It was Italy’s turn to host the G-7 meeting of the wealthiest democracies last week.  Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni chose the southern region of Apulia to impress the member nations, which include the U.S., Canada, France, UK, Germany, and Japan.

The sea, sky, and soil were real but the venue was a faux Medieval “town” called Borgo Egnazia, actually a modern resort that features narrow streets of cobblestone, villas, restaurants, and a town square complete with a clock tower but has no mayor or postal code.  A destination for stars, Pop singer Justin Timberlake and actress Jessica Biel were among the celebrities married there.

Meloni was not just the hostess but the model for the member nations’ future leaders.  According to the Wall Street Journal, of all the attendees she may be the only one to survive the next election cycle—including President Joe Biden.  The reason: the democracies are beginning to lean Right.  Europeans and North Americans have reached a crossroads in ultra-liberal policies—the transformation of traditional society with new Woke agendas and millions of illegal aliens.  As I often describe it: the Left provokes, the Right reacts.  Italy was Europe’s first to react with the ascension of Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party two years ago.

To the fright of many, she had all the credentials of a Fascist.  In the 1990s, she joined and eventually led the youth wings of neo-fascist and post-fascist parties.  In maturity she co-founded the rightwing Brothers of Italy and managed to create a coalition of conservative parties that governs Italy today.

To everyone’s surprise, Meloni wasn’t the “fascist” ogre some Italians and the West feared.  Instead, she has become a center-right populist whose commitment to democracy is no longer questioned.  That realization has spread to countries around the world.  The French Right, under another female leader, Marine Le Pen, has just swept local elections and may win the national elections with an Italian Frenchman named Jordan Bardella slated to be Prime Minister.

So it goes in the U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, and perhaps Japan, where the ‘Left-friendly’ attendees at Borgo Egnazia are facing a backlash from disgruntled voters.  Meloni may be the only leader to remain in power if the Right wave comes to pass.  Or, as the Wall St. Journal opines “Now Italy’s Giorgia Meloni is a relative giant amid the current political dwarfs.”

Even Argentina has been in the throes of a right-wing shake-up.  There, Italo-Argentine Javier Milei was elected president last December by an electorate fed up with decades of economic decline and relentless inflation.  He promised to take a buzz saw to the socialist state.  If he succeeds, Argentine may yet fulfill the destiny it is capable of.  Meloni invited him as a guest to the G-7 summit, no doubt to encourage his Argentine transformation. (BTW, Argentina is ethnically about 50% Italian.)

The bigger picture for many of us who are heirs to the Greco-Roman heritage is disturbing.  As a traditionally minded people we have been subjected to far too much change in a short period.  ‘Going with the flow’ now seems akin to letting a novice take control of an 18-wheeler.  Some change is always needed but we now find our history trashed as well as our values.  Unchallenged, the Woke and Utopians will undo centuries of Western accomplishments in every field.  They will do it with the assumption that Western Civilization is on automatic pilot and their ‘course corrections’ will not affect the machine itself.  Can you trust them?

It is reassuring to know that Italy, cradle of Western Civilization, has awakened to mindless change and is leading the way in a peaceful reaction.  It is also a matter of pride that Italy is still among the leading nations of the world, led by a woman who exemplifies the equality of the genders. Though small in stature, Giorgia Meloni has the Right stuff. -JLM