Spain shifts right

Spain has elected the conservative right. After all those protests about cuts etc? Now they are in for even more. So much for the revolutionary 99%.

Spain has evicted the incumbents. Just as happened in UK. And whilst people protest cuts, they elect parties which will deliver even more stringent cuts.

BBC says:

Correspondents say many are angry with the Socialists for allowing the economy to deteriorate and then for introducing tough austerity measures.

So now they're going to get even more cuts? Err....K.

People are simply reacting against the ruling parties, and electing the opposition - regardless of the policy. This certainly doesn't speak of a major sea-change shift leftwards....certainly not towards some class-conscious revolution as OWS supporters seem to claim. Rather it speaks of the 99% not really knowing what to do, other than throw out the incumbent. People want change but not any particular ones. 'Socialists' are thrown out for conservatives, conservatives are thrown out for 'socialists'. Difficult to see that as a changed political landscape - rather it's reaction.

Greece had an election in 09, in which the socialists were elected over the incumbent conservatives (who were blamed for the crisis.) Now the socialists are being blamed for the ongoing crisis. We might say the same of America - Bush out, Obama in - with Obama suffering from the fallout and the ongoing crises.

But in Spain (and UK) 'socialists' were blamed for the crisis - as the incumbents - and were voted out in favour of conservatives.

Has it made any difference to the respective outcomes?

Clearly there's little reason to crudely blame either party exclusively because both parties have been in power in different places and all face similar problems. So electing the opposition in place of the incumbents is hardly likely to seriously address the issues.

I wish somewhere would at least have the nerve and audacity to try a seriously leftwing approach to the problem. Maybe we can look at Venezuela as an example, but it's an oil economy, and a developing one not a mature mixed economy like a major European state.

In ways it'd be most interesting if Ron Paul won in upcoming US elections (next year?). At least he'd finally be proven as ineffectual, or highly destructive, or - what would be a big shock - successful. At least it'd be something different instead of this ineffectual musical chairs thing.

Whilst supposed 'socialists' vie with 'conservatives' for power, we see there really isn't much difference in the policies, nor the outcomes. No-one is trying genuinely socialist or radical policies.

This is the roar of the 99%?