the eu staggers towards collapse;

Liberal democracy is supposed to be a process, not an outcome. George Soros champions an “Open Society” that moves closer to truth by dispensing with irrational, authoritarian, and closed systems of values. Instead, through open debate, tolerance for minorities and dissidents, civil rights, and cosmopolitanism, democracies can find the truth. A king might draw legitimacy from divine lineage, the church, or military success, but a democratic leader is a mere man whose legitimacy comes from the rational consent of the masses. That is the theory anyway.

Perhaps there was a time when people believed this, but it is hard to believe now. What we still call democracy in the West is a game of whack-a-mole, in which a shifting alliance of politicians, international bureaucrats, judges, and taxpayer-funded “Non-Governmental Organizations” lecture people on whom they are allowed to vote for and what they are allowed to say.

Perhaps the most compelling example today is in Romania. In the most recent election, George Simion won a decisive first-round victory with over 40 percent of the vote, while the runner-up received only about half as much. There will be a runoff, with Mr. Simion the obvious favorite. Yes, Romania already had an election last November, in which Călin Georgescu won the first round. He was anti-globalist, orthodox Christian, skeptical of NATO, opposed to support for Ukraine, and he praised nationalist figures whom liberals call “fascists.”............more.........