure on the special Senate committee responsible for deciding if he should be barred or not.

Yes, the former Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, who has been convicted of corruption, is willing to hold the Italian government, and by extension the fragile economic recovery of Italy, to ransom, so that despite being a convicted criminal he would be able to stay in parliment.

I don't get it.  How can a man who claims to represent his nation use it in such a deplorable fashion, and not be chased out of office by an irate electorate?

Well, I believe it is the chickens coming home to roost for Europe's social democrats.  They either sat back and let libertarian capitalism in through the back door or, in many instances, actively repudated their very foundations.

They supported privatisations, the dismantling of the public sector, of the social services and a degrading pandering to industry and financial institutions, all in a move to the centre.  For the parties which once represented the working classes and now find themselves catering to the same comfortable urban middle class that their erstwhile rivals the conservatives are pursuing.

Times have changed. The social contract upon which social democracy depends has fallen prey to the hedonism championed by relentless advertising and manipulation by the media.  In the minds of many constituents, even the least well off, consumerism has triumphed.  The desire to get rich, have fun, luxuriate in abundance, and be happy without feeling guilty is a force far too powerful for weakened social democratic ideals to counter.

And Berlusconi, who controls the media, the advertising, and with his bunga bungs parties personifies the hedonism of success, looks like he just might ride the wave of a nation apparently willing to forgive all sins if the result is success.

Smells like facism to me.