Electoral Accountability Today for Past Affiliation

southsiderosie

I was doing a bit of reading on Spain today, and I am always surprised by the number of politicians who are (or were recently) in government that have past ties to fascist organizations. Certainly many of the older Spanish trade unionists I have talked to hate the conservatives for precisely this reason. And one still hears about the "blueshirts" in Ireland.

But on the other hand, there are many on the left who have ties to Communist/Stalinist/Trotskyite parties and organizations - and that goes for much of Europe. Yet it seems like affiliation with these kinds of groups is chalked up to "youthful" decision-making, and isn't held against people who are now in their 40s and 50s. But this forgiveness doesn't necessarily swing the other way: it seems like the authoritarian right does not get a pass in the same way that the authoritarian left does.

Now based on my political leanings (which are admittedly left-of-center), I could never imagine voting for someone with past ties to any kind of fascist organization. But I do wonder if there is not a bit of hypocrisy on the left when it comes to this kind of thing, especially within a European context.

So my question is, how long should people be electorally liable for their past political affiliations? How can one judge if people have credibly moved to the center? Should present political affiliation allow us to overlook past political affiliations - and if so, where do we draw the line?

RDM_83 again

Hmmm Barrosso's Maoism has been brought up quite a bit.

also trying to think of the famous phrase about the young being socialist and the older you get becoming more right-wing but can't quite think of it

pljudge321

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Hmmm Barrosso's Maoism has been brought up quite a bit.

also trying to think of the famous phrase about the young being socialist and the older you get becoming more right-wing but can't quite think of it

"If you're not a socialist at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head"


I've also seen variations with liberal swapped with socialist.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Eamon Gilmore certainly seems to get a pass on having been a Stalinist.