[pp.int.general] results

[Reinier Bakels]

>> Hypothetically: what side is the PP going to take when they're part of
>> the bundestag on discussions like economics, social assurance,
>> ecological lifestyle, etc.
>> The PP international unites left to right (and back again) in the fight
>> against the current copyright and patent system.
>> But some of us believe in the full free and liberal market and other
>> fancy nationalisation.
>
> That will in deed be an interesting problem. Most pirates in germany are 
> what is liked to be called "left". But not in a socialistic/communistic 
> manner. The believe in social values but also in the need of liberal 
> markets - backed up by govermental control.

The same applies for any kind of liberal politics. In American terminology, 
a liberal is nearly a communist, far left wing. In NL, the traditional 
liberals have become a conservative law&order party experimenting with 
xenophobia. So we have an addtitional "social-liberal" party (D66). Even our 
Greens won a prize for their wonderful "liberal" policy (which is odd 
because the Dutch greens originated out of a merger of three parties 
including former communists).

True liberalism is not far away from socialism. The paradigm of a free 
market can be a pretext to foster the interests of big corporations. But 
liberalism should not be confused by laisser-faire, non-intervention 
politics. The paradox is that a free market requres strong control, else it 
is no longer free. The present financial crisis makes it much easier to 
explain the paradox. "Market failure" is the name of the game (market 
fundamentalists argue that there is no market at all in cases typically 
designated as "market failure" - just a matter of terminology)

The PP should not overly concerned to be a one-issue party. In that respect, 
it is by no means an exception. We used to have a "Europe Transparant" 
party, which even got two seats in the EP. Unfortunately, two is the minimum 
number of people needed to quarrel and to split up - which is what they did. 
Cristian can not quarrel with himself ...

In NL the "animal party" is very successful. They won at the recent EP 
elections (but it is still uncertain whether they will get a seat in the EP, 
it is a marginal case). They argue that if you don't respect animals, you 
won't respect people either. Which is questionable logic, but sounds fine.

reinier