>
> Original article for French readers:
> <http://www.lepoint.fr/edito/document.html?did=164024>
>
> "The infantile narcissism of the French no"
>
That, and petit bourgeois philistinism and xenophobia. The no vote on the EU constitution was, in fact, structurally equivalent to the yes vote for Bush on this side of the pond - a vote for jingoistic nationalism, protectionism, and foreigner-bashing. If it were not for the specter of the hordes of Turks, Romanians, Polacks and assorted "savages" invading the bourgeois stability of France, the Netherlands or the UK - the vote would be a resounding "yes."
The British press has always been full of its typical ugly insularism and jingoism - no surprise here. The French and Ducth petty bourgeoisie have long been flirting with LePen, Fortuyn and fellow travelers in reaction to Arab immigration - and the EU constitution and prospective enlargement was more than these philistines could bear.
Add to it the perennially clueless left with its permanent toilet lady syndrome i.e. powerless dupes who take the first emerging opportunity to exercise whatever little power they have by infantile contumacious refusal to give support (toilet ladies in public restrooms in E. Europe would refuse to give you toilet paper). That is so reminiscent of 1933 when the stubborn refusal of various leftist factions paved the road to power for Hitler. It seems they are incapable of learning from history - and prefer gloating over "defeating" capitalism symbolically, on paper.
This is yet another vindication of HL Mencken who in 1920 opined: "when a candidate for public office faces the voters, he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even comprehending any save the most elemental - men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand."
Indeed, democracy is not for everyone - it should be restricted to a select few, for otherwise it degenerates into infantile popularity contests and a mob rule. I have much greater faith in dedicated public servants than in the philistine petite bourgeois herd.
Wojtek