The party which got Icelandic society into this mess could just hold the keys to make things right.
It is quite a bit strange to hear people say that they would still vote for the Independence Party today, even after its Icarian flight of the past two decades and its nepotistic distribution of the wealth of the nation.
But it so happens that there are sensible, moderate people lurking in the party’s backrooms. They just have to start claiming their party back from the fanatic right. It is time for them to build from the ground what many Independence Party members think their party is about, a democratic party favorable to independent business owners and individual rights, and weed out the frentic big government, oligarcich Friedmanites (yes, the irony but that is what the party had become).
The party attempted to confront the need to reform itself in the wake of the 2009 elections and produced an interesting self-examination and plan for a new beginning. But by stirring fresh and old wounds alike, the still hypnotic Great Leader managed to stir up enough hate and venom at the party’s convention that it put those plans to a halt.
David’s heir, Bjarni Benediktsson has appeared too frail to go to work on claiming the party back for its people from the special interests of fishing quota kings and fanatic republicanite ideologues. A large part of voters of the party have been had for fools for too long now and would doubtlessly celebrate a lead from a leadership who is not afraid of the world around them, who attempt to distribute the wealth in the most efficient directions and is committed to building a prosperous nation instead of self-serving billionaires.
The old ghosts could be pushed out to the fringes where they belong with the Progressive Party. At a time when Iceland is divided because of those interest groups, a reformed Independence Party migh just hold the keys to a successful reconstruction. The moderates need to step out and claim their place, if they don’t they risk unsettling their country even more. But that place will not be theirs unless they stop the rot.
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