The following comes from an exceptionally write book called the "The Right Nation", written by two English men Micklethwait and Wooldridge.
The Lack of a Hard Right
It is also worth adding one final aspect of American conservativism for with even liberal Americans should be grateful: the marginalization of the Far Right. In many ways mainstream American conservativism is more extreme than European conservatism: more hard-edges, more populist, more willing to flirt with gun enthusiasts and antigovernment activist. Yet America has been much more successful then Europe-particularly continental Europe-at keeping the radical Right under control.
In the 1950s Richard Hofstadter wrung his hands about “the paranoid style in American politics.” Yet this “paranoid style” never produced as fascist movement comparable with the one in Europe. Europeans habitually accuse George W. Bush of being a right-wing extremist. Yet Bush has never had any truck with the standard fare of radical Right-wing ideology. He is pro-immigration (insanely so by the standards of even moderate European conservatives). In his first major speech on foreign policy he warned that giving in to the temptation “to build a proud tower of protectionism and isolation” would be shortcut to chaos and stagnation. Far from being tinged with anti-Semitism, his party has been criticized for being passionately pro-Israel.
It is undoubtedly true that America has produced a vigorous militia movement that carries the country’s hostility to government and infatuation with firearms to lunatic extremes. It is also true that some elements in the Republican Party have periodically been seized by paranoid: think of McCarthyism or the wilder shores of Clintonphobia. Yet, in general, America’s two-party system has been as successful at marginalizing the Far Right as it has been at emasculating the Far Left.
The most violent component of the American hard Right-the militia movement- is in steep decline. The number of militias fell from a high of 858 in 1996 to 143 in 2003, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (which follows their activities), and the remaining groups are more shadows of their former selves, weak, disoriented and disorganized. In 2001, for example, the Northern Michigan Regional Militia (which once attracted Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to its meetings) was dissolved because it didn’t have any members with enough military experience to lead training exercises in the woods. Many militia members simply got tired of waiting, surrounded by automatic weapons, tins of canned food and bottles of water, for a revolution that never came. The failure of Y2K to bring about the collapse of western civilization was a particularly heavy blow.
The rapid decline in the militias seems to have coincided with a small rise in neo-Nazi activity. The Southern Poverty Law Center reckons there are now 700 hate organizations, with more then 100,000 members, the highest count in 20 years. Yet the American neo-Nazi movement is less bloodcurdling than it sounds: its leaders are old and frail, and it has faced a string of legal assaults. By most estimates the neo-Nazi movement has proportionately more supporters in Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden then in the United States. One in ten young Swedes reportedly listen to “white power” music. There are similar movements-skinheads, nativist, anti-Semites in virtually every European country.
The Far Right “Preachers of Hate,” to borrow the title of a recent book, have enjoyed much more electoral success in Europe than they have in the United States. In 2003, the Swiss People’s Party won 26.6 percent of the popular vote, giving it more seats in the lower house of parliament then any of the mainstream parties. One of the party’s election posters showed a black face with the caption “The Swiss are becoming Negroes.” Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front remains a considerable force in the French politics: in the first round of the 2002 presidential election it won 18 percent of the vote, propelling Le Pen into a runoff against Jacques Chirac, who won easily. In 1999 Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party came second in Austria’s general election, with 27 percent of the votes, and became part of the governing coalition in Austria. In Holland Pim Fortuyn, a maverick right-winger who worried that Muslims were undermining his country’s traditions of tolerance, finished second in the polls as well-albeit posthumously. Silvio Berlusconi has made room in his government for Gianfranco Fini, the leader of the former Fascist. By contrast, Pat Buchanan, the most right-wing candidate to run for the American presidency in recent years (and certainly mild stuff when compared with either Le Pen of Haider), got only 0.5 percent of the vote in 2000.
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I though this was a good read and it should be noted that the Europeans need to watch out for their own countries first.
The European countries continue to ignore the conservative movement. Not even entertaining the thought of letting some steam out of their socialist systems, thus driving moderate conservatives into the Far Right camp.
One day they may wake up to find some ticked off right wingers in control of their country, looking for payback.
It has happened before, it can happen again.
That's My Two Cents