Left-Wing America, Right-Wing Western World?

[Zyobot]

When examining the political positions and dynamics of the various nations in the world, it's often seen that the United States is exceptionally right-wing, a nation with strong historical emphasis on rugged, "don't tread on me" individualism and taming the wild frontier. The rest of the Western World, on the other hand, seems to skew more to the left with less aversion to big government and state-focused traditions that have lasted for hundreds of years.

With a POD that takes place after 1900, is it possible to switch these two regions' political alignments--making the US more left-wing than IOTL, and the rest of the Western World more right-wing?

Thank you in advance,

Zyobot

[stevep]

Apr 27, 2019 16:04:24 GMT Zyobot said:

When examining the political positions and dynamics of the various nations in the world, it's often seen that the United States is exceptionally right-wing, a nation with strong historical emphasis on rugged, "don't tread on me" individualism and taming the wild frontier. The rest of the Western World, on the other hand, seems to skew more to the left with less aversion to big government and state-focused traditions that have lasted for hundreds of years.

With a POD that takes place after 1900, is it possible to switch these two regions' political alignments--making the US more left-wing than IOTL, and the rest of the Western World more right-wing?

Thank you in advance,

Zyobot

  I think the big problem is that Europe is that way, with an acceptance of government intervention because it needed to be.  With so many states cheek by jowl, let alone external threats such as the Vikings and Arabs and later the Turks a strong military and hence a clear government structure was necessary.  As such its both deeply embedded and still to a large degree necessarily today.  Even with the EU coming to increasingly dominate/supplant the old national governments its more of an interventionist one than the US.  Plus with more advanced technology and communications meaning potential threats, Russia, China, the US, India etc if the EU survives its likely to stay that way.  Its noticeable that where there is opposition to the EU this is more that its replacing national governments in tasks and seeking to replace them in others, such as defence and foreign affairs rather than the existence of such a role for government.  I.e. who does it rather than whether its done or not.  This isn't just a case of matters military but also of keeping people reasonably content as the options for them to move to another state or possibly revolt aided by an unfriendly neighbour

  For the US isolated by oceans and the RN its had no great need for a lasting strong central government until 1945 or possibly 1932 when Roosevelt introduced a more interventionist role in reaction to the problems caused by the depression.  Otherwise there were only occasional needs for the military, for long the prime role for a central government in times of crisis, most noticeably the USCW, which also saw interventions in other areas by Lincoln's Presidency and a reaction against much of this followed.  There was a long history of intervention in economic affairs, but often at somewhat removed, such as free land for railways, support of industries and the like but this was seen as something more distant.  Similarly the long use of tariffs which funded much of the government was seen more as a tax on foreign imports than on the Americans themselves and hence less alien to the image of an individualist people keeping government at a distance.

  Britain is a kind of hybrid, with the need for some sort of central government but reactions to the commonwealth period and the preceding and immediately following monarchial autocracy meant that the power of the monarchy and to a degree central government as a whole was questioned and checked to a degree, at least in peacetime. 

  As such I don't think this is a practical aim without ASB intervention.  The US and to a lesser degree the British experience was an episode unlikely to be repeated, at least possibly without a major collapse of civilisation which might in its aftermath lead to some areas finding themselves isolated from external threats and hence able to go without a powerful central government.