While the U.S. political pendulum seems to be swinging towards the left, our friends on the other side of the Atlantic are swinging in the opposite direction. Americans have elected the most left-leaning president and Congress in decades, in large part because of the Global Economic Crisis. What is interesting is that the same crisis has produced, and continues to produce, quite different election results in Europe. In an increasingly globalized political world, maybe Republicans can learn a thing or two from their successful center-right counterparts in Europe.

For a continent long ruled by center-left, social-democrat, and pro-labor parties, the emergence of leaders like French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and eventual British Prime Minister David Cameron (current British PM Gordon Brown is the quintessential sitting duck) is significant. Further evidence of the trends towards the center-right has come this weekend, with the preliminary results of the EU elections, where center-right parties have gained significant ground. These victories, according to Bloomberg News, have eased the pressure for more “stimulus” measures, measures that Merkel especially have opposed.

Infamous for their out of control social spending, Europeans have decided increased social spending will not get them out of an international mess caused by wealthy countries spending money we didn’t have. They’ve tightened their purse strings as we have let them loose. Center-right leaders are acting responsibly and convincing their electorates that it is right to do so. So why have they done what Republicans have failed to do? Simply put, their message is more credible than ours.

We all know our party lost our way fiscally during the past 8 years, that we have a tough time claiming we are more fiscally responsible than Democrats after ballooning the deficit. Our European counterparts have no such problem. They have campaigned for and governed on a platform of less democratic socialism and more democratic free-markets. They haven’t ignored environmental concerns either, as David Cameron can attest. They don’t focus squarely on social or moral issues like gay rights or immigration. They win elections on the economy by providing what we all know is the winning formula for economic growth: smaller government and more responsible spending. If Republicans can get back to that, then we have a chance.

If the center-right parties across the pond can teach us anything, it’s that our way back to power will not be based on fringe issues that rally the base. Instead it should be based on common-sense economic policies in the face of the current grandiose government spending. It’s sad, but maybe Europeans can teach us how to act more like Republicans again.

Last 5 posts by Abel S. Delgado

• Let’s Support the Cantwell-McCain Bill - January 6th, 2010
• Deeds Gets Dirty, Doesn’t Win Anyway - November 2nd, 2009
• Obama & The Berlin Wall - October 25th, 2009
• The Nobel Prom King - October 11th, 2009
• Bureaucratizing Interrogations a Horrible Idea - August 28th, 2009