She talks of free kindergartens that are open for longer, of maternity leave paid for by the state rather than the employer, and of reducing the tax burden on people with children… She promises to cut, not raise taxes. On foreign affairs, she is fervently on the side of Ukraine (there is a striking ambivalence in Italy about sending arms), declaring herself ‘on the side of a proud nation that is teaching the world what it is to fight for freedom’.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-giorgia-meloni-the-most-dangerous-woman-in-europe
This surely sounds terrifying. How can the people of Italy support such scary, unhinged beliefs? What is the world coming to if people who are for kindergartens and child tax credits can just go and get themselves elected?
But hey, we can’t complain. For years, our side has called the ultra-neoliberal Obama a socialist and even a communist. Now we are at the receiving end of this rhetorical flamboyancy, and every mildly conservative politician becomes a new Hitler.
The adult thing to do is to start by assessing your own contribution to any problem, and ours is quite large. And it’s not in the past. We continue engaging in rhetorical flourishes about groomers, pedophiles, and “cultural Marxists.” There was, for instance, a recent and very pathetic eruption of silliness over the statements of a Spanish minister who supposedly “justifies sex with children.” The minister in question is a complete idiot. But she never justified sex with children and, in fact, said the exact opposite.
These exaggerations are fun in the process but there is always a price to pay for them, and it’s pretty high.
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