Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "The Netherlands' Election Explained: How the Right Won" video.

  1. The real issue isn't just limited to the EU countries, it's happening in many countries around the world, including the US, and for me, immigration isn't the core issue, I think the real issue over the last 10-15 years is that people feel like they are being squeezed, living standards don't feel like they are getting better, especially for low and middle income people, this is creating a lot of anger and people are lashing out, so unless any political party does some real changes that lift living standards from the bottom up, I suspect the situation could get worse, maybe a lot worse if nothing changers. In the end, misery fuels the radical elements in society, to reduce that, the quality of life needs to improve for all and this pattern is playing out in many countries, the US with Trump, the UK with Brexit, Italy with the current government and in many other EU countries, a lot of people are not happy with how things are, with immigration and the EU being used as a scapegoat to vent angry for how things have been getting over the last 10-15 years. Things could get worse unless there's some radical changes in rebalancing the economy to raise living standards from the bottom up, the irony being is that the traditional centre parties seem blind to that reality, which is ironic because these so-called radical parties are the biggest threat to them, especially the ones that tone things down when in power.
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  2. True, but that usually ends up with a worse outcome, but either way, a lot of people are not happy in a lot of countries around the west, we've seen that in the US with Trump, in the UK with Brexit, in Italy which led to the current government getting into power and across many other EU countries. It's all about sending warning messages to the centre parties to wake up and do major changes that actually lives living standards from the bottom up. Too many times we keep hearing governments brag about how well the economy is doing or how low unemployment numbers are, but for the last 10-15 years, things feel worse for a lot of people, that's fuelling this popularise movement in a lot of countries, and the only way to solve this is for any political party that gains power, to do major reforms that lift the quality of living from the low and middle classes, that reduces the voice of the radical elements in society, the alternative is that things get worse until someday we get some real nutters in power that cause chaos, we know how bad that can go throughout history. What's shocking to me about all this, it doesn't seem like most parties in a lot of western countries have got the message that real change is needed, for them, it seems like it's business as usually and then they wonder why voters are voting the way they are doing.
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  3. That isn't by chance, when they realise there's a chance of winning any real power, they have to be more down to earth and realistic in what they can achieve when in power. On the sidelines, out of power, they can pretty much say anything they want without any real consequences, but once in power, their neck is on the line, they likely know that if they mess up, they'll pay a very high price from the people, basically, they know they've been given a once in a lifetime choice here, so they tone things down and try to act more like a moderate party to appeal to more people, we saw the same thing happen in Italy as well as other countries. Because of that, they become far less of a threat unless a majority of the people become radicalised, which if that were to happen, the country in question has far more problems than just the government. Who these are a real threat to is the mainstream parties that have dominated for decades, if these fringe parties tone things down and become more centralised parties, voters will have a lot more choice when it comes to elections, if any of these parties stay radical whiles in power, it would likely cause a lot of chaos for the country and impact a lot of people in a negative way, that it probably wouldn't take longer then a decade before voters kick them out and they'll probably never get in power again, basically, they've been given a chance of power, they have to tone things down to make the most of it, if they mess up this chance, they know they might not get another, hence why I keep seeing the pattern with these so called radical parties that tone things down a lot when close to power or in power that they actually look more like centrist parties, it's easy to understand why, most voters are centrist, centrist parties try to appeal to voters across the political spectrum, fringe parties tend to target a segment of voters that are not happy but clearly centrist parties are a lot more successful long term because they appeal to a wider voter base.
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