Bad Policies Brew Poisonous Politics

Why are nontraditional political parties and factions, many of them extremist, gaining strength in Europe and elsewhere?

The outcomes in recent local elections in Britain were stunning. They underscore a trend that’s been building for years, not only in the U.K. but in almost all other well-established democracies: Radicalism is on the rise.

Britain’s two traditional ruling parties—Labour and Conservative—were smashed. Labour suffered its lowest percentage of the popular vote in more than a century. The Conservatives, who had had their worst electoral performance in 2024’s national elections, failed to make a comeback—in fact, they lost ground.

In the U.S. a significant portion of the public regards both major political parties with disdain. Most voters think the country is going in the wrong direction.

The approval rating of Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz is the worst since democracy was reestablished there after World War II. France’s floundering President Emmanuel Macron isn’t doing much better. In Japan, a country never noted for its feminist sensitivities, the long-ruling party has turned to a woman, Sanae Takaichi. Promising a radical break from the past and stoutly resisting bullying from Beijing, she won a landslide electoral victory. But can she pull Japan out of its long economic rut? The early signs are not encouraging, despite a buoyant stock market.

More and more, dissatisfied voters are turning to extremes. Antisemitism is more and more prevalent. Britain’s surging Green Party is making the bashing of Israel a centerpiece of its platform. The Democratic Party in the U.S. is open in its antipathy toward Israel, an ugliness imitated by some fringe figures on the right.

The growth of extremes, if unchecked, could lead to the kind of politics that disastrously poisoned the 1930s. The root cause of this discontent is obvious: Established political leaders have not only failed to deliver a vibrant, opportunity-rich economic environment but also persistently pursued policies that arrogantly disdain traditional values, and have topped that off by encouraging massive, uncontrolled immigration. These elites have generally had no decent respect for public sentiment.

Common sense also went by the boards. Take one of the most extraordinary delusions in history: the idea that unless we abolished fossil fuels the world would near its end. Nearly $20 trillion has been spent in this century on so-called renewables that have sharply raised energy costs and severely hampered economic growth. Just think how much better off we’d be today if those resources had instead been applied to creating new products and services, new medical devices and cures for diseases, not to mention ways of providing clean water for everyone.

Taxes have risen out of control. In Japan, for instance, social payroll taxes are over 30%; in France, over 40%. In the U.S., by contrast, they’re a little over 15%. These exactions are applied before stiff income taxes.

Needless to say, regulations are suffocating, as are obstacles to getting anything done commercially. Time is money.

Obviously, we need to return to time-tested approaches that work. The economic ones are plain: Cut tax rates, cut those strangling rules and procedures and recognize the need for stable currencies. Others are equally clear, such as getting immigration under control, allowing free speech and ditching the teaching of distortions of history.

We also need to revive the kind of cooperation among Free World countries that enabled us to win the Cold War.