European Left

Ronald Brownstein (June 9) groups left-of-center leaders into two categories: those who have accepted the “limits of govern- ment’s capacity” (Clinton, Blair) and those who “promise to stop the wheels of change.” This is too simplistic, as the alleged limits of governmental capacity are not inexorable and neither is the change wrought by decades of mostly conservative rule in the major Western countries.

Tony Blair and his Labor Party do not represent Clintonesque acceptance of basic conservative precepts. Labor supports a windfall profits tax on privatized industries. Much of Labor’s rise was aided by Blair’s attacks on egregiously high corporate salaries. Did Clinton ever dare to make that kind of issue part of his campaigns?

As for France, Brownstein should temper his claim that conservatives “still hold executive power” and therefore will block the left’s abilities to reorder priorities. Unlike the U.S. president, a French president whose party lacks a legislative majority retains no ability to appoint officials of his choosing or to veto laws he does not like. So a coherent left will be able to rule.

What socialists and their voters are saying is very simple: If governments can negotiate international agreements to protect capital across borders, why can’t they do the same on behalf of labor? If politicians--left and right--can’t answer this basic question adequately, nativist and racist movements may yet have their day.

MATTHEW SHUGART

Associate Professor of Political

Science, UC San Diego