Profiles in discouraging arrogance

Mark Steyn points out the obvious common thread in the non-democracies of the world and the low leftist view of pluralism. Delighting in the concentration of power, the European Union elite that wont take no for an answer.

«A couple of days before Sundays referendum on the European constitution, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Union, let French and Dutch voters know how much he values their opinion:
If at the end of the ratification process, we do not manage to solve the problems, the countries that would have said No, would have to ask themselves the question again, President Juncker told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.
Got that? You have the right to vote, but only if you give the answer your rulers want you to give. But dont worry, if you dont, well treat you like a particularly backward nursery school and keep asking the question until you get the answer right. Even Americas bossiest nanny-state Democrats dont usually express their contempt for the will of the people quite so crudely.

I didnt see the actual Euro-ballot, but evidently its Check the Yes box if you favor ratification of the E.U. constitution. Check the No box if you favor ratification of the E.U. constitution. For Neither of the Above, check Both of the Above.

Then, as the French polls headed south, we were told, oh well, if its a narrow defeat, that wont make any difference either. Well get the French to vote again and make them give the correct answer this time.

So now were told that French voters 5545 rejection of the constitution is nowhere near the massive overwhelming defeat that would be necessary to derail the thing.

But, in its own perverse wrinkle on this thesis, Europe says gravely that it wont make big constitutional changes on too small a minority

if the French had rejected the constitution by, say, 92% to 8%, well, that might have prompted the E.U. to consider possibly perhaps at least partially rethinking clause 473 paragraph H.

The European establishments occasional acknowledge of the E.U.s democratic deficit hardly begins to cover their disdain for the people...

But it did set me thinking about my post-9/11 trips to the Middle East, where, until Bush and his insane Zionist neocon democracy fetishists came along, Americas allies in the region had spent four decades selling themselves to Washington as a necessary antidemocratic restraint on the baser urges of their primitive peoples. Now who does that sound like?

If the U.S. Constitution begins with We the people, the starting point for the European Constitution is We know better than the people. And in the long run, in Europe as in the Middle East, that wont work.

Unfortunately, the institutional arrogance of the entrenched Eurocracy is all but indestructible. ...The European Union isnt floundering because of a lack of leaders. Its the lack of followers.»

I think that this arrogance of theirs is the cause of their abject inability to win hearts and minds would paste anyone else with. Isn't ironic that leftists and middle-eastern flag burners who are angry about a soldier taking a leak near an airvent reserve the exact same complaint for Americans and the US military?