It's a conclusion we have all have been coming to for a while. Janet Daley in the London Telegraph nails it perfectly. The reason for the great divide between Europe and the U.S.

The European Union is creating what it hopes will be a benign oligarchy. Real political power will reside once again within elite circles (as it does already in France) which will conduct their business in the corridors rather than in the assemblies.

Meanwhile, the United States will persevere with the belief, which Europe regards as crass, that giving ordinary people power over their governing class is the only hope for peace and security. Democracy, and what it entails, is not what unites us, Mr Blair. It is what divides us.

Europe doesn't believe in democracy.

It may sound apocalyptic, but I do believe that the democratic experiment in continental Europe, begun just over 200 years or so ago, is coming to a close.

Well worth the read and some thought.

My view is that if democracy has been betrayed in Europe, and I believe it has, it was more through the machinations of the political and intellectual classes than the weak will of people. In that respect, we see the same thing here as Democrats chase their dreams of oligarchy in the U.S. That is the thing that binds John Kerry and the worn intellectuals and shabby mainstream media and their European fans - their base belief that citizens are incapable to self-rule and must be guided by others more worthy of the task. People who are more nuanced and reality grasping.

It's an European conceit that has led to two world wars and one our mainstream media would import here if they could in order to elevate their own position in the scheme. You hear that smugness expressed daily by the Liberal American elites - the journalists, the editorialists, academia - in their contempt for the Red States, disdain for our religion, dismissal of our values, and the daily assault on our beliefs and traditions. You see it in the continued legal assault on the symbols of our religion by the ACLU and the battle against our children, providing our children with abortion on demand without parental notification or input, sex education that includes lessons in sadomasochism and fisting, the endless battle against the Boy Scouts. We turn it off daily: ABC's steamy sex sitcoms, CBS's idea of journalism that embraces fraud and deceit, MTV's sexualization of pre-pubescent teens. These are cultural attacks on our families, our children, our future.

Its realpolitik - politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations. These are European terms, along with "Balance of Power" -- the shabby raw power grabs and shady deals that led to two world wars and the decline of Europe. All led, of course, by France, with help from Germany. All facilitated by mass media. When immigrants left Europe, it was because they yearned for self-reliance and freedom. Those who found no inner strength or virtues of hard work and ambition or core belief in themselves, were the ones who returned to Europe, much chastised for their adventure. They are today the Perfect Passives who embrace European socialism. For the rest, the decline in a standard of living, mass immigration with unassimilated millions, and lingering recession with fewer and fewer jobs will bring a well-needed reality check. THEN, the Elites should watch their backs. Carefully.