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The UKIP's stated purpose is that the United Kingdom "shall again be governed by laws made to suit its own needs by its own Parliament, which must be directly and solely accountable to the electorate of the UK."

Sunday night, the BNP's Nick Griffin claimed his party's victory as a vindication of the party's claim that "we're here to look after our people because no one else is." He went on to condemn the "liberal elite, which has built a dam, a wall of lies, which has grown ever taller and ever thicker over the years to stop ordinary people protesting about the removal of their freedom." He added, "Well, tonight that wall has been broken down."

In a conventional British election, the Labour Party's collapse would have resulted in a Tory triumph. But in this election, about 1 in 4 Britons did not vote Labour, Tory or Liberal. Rather, they voted for the unprecedented combination of the UKIP's respectable (but, until recently, eccentric) call for the absolute legal sovereignty of Britain and the BNP's disreputable -- but listened-to -- racial and cultural scream.

I warned -- after coming back from extended field research in Europe (yes, drinking was involved) for my 2005 book, "The West's Last Chance" -- that if the respectable political parties did not address the growing, legitimate concern of indigenous Europeans to protect their culture from being overwhelmed, disreputable parties would arise to answer that call.

Now, with last weekend's election, we are beginning to see the breakout of such political impulses. Not all the parties are disreputable. I have met with Geert Wilders, who is a courageous, decent Dutch patriot. He only stepped up to the challenge when, in 2003, as a local official, he made the commonplace observation that Yasser Arafat was a "terrorist leader." This drew a death threat and the subsequent arrest and conviction of a Dutch Muslim, identified as "Farid A.," who warned, "Wilders must be punished with death for his fascistic comments about Islam, Muslims, and the Palestinian cause." To this day, Wilders travels with very heavy Dutch security.

Europe has long experienced single-digit fringe votes of the left and right. But as the hard-edged BNP approaches 10 percent -- and only slightly milder other parties approach 20 percent -- the historically volatile European mix of nationalism and race may be building once again.

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Tony Blankley is executive vice president of Edelman public relations in Washington. E-mail him at TonyBlankley@gmail.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.

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