It's been a long time since a visit to America stopped being an infallible formula for strengthening the reputation of European politicians. In the last decade, however, that contact with the American ally can result in at least as many headaches as it does advantages.

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People like me who believe the left can be a moderate force—we have failed. We are stuck in the medieval notion that there is an aristocracy and a people, and the people want a piece of what the aristocracy had—a life subsidized enough to have a minimum of work and a maximum of pleasure.

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