Almost all at once, new leaders have appeared in the
nations of the free world — even as dictators remain
stubbornly in place in the world’s totalitarian states.
Most recently, Mark Carney was named the new prime
minister of Canada, replacing liberal Justin Trudeau who
resigned. A popular new conservative opposition leader
might replace him in the upcoming Canadian elections
at the end of April. The primary issues in that election
are not the usual left-tight ones, but which party can
most successfully deal with the new challenges from
the U.S.
In rhe U.S,. former President Donald Trump made an
extraordinary political comeback from his defeat in
2t20, and was sworn in as the nation’s 47th chief of
state, Left-right ideological patterns have changed im
U,S, politics with the Republican attracting working
class and ethnic voters from the Democrats, and
Democrats attracting upper middle class and highly
educated voters who formerly voted Republican,
In Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum was elected its new
president, the nation’s first woman and Jewish leader.
In South America, Argentina elected libertarian Javier
Milei as president, reversing decades of corrupt
Peronist-run government, and bringing economic
prosperity back to the nation after a century of decline.
In Europe, new generations of leaders are appearing.
Conservative Giorgia Meloni is the new leader of Italy.
Conservative Frederich Merz is the new chancellor
of Germany, Long-time leaders of France, Netherlands
Spain and other nations have lost their parliamentary
majorities, and face imminent defeat by new opposition
leaders in upcoming elections. There is a new prime
minister in the U.K. Political change seems to be in the
air in virtually every European nation.
Although there has been a general trend to the political
right, there are notable exceptions to this. The engine
for voters appears to be an impatience with the failures
of government leaders regardless of ideology, and a
desire of voters for practical solutions to chronic and
widespread problems.
Since most of the free world is made of nations which
have already, or are now developing, their industrial
and natural resource capabilities, spawned a growing
prosperous middle class, and established strong
historical and cultural traditions, the single most
unsettling and widespread new issue is the impact of
recent mass migrations from more undeveloped nations
to the more developed ones in Europe.
In the past, similar migrations, most notably from 19th
century Europe and Asia to the United States, the
immigrants sought out the institutions of freedom and
prosperity, embraced them after arrival, enhanced
them and became integrated into the national society.
In Europe today, however, many recent immigrants
refuse to accept or adapt to the cultural, religious, legal
and economic traditions of the countries they emigrate
to, disrupting the local societies in which they now live.
Unlike the U.S., European countries lacked much
variety in their populations, and the immigrants’
existential threat to European identity has provoked
widespread backlash.
Although the British government was conservative, it
failed to deal with the U.K. immigration issues, and
Labor won the last election. Conversely, the leftist
Danish government did deal forcefully with immigration,
and was re-elected.despite a conservative tide elsewhere
in their region.
The appearance of new leaders is notable, but a more
significant development seems to be that voters in North
America and Europe are less traditionally ideological than
ever, and more demanding that the persons they elect
be problem-solvers.
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Copyright (c) 2025 by Barry Casselman. All rights reserved.
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