EU Non

As the International Herald-Tribune worries about the death of the Socialist party in France (Non!!), we now know who opposes the EU constitution in France.

Opinion polls show that advocates and opponents of the constitution are neatly split along socioeconomic lines, with those in less well-off circumstances planning to vote against it.

Typical of the Left. The low-incomers are useful as long as they don't think too much on their own. Parapharasing Chirac: "You missed your chance to shut up."

Asia Times cites similar disaffection even while blaming Chirac.

The crucial mistake of the elites who devised European construction and integration was to largely isolate the political process from European citizens. This has led to a widespread popular perception that all that is left is the social Darwinism of the free market. The split between the ruling class and the masses couldn't be deeper. When Chirac said that by voting "non" France would be the "black sheep" of Europe, the masses enthusiastically agreed.

Of course, those pesky masses are ill-informed. The EU is the embodiment of the French ideal.

France gave the world the first - and most radical - democratic revolution in Europe; the Paris Commune; a compelling denunciation of anti-semitism (the Dreyfus case); the mother of all strikes (May 1968); and the foremost blueprint for enlightened secularism. Now it may be giving a democratic lesson on how to achieve the true European dream.

As the Paris Commune was a prelude, if not an example for, communism, you would think that anyone in this day and age would hardly invoke the image to bolster an argument for a democratic lesson. The masses, apparently, are useful only when they are manipulated.