This doubles as a reply to
@Wonganella
Sorry long reply to explain why I can't.
I generally consider myself a center right voter mostly on economic grounds and mildly liberal on social issues.
I have travelled extensively, lived in a few different continents, I even experienced racism in a predominantly black country and Arab country (yes white people are also victims of it), but my take on this matter is slightly more nuanced. I am mostly pro migration, especially the Australian skilled migration model. I said it a few times I actually like Oz for that, with a big caveat: when you are in Rome you do like the Romans, so if you are not a local it is up to you to integrate like the Italians or Greeks have done for example. I ve done everywhere I lived, it works locals will accept you.
When you travel and work with people from different backgrounds you realize that people are not all that different, it doesn't matter if you are a Pom, Italian, German, South African, Brazilian, Kenyan, Indian, Thai or if you come from the Philippines. Most people just want a job, provide for their families, make sure their kids are better off etc. You probably form friendships more along value lines than nationalities. At least in my case.
However my views don't apply to a large chunk of the people coming from the Middle East with some exceptions (believe it or not but Australia is lucky to have Lebanese instead of Algerians or Moroccans, Tunisians are mostly ok). What I am seeing in Europe absolutely disgusts me, I ll be honest with you if it was as simple as telling Trump we take 12 million of your Mexicans in exchange for just 4 million Muslims I reckon 90% of people would agree it is a great deal.
I don't know what is wrong with people from that part of the world, I actually tolerate the first generation that came in the 50-60s, they are mostly ok, but the subsequent ones are scum. There is no respect whatsoever for anything. We should force them to spend 12 months in their country of origin to see how they like it.
They are dirty, they are rude, they are disrespectful, they ll cry to get every cent they can from welfare, they trash the areas where they live (I swear I should really take pictures and post them here), they don't make an effort to speak the language, they don't integrate and they commit crimes (I posted statistics on another thread a few weeks ago), and the list goes on and on.
With that said I will never ever vote for a Le Pen or Trump. I used to despise Pauline for her rhetoric, but I came to respect the fact that so far she seems honest and she is well intentioned, I don't put her in the same category as the first 2, I just don't agree with her policies.
Trump and Le Pen are the symbols of what's wrong today with our societies. They just put a coat of paint on the big issues and pretend to be the saviours when in fact they are part of the problem. To start with they are at least as corrupt (if not more) as the current mainstream politicians, but they have the audacity to pretend they are not.
Their economic programs will destroy the blue collar jobs they pretend to care for, all in the names of big slogans to get voted in. Where in the history of humanity have we seen successful protectionist policies? Even 2000 years ago the benefits of trade were understood.
They look for scapegoats from problems that are mainly structural. Illegal Mexicans are not taking cleaner or fruit picking jobs away from Americans, the same way middle eastern are not taking jobs away from the French, the problem there is that the French love their welfare state and rigid labour laws and you can't take it away from them. Italians arent taking waitressing jobs away from Poms (how many of them prefer welfare to being on their feet 10hrs a day?)
Making America great again? Please?!? It is already great by a lot of measures, what is not great there is the fact that basic things like the minimum wage or Medicare are still being debated. Trump can brag all he wants, the blue collar jobs are not coming back.
Getting the Franc back in France? What a pipe dream! How does Le Pen plan on repaying trillions of euros of debt? Do you think the creditors will just bow and say yes we take a haircut on that debt? Does she think that France will be better off with trade barriers as opposed to within the EU? Does she think that the public purse and quality of work will be better if only French companies can bid for public work?
I am unashamedly pro EU. It is a seriously mistaken project. People should remember why it was started in the 50s by people who have live through 2 World Wars. We haven't had a single war on the continent since then, I invite people to pick up a history book and check how many wars there were for every 70 years span before.
All we hear about is the negative aspects of the EU (there are some: too big too fast, a little too much red tape, different tax policies, different welfare systems, unfair wages compared to western etc..), but how about the economic benefits? What about a market bigger than the US? What about the no wars? What about being able to travel from Faro in Portugual to Lulea in Sweden without a passport? France's or Italy's problems are not the EU's fault, if that was the case Germany or Austria would have the same issues. The EU is not taking any cultural specificity away from anyone, it is allowing more people to come and check how others live. Good luck getting service in England without Italian waiters, good luck enjoying your French wine without the Spanish grape pickers coming for harvest etc...
The EU should ve just stay with 12 countries and introduce the Euro a little later, but no project is perfect.
People are putting immigration and economic problems all in the one basket, and that's extremely dangerous. If the UK or France didn't have as many non EU migrants Brexit and Le Pen would be a non story, but the economic problems would be the same.
I do however agree wholeheartedly that we need to stop being politically correct and address the issue the western world is having dealing with middle Eastern migration. There is nothing good coming from it.
