Voters in France and Germany do not want their national economies to follow the Anglo-Saxon model. Popular instincts in France are protectionist. In both France and Germany the elaborate social machinery which cossets and protects workers at the expense of competitiveness is what most citizens want ... It is because European leaders do listen to their peoples, rather than because they do not, that their countries are saddled with the policies that the British want to see discarded.Were I not in the middle of Noam Chomsky's Understanding Power right now, I would probably have let this go, may be even nod my head in agreement. Looking at the above passage from this new perspective, the first thing that comes to mind is Whither democracy? Does Parris imply that the will of the people really doesn't matter, and it is up to all-knowing elites to decide what is good for the hoi polloi?
I am not going to argue why protectionism may not actually be that bad a thing. Chomsky does it far better than I ever would.
