Liberal Americans + Conservative Europeans = New Trans-Atlantic Alliance?

That’s the equation Timothy Garton Ash is hoping for.

Francis Fukuyama explains Ash’s thesis:

In actuality, he writes, Europeans are themselves
divided into Euro-Atlanticists and Euro-Gaullists; the former want
political ties with the U.S. and worry about the statist tendencies of
the European Union, while the latter see the EU as a competitive
counterweight to the U.S. and champion the Brussels version of the
welfare state. (“Janus Britain” is schizophrenically suspended
somewhere between the two.)

Americans, for their part, are divided between what have come to be
called red and blue voters. The Left (or blue) side of the American
political spectrum corresponds to the Right, or Atlanticist, side in
Europe, while such quintessentially American characteristics as
anti-statism, gun ownership, and pugnacious hostility to international
institutions are typically to be found only on the red side, the side
that tends to vote Republican.

The resulting political Venn diagram thus half-overlaps. Although
Europe is largely devoid of anyone resembling a Republican, and America
has no socialists, both Europe and America have the equivalent of
American Democrats. It is in that intersecting space that Ash sees the
“surprising future” he proclaims in the subtitle of this book—the space
where John Kerry’s America makes common cause with Euro-Atlanticists.
These two forces can, he believes, nudge the U.S. toward greater
multilateralism and Europe toward closer trans-Atlantic cooperation.

But Fukuyama thinks that Ash’s equation won’t work.

READ THE ARTICLE TO FIND OUT WHY.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin