March 23, 2004
PICKING A SMALL NIT
Mark Steyn is, in my prejudicial opinion, the most brilliant political pundit on the Scene. I'm not saying he is the most Intellectual, and I doubt he would agree; nonetheless I love his ability to cut to the chase, and do so in manner both humorous and trenchant.
Steyn has been writing the endpage of National Review for the last some issues, called happy warrior. I hate to say it, but it has been a rather subdued disappointment. Perhaps it is Mark's determination not to nurture the viturperation of the great William F, or perhaps he is merely writing for a different audience, but I'm sad he is not flowering, full, in the slot I consider the pinnacle of punditry.
His latest, in the April 5 issue, is much of the same. Very good, but my sides were not cracking. I like my sides cracked when mine enemies are flayed. Perhaps that is a peculiar taste I should savor in private.
The gist of the article, called the Spanish Disposition, details the reasons behind Spain's ousting of Aznar in favor of that Zamboni fellow 72 hours after the train bombings. Steyn sums up nicely, and I quote purely extemporaneously, without benefit of the nuance of his entire piece:
...And the tragedy for the Continent is that this time it's their core identity at stake. If you think the Spanish election result is a disgrace, look down the road two or three years, to the next election cycle, in France, Belgium, the Netherlands. In the U.S., psephologists speculate on the impact of Ralph Nader's 2 or 3 percent. Think about an election where 20 percent of the voters are a culturally unassimilated bloc. If Washington has a hard time getting any useful contribution to the war from Europe now, you do the math in five years hence.
All correct, I think, and well uttered. I think, however, Steyn errs in not explaining the true import of a 20% takehome at the polls for the Islamists. European nations are not like America in election impact (and, yes, I use the term "America" purposefully, instead of the US of A. Canada [sorry, Mark] and Mexico do not denote America to anyone in common verbiage. America is an ideal, a concept, that our southern and northern neighbors grasp only in spasmodic gulps, neither fully absorbing or fully repudiating. The United States ARE America, the idea).
Euros operate in coalitions, given the fragmented plethora of political parties that come to the dance. In America you have a Winner, and a Loser. That goes for the Presidency, control of the Senate, control of the House. In or out. Yea or nay. 20 percent in America is the Back of the Bus. The slagheap. In Europe 20 percent brings you to the table in a Very Big Way. You get to negotiate alliances, polarities, detentes. And if you are of a particular 20 percent that might just likely blow the other fellows up if you don't like the way the game is shaping up, then you are powerful, indeed.
I've often worried about the day a European nation reaches a demographic of 51 percent unassimilated Islamic, and votes in sharia. Now that I contemplate it, 20 percent might take our poor cousins there anon.
Steyn rules, I just think the point could have been more emphatic. I can always blame the editors, though. Posted by Velociman at March 23, 2004 9:22 PM