NEWT GINGRICH: The Elites Vs. Democracy And Popular Government

British law enforcement recently arrested Irish comedian Graham Linehan for a social media post criticizing a transgender activist. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government felt the post threatened public order, so five armed police arrested the comedian at Heathrow Airport.

For decades in Oldham, England, parents have gone to political leaders alleging their daughters had been raped or groomed into prostitution by Pakistani immigrant gangs. Many of these parents were threatened with arrest for anti-Pakistani rhetoric and turned away.

British Parliamentarian Nigel Farage even came to America to testify in front of Congress about how dangerous the threat to free speech has become in his country.

Meanwhile in France, leading conservative politician Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for office and sentenced to jail. European Union establishment opponents accused her, and her party, of embezzling European Parliament funds to pay party staff. Le Pen is the likely pick for French President in 2027. She is appealing the case, but the standing restriction from her running for office could ultimately overrule French voters.

In Hungary and Poland, the European Union has applied economic pressure to convince the two populist nations to modify their nationalist positions. The EU wants the Polish and Hungarian governments to instead allow Brussels to dictate policies which the Polish and Hungarian people reject.

In each of these instances – setting aside the particulars of individual cases – the European elites have been going all-out to defeat, restrict, or overrule opposing parties or ideas. This suppression of the popular will is ultimately counterproductive – even for the elites themselves. History tells us that popular movements that are suppressed grow rapidly and eventually erupt. The political beneficiaries of these eruptions sometimes come with problems of their own – and pose even greater threats to the establishments that sought to subvert them.

You see this in Germany. After years of the establishment parties denouncing all speech against immigration, the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) is growing rapidly. Its leaders have used Nazi slogans and advocated deporting citizens who are not ethnically German. Despite the extreme rhetoric, it is the only party raising issues about crime and immigration. AfD is now the largest opposition party in Germany.