Labour and the Democrats( the Left) have in common the 'Solaris'like resurrections in political fortune.Tory and Republican hegemony has munificently offered the Left occasional 'glory' and victory at the ballot box. It keeps spirits high but deludes the radicals with hopes of something more concrete.I suppose a cynic might well say that their prized possessions of the 'Civil Rights movement and the effective campaign against the Vietnam war were more bound with fear of the industry of litigation and other factors rather than the painful but successful moral crusade of the Left. These Rights weren't won ,they were 'lost' by the establishment in America as a palliative to expose more fundamentalist agitators on both sides of the political equation. The waters were muddied and then released for public consumption, only to be made from water to political wine by subsequent administrations. It also provided an opportunity for die-hards to indulge in nostalgia rather than clear their minds for what was what today. But should we claim that'nothing is what it seems? Democracy in America a fake 2 party system bypassed by reality? Well don't get me wrong, I don't believe that for a second.. Their maybe froth but there is also substance.
A sizable vociferous minority can bring change to both sides of the Atlantic, and if there is winds of change in America there is a hurricane in Britain. We in Britain have much to be grateful for, and because America is the laboratory of the world, Britain is the first to engage in what America is up to and.in many ways Britain translates change in America to the rest of the Western world. That in all truth is where the 'special relationship' with the USA is to be found.
Incremental change works for us all.
Incremental change in America involves a friction in America where America doesn't do the 1950s middle-class contented family with out the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War without the 1960s 'hippy war'against the mainstream. There is always a degree of political tension that is healthy for the rest of the world. It took the USA to rid itself of racism in institutional form, to experience all the national agony that is still evident in the 'deep south', for South Africa to release Mandela and reject apartheid 30 years later. South Africa had been convinced that Communism would not follow a ANC victory because the USA opened itself up to international scrutiny as well as demonstrating that the closing down the MaCarthy anti communist era, would not be a mistake. America has evolved, matured whilst being in the full glare of international accountability.But let us not forget that Britain has also influenced America too, for example even most recently,the Brexit victory fed the pro Trump supporters that a belief in a decisive victory was possible.
The More Party.
I have to admit I give into cynicism concerning the Left being only able to trump (no pun intended) every other political message.They are more free market and more business friendly, more paternalistic, more welfarist, more accountable, more a listening political force, more decentralized, more determined, more ethical, more devout, altruistic, experienced.....and now they are less insulting, bigoted, sexist, racist than popularist politicians. I know, isn't politics meant to involve some level of popularism? I thought the Left argued for a national debate on retaining the Obama Medi-care policy as not nationalized institutions but as an ongoing national debate involving everyone? Or is this debate about the placards, demonstrations and moral preaching without debate? As a European and a Briton who will defend the NHS in Britain until hie dying day, of course I'd demonstrate to protect the NHS here, but we in Britain have already had that 30 year debate. So have that debate America, and stop the finger pointing from those who have sour-grapes about a Presidential election that didn't go their way. Indeed from a European point of view I think all the talk of Trump being a bigot is misdirected, because it is his backroom staff who have created the Trump political persona, and all Trump is doing is working the same system that led to Obama's 2 terms of office. If Trump gets out of line, then those purely interested in preserving the status quo, will take him down a peg or two. Trust in your establishment who are there to knock people back into shape-. In fact Reagan was seen as a nuclear warmongerer, but he presided over a United Germany, the end of the Berlin wall, changes to Russia and China whilst being capable of wholly working with Thatcher and other elected leaders too. But he could have only done that with the same American popularism that the Democrats do not have at present, so at least respect the same process that incrementally changes America, and stop trying to press political hyperspace because shouting louder gets you nowhere.