2006-09-25

brand-new conservatives?

I’ve had a strange feeling throughout this election campaign and after the Alliance victory. They won, they really won. It was hardly a landslide, 48-46, still they did win. But the price was high. In order to win PM-to-be Reinfeldt abandoned central parts of his party’s policies.

What exactly is a conservative party with a brand-new agenda? Has anyone seen such a thing? Sounds like a contradiction in terms to me.

Don’t get me wrong. Ousting Persson was a necessity before Sweden became a one-party-state. I’m glad the Social Democrats were defeated. But the new majority didn’t offer a shift from the leftist agenda; they merely adopted parts of it. So how can they set a new course without a clear mandate? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, what happens with the conservative electorate Reinfeldt left behind in the process? Those of us who think that big government, monopolistic trade unions and excessive taxation are key problems in Sweden, how should we vote in 2010?

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