Twilight of the Elites?

For John, BLUF:  Here is an analysis of the current political malaise among the Working and Middle Classes.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

La République’s Last, Best Hope

,

Here is the sub-headline:

The French people can save France.

From The Free Press, by Demographer Christophe Guilluy, 28 November 2023.

The article talks about how the Working and Middle Classes have been ignored, but here is the nub of the analysis:

It is this loss that is at the heart of the malaise from which many democracies are currently suffering—and it is this loss that explains the singular nature of the political, social, and cultural protests that have swept across the nations of the West over the past 20 years.  In France, this fundamentally psychosocial movement has proven irrepressible, unstoppable, and always ready to resurface, to rearm, whenever the occasion arises (a reform, an election, a referendum).

Liberated from the constraints of the political left and right, this force takes hold of any protest going—joining it to invoke the inexorable return of power to the people.

The energy and confidence of this movement is rooted in its long-termism.  Indeed, the deep strength it draws on—and this is what makes it different in the history of protest groups—is not of a material, but rather of an existential nature.  It is its immaterial dimension that makes it so unstoppable and, from the point of view of ruling classes who have thus far managed to sort everything out in material terms (by writing checks), so undefeatable.  For despite what the zeitgeist may suggest, this protest doesn’t distinguish between those who are concerned about making ends meet (ordinary people) and those worried about the end of the world (the intelligentsia).

We see the outcome of the Presidential Election in Argentina and the surge of Geert Wilder's party in the Netherlands.  We see the continuing popularity of Donald J Trump and his MAGA Movement, in spite of the efforts of bureaucrats and the Media.  There is a yearning on the part of the Working and Middle Claases to reclaim their place in society.

This article was originally published in the New Statesman, as "Emmanuel Macron does not understand France," subheadlined "A leading French thinker on the forces of a new movement that is neither left nor right".

The author's book, Twilight of the Elites:  Prosperity, the Periphery, and the Future of France, is available, in English, from Amazon.

Hat tip to the The Chicago Boyz.

Regards  —  Cliff