OPINION:
When one speaks in terms of the conservative movement of the last 50 years, a few names immediately percolate to the top of one’s mind.
President Ronald Reagan is certainly first and foremost. The 1994 Republican Revolution, which picked up 54 House seats and 8 Senate seats, was led by Newt Gingrich, who became just the second Republican House speaker in more than 60 years. In the 2010 “Tea Party” elections, people fed up with the heavy lurch to the left of the Obama administration, gave the House back to the Republicans with an overwhelming 63-seat gain.
America has seen an ebb and flow of support for conservative causes and candidates, but the cyclical wave often seems to come along just in the nick of time.
In Europe however, the modern era has not seen nearly as much in the way of conservative action. The large metropolitan centers like Paris and London are perpetually drifting further left. Europe’s mainstream media vilifies any conservative leader as some sort of caricature of evil.
Exceptions exist of course. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s longest serving prime minister, has been a conservative voice throughout the 21st century. More recently Giorgia Meloni was chosen to lead Italy. The liberal European media refers to her as the “far right Meloni” and after her victory took great glee in comparing her to World War II fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Ms. Meloni doesn’t resemble Mussolini in any way, shape or manner.
Shaped in great part by the European Union, Europe generally has drifted further and further left. Leadership embraces the migration of refugees to a variety of countries and is heavily critical of those nations concerned about the impacts, financially or culturally. The EU promotes a transgender ideology. Many churches in Western Europe are nearly empty on Sunday.
Conservatives have finally said, “Enough!”
Members of Parliament from a variety of nations, including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and elsewhere gathered this past week in Bucharest, Romania, along with political activists, academics and some media, to support each other and to organize. Among their goals? Wrest control of the EU from the far left.
The gathering was the brainchild of Romanian opposition party leader George Simion. Still only 37 years old, Mr. Simion has been playing an ever-growing role in Romania’s conservative movement for years.
Bringing together like-minded politicos from all over Europe was an important exercise, not only for planning purposes, but for a reality check. With a mainstream media that brands those who favor traditional families over transgender policies as extremists, for example, it was essential that conservatives from all over Europe get together, mingle, and remind one another that they have like-minded brothers and sisters all over the continent.
Mr. Simion believes Europe can return to the greatness it once enjoyed. He points out “Europe was working until they broke it. They broke it with LGBTQ+ ideology. They broke it with the green deal. They broke it with the cancel culture.”
He says for him, Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 in the U.S. was a catalyst for change in Europe as well. “It was happening across the world, why not in Italy, France or Romania?”
The charismatic leader knows that for his people in Romania and throughout Eastern Europe, the scars of oppression run deep.
“It is important to get rid of communist reflexes. They want to control the market. You cannot control a free market. Let everybody decide for themselves,” he said.
I asked him why Romania had become a focal point in the conservative movement. He good-naturedly replied, “We are the new kid on the block in the conservative scene. We desperately see the necessity of uniting the conservative movement. Hopefully this is our contribution to the conservative movement, to unite.”
Then he really started to hit his pace, “We have the mandate. We have the will of the people. We will win the elections in Romania. We will win the elections in Poland, in Hungary, in Slovakia. We will win in Italy. We will win in France.”
Not since the days of Reagan’s great friend and ally, Margaret Thatcher, has the most visible leadership in Europe been reliably conservative. If Romania’s George Simion has his way, those days will soon return again.
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