So much for that one
For many months, there was panic that the far-right was dangerously at the gates of the European Parliament, when those elections took place earlier this spring. Fortunately, most of the far-right pro-Putin crazies lost their influence that night. The media said the same of the National Rally party of France, that looked poised to win big shortly after President Macron declared a snap parliamentary election.
Something happened, however, that few were anticipating. Both the center-leaning Renaissance and the French far-left strategically began to withdraw candidates before the first round, killing the momentum that the far-right xenophobic National Rally was beginning to build.
We have a much different electoral system that has its own flaws, but there are two lessons that we can learn from it here. One is that while the media has its own takes on whatever is happening at this very moment, it’s largely impossible to see the future – it’s people, not polls that actually vote.
The other is that the more united a coalition there is against fascism, the greater our chances of prevailing, which is why volunteering by phone banking or canvassing is so important – having discussions with those middle of the road voters whether they sway left or right, that Democrats are capable of getting great things accomplished – as we’re doing right now under the leadership of President Biden, and that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy and our way of life.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making