Going by the returns, the voters were weary of high unemployment, economic growth that it would be charitable to call “sluggish,” and a high-living, rule-writing bureaucratic elite enthralled by its own policymaking genius and inclined to dismiss critics as ignorant racists.
Not the United States (though who can say how the November elections might go) but Europe. The European Union, to be precise.
The voting for representation in the European parliament, late last week, made it plain that a lot of people do not think of themselves as “European,” but as Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, etc. They voted against centralization and the people who administer it from Brussels where they dine well and regulate incessantly and high-handedly.
The returns got the attention of the political class in Europe. As the BBC reports:
Angela Merkel expressed disappointment in a benevolent sort of way, describing:
“Far right” being the only kind of right that the establishment media (whether in Europe or the U.S.) recognizes. There is no “near” right. The part about growth and jobs seems obvious enough that one is inclined to ask, “Did you need an election to tell you that is a good idea?”
The actual EU princes were neither cowed nor charitable. Jean-Claude Juncker, whose party will lose 60 of its seats in the European parliament, but still hold a majority, said of the election results said, “The extreme right, contrary to what some of the media has said, did not win this election,” and added:
And the people will be ignored. Until they learn to show a little gratitude.
