Democracy Denied | Power Line

Democracy is imperiled across what used to be known as the Free World. In France, Marine Le Pen, who likely would have won that country’s next presidential election, has been prosecuted and found guilty of embezzlement, and barred from running for office for five years–until after the 2027 presidential election, in other words.

As I understand it, Le Pen and her party used funds from the European Union that were supposed to be paid to third-party contractors to fund positions within the National Rally itself. There is no suggestion that Le Pen, or anyone else at the Rally, enriched herself or himself. I have not seen any legal explanation of why that conviction would preclude her from running for office.

In Romania, the presidential election was abruptly canceled as final voting was about to begin, apparently because populist candidate Călin Georgescu appeared likely to win.

In Brazil, former President Jair Bolsonaro is charged with attempting a coup, after some of his supporters “stormed” government buildings following his 2022 re-election defeat. Bolsonaro was out of the country when the alleged “storming” occurred. The current prosecution seems designed to prevent Bolsonaro from contending for the presidency again in 2026. Does that sound familiar, or what?

In Germany, the entire political system has been distorted to achieve a single goal: keeping the Alternative For Germany, that country’s second-leading vote-getter, from any role in government.

And, of course and most significantly, here in the U.S. the Democratic Party brought three ridiculous criminal prosecutions against Donald Trump, hoping to send him to prison and block him from another presidential run. Happily, the Democrats failed.

What the targets of all of these anti-democratic prosecutions and political machinations have in common is that they are populists. They all challenged the corrupt and incompetent ruling groups in their countries, which are now desperate not just to stop them, but to stamp them out. The problem faced by these generally left-wing establishments is that national populism is popular with voters. So, unwilling to take any risk of losing power, ruling coalitions have struck hard against the populists, democracy be damned.

These events have been illuminating. Liberals love to talk about democracy, but only as long as they are winning. As soon as it appears that they may lose, democracy goes out the window. The only legitimate government, they believe, is a liberal government. It seems, therefore, that a liberal government is always a tyranny in waiting. A valuable lesson that should be absorbed by voters in all Western countries, next time they have an opportunity to vote.