By Matt Schofield, a member of The Star's editorial board

As contentious as American politics get, at least the United States doesn’t suffer the problems now being faced in Europe.

During the recent European parliamentary elections, extreme right wing parties from the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, etc. gained seats, to join those from Austria, France and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, in Poland and particularly in Italy, more mainstream right parties absorbed extremists, making it difficult to tell exactly how influential the extreme right is in those places.

Of course, the extreme right in Europe is more commonly referred to as the Fascist right, or the neo-Nazi right. Its resurgence (and it’s not really a resurgence on a grand scale) is largely attributed to anti-immigration feelings and the fact that many Europeans see the unified parliament as a joke and either don’t vote or cast protest votes.

So while the election results showed a disturbing gain in these elections, it exists on the fringe of the continental political scene.

In the United States, there are political disagreements on issues such as immigration, but Americans can be happy that they don’t have to listen to the sort of reasoning used occasionally in Europe. When asked how to tell who qualifies as a legitimate citizen, one European politician replied, “You just look and you just know.”

Mainstream U.S. parties don’t base their campaigns on being anti-Semitic, anti-African and anti-Gypsy.

Some analysts believe the extreme right will band together at least 25 votes in the 736 seat parliament, which qualifies them as a voting bloc.

It won’t work easily. Some elements within the bloc would seem to work against each each other. For instance, in Hungary, the far right is anti-Gypsy. Meanwhile, their brethren in Romania and Slovakia are anti-Hungarian.

For Americans, Europe’s recent election is a reminder of the resiliency of our own system, one which honors common ground and avoids the fringes.