Ed Luce: belief

Transcript context

…How does a multiparty system in Europe affect the retreat or advance of liberalism versus the two‑party system we have here in the US? Until last Thursday, the assumption was the British two‑party system is disintegrating into a European model, where we’re just going to have permanent coalition governments. But last Thursday was the peak two‑party moment in almost 40 years. The Conservative Party got its highest share of the vote since 1983, when Thatcher had her second big landslide, and the Labour Party had its highest share of the vote since 1983. Sorry, it had its highest share of the vote since 1997, when Blair came in. This is a two‑party peak. The smaller parties have temporarily been pushed away. The United States, you don’t have two parties. You have many parties under two umbrellas, and you’re a continent, so it’s very hard to analogize the US with Europe. One thing I would say, is your system is not designed to be parliamentary. Your system works better when each party is a coalition between different interests, and the fact that each is becoming more and more monochromatic, more and more disciplined and parliamentary, is disastrous for this system. This system doesn’t work like that. IPad question. “Russia is commonly considered the primary antagonist of liberalism. What are the chances liberalism itself takes hold in Russia in the next 20 years?”…

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