‘Protecting Democracy,’ European Style

Most Americans have no idea how hostile the transnational elite has become to popular sovereignty, or what we tend to call “democracy.” 

Liberals and leftists loudly proclaim their love for “democracy” while working hard to undermine the popular will and replace it with the diktats of a technocracy that will implement its agenda, regardless of what people want or vote for. 

The European Union has worked to cancel elections, labeling opposition parties too extreme to be allowed to gain power, and imposed rules that restrict what democratically elected governments can actually do. The EU sets policy through a “commission,” while the EU Parliament is basically window dressing with little power. 

The EU fines countries for doing things like protecting their borders from illegal immigration, and it uses its regulatory power to impose policies that would never pass democratic muster. 

This is a euphemism for saying that he is trying to ensure that regardless for whom the French people are going to vote, nothing will change.

Such “Guard-rails” are not protecting democracy, they are rendering it meaningless. https://t.co/l2gAJvOgEA

— Ralph Schoellhammer (@Raphfel) February 17, 2026

You may recognize the euphemism used for these sorts of tactics: “guard rails” is one of the most common terms. 

Well, as France looks set to elect a right-wing (sort of) president, Emmanuel Macron is setting up guardrails against the new government accomplishing anything. 

You may recall that Marine LePen was banned from running for the presidency, although it’s unclear if the government can make that stick. And even if she is kept off the ballot, a candidate from her party could still win, given how the polls look. 

So Macron is making moves to hamstring whoever wins, ensuring technocratic rule. 

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron is racing to put guard rails around a potential far-right president of France.

The French leader is accelerating key personnel appointments and placing loyalists in top positions to cement his influence and prevent the National Rally from executing its populist agenda, according to four French officials and two former officials.

Polls show the far-right party is the front-runner for next year’s presidential election, and Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, its potential candidates, have signaled they would try to undo Macron’s economic reforms and pull back on French commitments to the EU and NATO.

“He [Macron] is worried about the dangers ahead and wants to shore up his legacy,” a former diplomat said, while the West faces instability triggered by Russian belligerence and American unpredictability.

Macron has already tapped an ally to become the country’s top auditor despite accusations of a conflict of interest. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a sweeping reshuffle is underway that will go beyond the traditional summer envoy swaps in French embassies. More than 60 outposts are expecting to receive new ambassadors in the coming months, including in Washington, London, Berlin and Kyiv.

“Everything will be sewn up before the presidential election in May 2027,” a French ambassador told POLITICO.

This is what they mean when they say “defending democracy,” just as in the US, the left encourages “resistance” and argues that bureaucracies are independent of the Executive Branch and the will of the voters. 

It’s the same story as with everything else the left says. 

“Defending democracy” is just another way of saying “Defending the Rule of the Democrats,” or whatever left-wing party or person in power. 

In Spain the leftist government went even further. In an effort to defeat the “far right” they are literally importing voters. 

Leftist Spanish MEP: “I hope for ‘replacement theory,’ I hope we can sweep this country of fascists and racists with immigrants.”

You see this more and more now. France’s far-left leader Melenchon also boasts that he wants replacement.

pic.twitter.com/24GM9vQHqG

— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) January 31, 2026

If you don’t like your citizens, replace them. If you don’t like how people vote, nullify their choices any way you can. 

That is what “protecting democracy” means to these people. It’s the classic Critical Theory move of redefining words for yourself, using them in the assurance that your audience doesn’t realize they are being duped. 

These radicals are assaulting the rule of law, attacking our system from every angle — from interfering with law enforcement operations to tainting jury pools. It’s a menace to “our democracy,” if their political enablers continue to pretend to care about that. https://t.co/FWydjBtLSE

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 17, 2026

I share Marco Rubio’s hope that Europe can rediscover its connection to the Liberal tradition in Western Civilization, although frankly, Liberalism only has strong roots in the UK, and it has become one of the worst offenders in the war against liberty and popular sovereignty. 

So I am skeptical that France or Germany, with shorter traditions of political freedom, will re-liberalize. But perhaps they will prove me wrong. 

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